Tacoholics, which started out as a food truck, plans to open its third restaurant next month, this one at 90 Broad Street. (Photo by John T. Ward. Click to enlarge.)
By JOHN T. WARD
We got tacos. We got Greek food. We got a gift shop and a florist.
All the makings of a heaping autumn update to redbankgreen‘s long-running Retail Churn feature. Read on for details.
Mini Shop, a stationery business, plans to open in the former home of Lash Out salon on Monmouth. Below,.  (Photo by John T. Ward. Click to enlarge.)
• Tacoholics plans to open at 90 Broad Street, in the space last occupied by Sempre Cannoli space.
The restaurant, with seating for 12, is the third brick-and-mortar operation arising out of a food truck started just two years ago by Nick DeAngelo and two friends from Brick Township.
Their truck, which was at the recent Oysterfest in Red Bank, and the restaurants in Brick and Manasquan, don’t adhere to traditional Mexican tacos, DeAngelo told Churn, opting for unusual ingredients like coconut shrimp and fried avocado.
Opening the restaurants allowed for an expansion of the menu beyond tacos into burritos, bowls and quesadillas, he said.
The goal is to get the new restaurant open by Thanksgiving, and then persuade the borough to allow up to 40 seats, DeAngelo said. The narrow space is longer deeper than it appears, he said, and can accommodate that many diners.
Tacoholics would be at least the third truck-based food business to set up non-mobile operations here, following Luigi’s Ice Cream, which opened in 2017 at 60 Broad Street, and Johnny’s Pork Roll & Coffee, which last month announced plans to open a restaurant at 8A Monmouth Street, most recently the home of Fizz.
• The borough planning and zoning office recently approved a restaurant called Greek Spot to over the space last occupied by O Bistro Francais at 15 North Bridge Avenue. No variances were needed in the change of tenant, according to the filing.
Bobby Lekkas, who owns the business with his wife, Angela (she’s the chef), have another restaurant called Greek Spot in Ocean Township. The Red Bank restaurant, which they hope to open before Christmas, will have a take-out operation accessed through the front door, and a 120-seat dining area off the parking lot side entrance, he said.
• Mini Shop is going into 29 Monmouth Street, recent vacated by the Lash Out salon. Owned by Vicky Li, who’s also an owner of the Oriental Empire restaurant in English Plaza, the shop will carry calendars, pens and notebooks, gift cards “and a little bit of jewelry,” she tells Churn.
Li hopes to open the shop by mid-November, she said.
• Lucy Phipps of Colts Neck plans to open Mayflowers of Red Bank at 5 Wharf Avenue, according to a filing with the borough.
The space is slightly more than half the area previously used by Carol Lynn and Don Chetkin’s frame shop, which continues operating in reduced space. Their fine-art gallery is located next door.
• Gallery Residential Brokerage is opening an office at 160 Monmouth Street. The space’s last tenant, Red Bank Frameworks, recently relocated a block east, to 135 Monmouth.
