Skip to content

A town square for an unsquare town

redbankgreen

Standing for the vitality of Red Bank, its community, and the fun we have together.

RED BANK: FOOD, CLOTHES & MORE IN CHURN

jj-delicacies-022018-500x375-5628141JJ’s Delicasies, at 21 West Front Street, features a swirling logo on the sidewalk out front, thanks to a projector. (Photo by John T. Ward. Click to enlarge.)

By JOHN T. WARD

rcsm2_0105081-220x165-9667185In this edition of redbankgreen‘s Retail Churn, one of Red Bank’s hot vegan restaurants is building a separate takeout place, while a 24-hour gym, a barber shop and a cryotherapy spa all have plans to set up shop downtown.

Meantime, two businesses — a restaurant and a women’s clothing shop — have opened in recent days.

emily-natale-040218-500x375-5738825Emily Natale in her newly opened Pearl Street Consignment and Custom Clothes shop. Below, Good Karma hopes to open its new takeout spot at the West Side Lofts this summer. (Photo by John T. Ward. Click to enlarge.)

karma-2-go-040318-220x165-1269615JJ’s Delicasies opened Friday at 21 West Front Street. As previously reported by Churn, owner Jerry Chen and partners are staking their future on a trio of food trends: cold-rolled ice cream, bubble tea and poke (pronounced PO-keh), the Hawaiian seafood-based based salad dish.

After four years of vacancy following the death of Wayne’s Market owner Wayne Fisler, the storefront was occupied for a year by Jimmy John’s, a national sandwich chain.

• A Red Bank Regional graduate has transformed the former Brownstone Dry Cleaner space at the southwest corner of Monmouth and Pearl Street into Pearl Street Consignment and Custom Clothes, which opened for business Saturday.

The shop is owned by soon-to-be 23-year-old Emily Natale, a borough native who went on to graduate from the Fashion Institute of Technology. With the aim of making the space into “a fun place,” she tells Churn she plans to host regular art shows, including one spotlighting the work of her father, Danny Natale, who was busy painting the shop’s signage Monday. Emily’s own artwork now livens up the walls.

The primary business of the shop, however, is pre-owned women’s clothing and accessories. Natale, a designer, said she plans to offer more of her own creations as she settles in.

• Vegan mecca Good Karma Café is building a takeout restaurant in the West Side Lofts, at 1 Bridge Avenue.

Located in one of the work-to-live spaces facing the Two River Theater across Edmund Wilson Boulevard, the Karma 2 Go is expected to open in early summer, co-owner Gail Doherty tells Churn.

Good Karma, based in a mere 912 square feet at 17 East Front Street, is frequently packed, with diners and take-out customers sometimes elbow to elbow. Doherty and partner Tiffany Betts won borough planning board approval in December, 2016 to expand into space vacated by Creative Kitchens at 21 East Front, but were unable to come to terms with neighboring Red Rock Tap + Grill over rear access issues.

Broad Street Barbers is taking over the space at 15 Broad Street formerly occupied by Yanni Erbeli Salon. Its website says the shop will feature Riccardo Parrino and Jordan Ryan, formerly of Old World Shaving Parlor, on West Front Street.

Yanni Erbelli, meantime, is building a posh new salon and spa with beauty bar Wisteria at 67 Broad Street, in the space recently vacated by the bee clothing store.

• The former longtime home of Professional Pharmacy, which closed five years ago, is about to get a tenant for the unused portion of its space at 134 Broad Street.

A filing with the borough planning office says that Anytime Fitness “will be staffed during business hours, roughly 8 a.m. to 8 p.m., but available to members via key fob access at all other times.”

Pilates Blast opened for business in December, taking the rear portion of the 7,300-square-foot space. Anytime Fitness will take the area that fronts on Broad, according to submitted plans, which were approved last month.

• At 64 Broad Street, Paul Musho of Westfield plans to open ChillRx Cryotherapy Center, according to a filing with the borough planning and zoning office. The plan was approved without a need for any variances last week.

A video and other material on the company website indicate that cryotherapy treatments involve a customer getting into vertical pod and being exposed from the neck down to a intense cold from liquid nitrogen — as low as minus 270 degrees Fahrenheit — for between 30 seconds and three minutes.

Musho’s filing claims health benefits including weight loss, recovery from muscle and tissue injury, pain reduction and anti-aging effects. And according to the company website, “Cryotherapy is an innovative and safe 3 minute treatment that has been used for over 40 years in Europe to accelerate healing, reduce inflammation and pain, boost metabolism and weight loss and to reverse the signs of aging. Cryotherapy offers fitness, wellness and beauty benefits to individuals striving to feel, look and be better every day.”

The U.S. Food and Drug Administration, however, has not approved cryotherapy claims, and in fact has thrown some warm water on them. From an FDA statement issued in July, 2016 and updated in January, quoting Aron Yustein, M.D., a medical officer in the FDA’s Center for Devices and Radiological Health:

“Given a growing interest from consumers in whole body cryotherapy, the FDA has informally reviewed the medical literature available on this subject,” Yustein says. “We found very little evidence about its safety or effectiveness in treating the conditions for which it is being promoted.”

The agency’s advice? Talk to your doctor before getting into the pod.

The storefront’s last tenant was John Arcara Photography, which is moving to 77 Monmouth Street, where Arcara is also building a craft beer microbrewery to be called Red Tank Brewing Company.

Remember: Nothing makes a Red Bank friend happier than to hear "I saw you on Red Bank Green!"
Partyline
RED BANK’S FINEST – AND NEWEST
Red Bank Police Officer Eliot Ramos was sworn in as the force’s newest patrolman Thursday, and if you’re doing a double take thinkin ...
EASTER EGG MAYHEM AT THE PARK
An errant whistle spurred an unexpectedly early start to the Spring Egg Hunt on Sunday, which had been scheduled to begin at eggsactly 11am ...
PRESEASON DOCKWORK
RED BANK: With winter winding down, marina gets ready for boating season with some dockwork on our beautiful Navesink River.
CORNED BEEF AND DISCO FRIES?
It’s Friday, and smart Lent-observing Leprechauns know the pot of gold at the end of Red Bank’s rainbow is actually the deliciou ...
SURFBOARD DITCHED
It’s a violation of etiquette in surfing to ditch your board.  (it could hit another surfer and hurt them). But someone appears to ha ...
ELSIE, TAKE ME WITH YOU!
Soaked by pouring rain with the temperature hovering in the low 40’s, this sign in the window of Elsie’s Subs on Monmouth Street ...
WALK THIS WAY
PARTYLINE: Before-and-afters of a sidewalk cleanup on West Street.
SOGGY NOTION
RED BANK: Breezeway sculpture captured the mood downtown as heavy rains fell Saturday morning.
HOME DELIVERY
RED BANK: After a subdivision, an instant house rises on a new Catherine Street lot.
COMMUNITY PROFILES
For Black History Month, Red Bank's Community Engagement and Equity Advisory Committee has been running a series of local profiles on Facebo ...
HEARTY FAREWELL FOR HARDY
RED BANK: Council to honor DPU supervisor Rich Hardy, who retired recently after almost 39 years of keeping things running.
HOMEBOUND? READ ON…
RED BANK: Can't get to the public library? It's now offering free delivery and pickups for homebound borough residents.
TAMING A BEAST OF A WEEK
RED BANK: After the second snowfall of the week, a borough family finds the perfect use for it – a Godzilla snow sculpture.
RED BANK: LIBRARY CLOSED, BUT THE HILL’S OPEN
RED BANK: Though the library was closed by a snowstorm, kids got to enjoy the riverfront property's steep slope Tuesday.
LIGHT(HOUSE) MAKEOVER
This year, getting ready for spring means a midwinter makeover for Strollo's Lighthouse in Red Bank.
TODAY: LOCAL PUPPY COMPETES ON ANIMAL PLANET’S “PUPPY BOWL”
Red Bank’s very own rescue puppy, Biscuit, is set to compete in Animal Planet’s Puppy Bowl this Sunday, February 11, at 2 PM. Th ...
WHAT? NO redbankgreen NEWSLETTER?
Apologies to redbankgreen newsletter subscribers: the daily email hasn’t gone out for two days because of technical issues.
RED BANK: TIRED OF SKEETERS?
RED BANK: Tired of mosquito bites every summer? Monmouth County has a free program to help eliminate skeeter breeding grounds.
SEA BRIGHT: POLAR PLUNGE FOR ST. JAMES, OTHERS
Hundreds braved the wind and sea on Sunday at 1PM in support of St. James Elementary School, and other Catholic schools in the area. The eve ...
RED BANK: RBR CLAIMS TITLE
RED BANK: Watch pure joy as the RBR boys basketball team celebrates its first B North championship in 17 years.