Catch will relocate from its present spot at 9 Broad Street to the home of Gotham, five doors away, and will be replaced by a Mexican restaurant. (Photo by John T. Ward. Click to enlarge)
By JOHN T. WARD
This edition of redbankgreen‘s Retail Churn has a plateful of news from the Red Bank food scene, with two food-related businesses closing, one moving and another opening.
Also: pet acupuncture.
JJ’s Grille has opened at 128 Broad Street, at the corner of Peters Place. (Click to enlarge)
• Less than three years after it replaced a longtime jewelry shop at 19 Broad Street, Gotham nightclub is closing. It’s to be replaced, in about a month, by Catch, which is relocating from 9 Broad Street and renaming itself Catch 19, a spokesman for landlord 17 Broad Street LLC tells Churn.
The move will give the seafood restaurant more floor space and, critically, access to a liquor license. In the process, the menu will be expanded to include beef and other non-fish dishes, to be prepared in a glass-walled kitchen at the rear of the space, said the spokesman, who asked not to be identified.
Catch 19 plans to schedule regular Wednesday jazz nights and events such as wine and cognac tastings, he said.
While Catch is in the process of moving, its owners plan to create a BYOB Mexican restaurant, tentatively named Sur de Rio, at 9 Broad.
Gotham, we’re told, “didn’t really get going” until after 10 p.m., Thursdays through Saturdays, making for lots of underutilized space the rest of the week in the heart of downtown.
• JJ’s Organic Grill has opened at 128 Broad Street. As previously reported by Churn, the kitchen is helmed by a chef with a strong local following, Josh Agnello, who’s serving up burgers, wraps, salads and other fast food, but all of it free of chemicals and additives.
And like a prior tenant of the space, Sicilia restaurant, JJ’s will also make its own gelato, though this version will be organic, Agnello said.
 • Remember the cupcake boom in downtown Red Bank a few years back? One of its contenders, Lil Cutie Pops, is closing August 20, owner Melanie Pomerico announced on the four-year-old shop’s Facebook page last week.
There was no immediate word on what might fill the space, at 16Monmouth Street.
• Pet acupuncture is coming to 252 Broad Street, a two-building cluster of offices and personal services on the west side of the street between Irving Place and East Bergen Place.
Veterinary oncologist Kendra Pope, who has been providing cancer care at Red Bank Veterinary Hospital, created the solo practice in order to have the right environment for her services, she said. Those include acupuncture, herbal treatments and more for dogs, cats, rabbits and other animals, about half of whom have cancer, she said.
Pope said she knows many people deride such treatments as overindulgence of pets.
“It’s not for everyone, but for some clients, the animals are people’s closest companions.” And the treatments aren’t “hocus-pocus,” she said.
“I have a strong interest in clinical research,” and is now conducting a study that looks into alleviating the adverse effects of chemotherapy in animals. As for acupuncture, she said, “the reason it’s been around for 3,000 years is that it works.”
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Catch will relocate from its present spot at 9 Broad Street to the home of Gotham, five doors away, and will be replaced by a Mexican restaurant. (Photo by John T. Ward. Click to enlarge)
JJ’s Grille has opened at 128 Broad Street, at the corner of Peters Place. (Click to enlarge)
