RED BANK: BRUNCH, AND MORE, IN CHURN

red bank 20 broad brunch 020420Brunch opened last week at 20 Broad Street. (Photo by John T. Ward. Click to enlarge)

By JOHN T. WARD

retail churn smallEaters have a fresh new option for breakfast and lunch in downtown Red Bank.

Read all about chef Ray Tutella’s venture and other business comings and goings in this edition of redbankgreen‘s Retail Churn.

red bank midtown authentic 93 broad 020420Midtown Authentic relocated to 93 Broad Street.  (Photo by John T. Ward. Click to enlarge.)

red bank 4A west front aerial fitness020420• Tutella, who co-owns a seasonal restaurant called the Waterfront Grille in Seaside Heights, opened Brunch last week at 20 Broad Street. The space was vacated in early January by Taylor Sam’s, a sandwich spot.

Tutella, a kosher certified chef who’s been in the business for 35 years, believes he can stake out turf in a crowded restaurant market, first by operating in the mornings and early afternoons only, avoiding the dinner field entirely.

“Don’t get me wrong, but who needs another Italian restaurant or sushi place here?” he told Churn last week. “It’s just overwhelming.”

And while there’s certainly competition for breakfast and lunch as well, Tutella sees room for one more option, and believes his menu will stand out. It includes dishes such as chocolate French toast with chocolate maple syrup; Italian eggs Benedict; and a lobster roll, poached in butter and served hot, that “you need a lot of napkins for.”

Brunch is open from 8 a.m. to 3 p.m.

In other recent Retail Churnings:

Carter & Cavero has closed. The specialty olive oil and vinegar shop had been operating at 19 Monmouth Street since 2007.

There’s no immediate word on tenancy of the space.

Feather & Line Hair Studio, owned by Brianne Wickline, opened at 23 Mechanic Street.

• It’s just 11 feet wide, but 4A West Front Street is set to become the home of a fitness studio.

Aerial Fitness, owned by Jersey Tsai, of Little Silver, was approved by the borough planning office last month.

The space was most recently home to a real estate office.

Midtown Authentic has relocated to 93 Broad Street, last occupied by a seasonal pop-up shop.

The store buys and sells pre-owned luxury handbags. It opened in late 2018 at 9 Monmouth Street, but was forced to move as a result of a roof leak.

• The vacant, single-story building at 68 Broad Street changed hands last month.

Last home to the women’s clothing shop Madison, which closed in late 2018, the building sold for $500,000 to Sixty Eight Broad Street LLC, an entity of the Morgan family, who own a number of downtown properties. It had been listed at $559,000, according to a posting by Brothers Commercial. The seller was 68 Broad Street LLC, associated with Joseph Cerasa of Shrewsbury.

There’s no immediate word on tenancy of the space.