Governor Phil Murphy, whose dining choices have fueled some debate during the COVID-19 crisis, returned to Red Bank accompanied by some star power in the form of neighbor Bon Jovi Wednesday evening.

Murphy and New Jersey First Lady Tammy Murphy were joined for dinner at B2 Bistro and Bar on Shrewsbury Avenue by the singer and his wife, Dorothea Bongiovi. The restaurant is operating under a tent in a parking lot.

Both couples own homes just outside Red Bank on the Middletown side of the Navesink River.

Murphy has found his own behavior under COVID-19 rules he imposed closely scrutinized. Earlier this week, state Senator Declan O’Scanlon, of Little Silver, accused Murphy of “hypocrisy” for purportedly eating indoors at a restaurant in Ocean County over the weekend, contrary to his own ban on indoor food service.

Murphy, however, blasted the tweet on which O’Scanlon based his accusation, saying he and other patrons had been dining outdoors when they temporarily took shelter during a heavy rain.

(Photos by John T. Ward. Click to enlarge.)

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