John Yarusi in the newly opened Johnny’s Pork Roll & Coffee. (Photo by John T. Ward. Click to enlarge)
By JOHN T. WARD
Red Bank’s ever-changing dining scene continued its rotisserie spin in recent days with three restaurant openings.
Read all about them in edition of redbankgreen‘s Retail Churn.
Johnny’s Pork Roll plans to open in the space last occupied by Fizz at 8A Monmouth Street. (Photo by John T. Ward. Click to enlarge)
By JOHN T. WARD
As live-reported by redbankgreen, Johnny’s Pork Roll & Coffee truck made its debut by risking a summons for doing business where it wasn’t allowed: on the streets of Red Bank.
Now, five years later, John Yarusi’s two-truck enterprise is going legit with a brick-and-mortar stake in the borough’s downtown.
Read all about the plan, and other recent turnover activity, in this edition of redbankgreen‘s Retail Churn.
Natalie Cozzati takes a bite of the breakfast sandwich she craves. (Photo by Susan Ericson. Click to enlarge)
By SUSAN ERICSON
“Do I like pork roll?” Red Bank graphic designer and owner of NMC Design Studio Natalie Cozzati rhetorically asks PieHole. “Am I from Jersey? I’ve got to have my pork roll fix. Gotta satisfy that craving.”
Cozzati is not alone in her uniquely Jersey desire. At the Red Bank Farmers’ Market every Sunday this time of year, you’ll find plenty of customers queuing up at Johnny’s Pork Roll truck, patiently waiting to grab their sandwiches.
And don’t call it Taylor Ham, say Cozzati and others in line in the Galleria parking lot.
Read More
John Yarusi risked a summons when he parked his Johnny’s Pork Roll truck on Wallace Street in a short-lived experiment test of borough law in 2013. (Photo by Jim Willis. Click to enlarge)
By JOHN T. WARD
Is Red Bank ready to finally open the gate for food trucks?
The possibility that the borough might allow two mobile eateries to operate here was among the topics discussed at Wednesday’s semimonthly borough council meeting. Read More
Yoga, Pilates and zumba share a Wednesday night rotation schedule in Riverside Gardens Park. Below, vocalist Layonne Holmes joins the New Standard for a free concert there Thursday night.
Whether you’re on stay-cation — or simply navigating your way through daily life here in on the Greater Red Bank Green — there’s no denying that July offers a fairly awesome menu of open-air entertainments and recreational options. We’ve got a rundown of outdoor events — mostly free of charge — designed to entice you out of the house in the coming midsummer nights and days.
It all starts tonight, July 12, as Shore Flicks returns to Red Bank’s Riverside Gardens with an 8:15 p.m. screening of the gleefully anarchic animation “Minions.” Bring a canned food donation with those folding chairs and beach towels, and enjoy some ice cream from the newly opened Gracie and the Dudes stand in the park. Take it to our redbankgreen roundup for details on the entire summer screening schedule and weather-related updates. Then take it around the bend for more fun and adventure beneath the summer sun and stars.
Michelle O’Connor at the Red Bank Farmers’ Market with pumpkins grown at Brookville Farms. (Photo by Susan Ericson. Click to enlarge)
By SUSAN ERICSON
Autumn has arrived on the Greater Red Bank Green, and that means we’re in for a plethora of pumpkin-flavored options in coffee shops, bakeries and restaurants.
But home cooks use them too, of course. And with that in mind, PieHole popped in at the Red Bank Farmers’ Market and a couple of local eateries to get some insights on choosing and using pumpkins.
At the Sea Bright farmers market, Meg Paska sells locally grown produce and flowers from Seven Arrows Farm, while the Holly Hill Farm table, below, offers Rumson-grown seedlings and produce. (Photos by Susan Ericson. Click to enlarge)
By SUSAN ERICSON
Options for finding locally grown produce on the Greater Red Bank Green doubled with the addition last year of a farmers’ market in the Sea Bright municipal parking lot on Thursdays.
For local shoppers, that means more variety. While both Sea Bright and the Red Bank Farmers’ Market at the Galleria on summer and autumn Sundays are dependable for farm-grown veggies, there are some characteristics that differentiate the two.
A sample of pastries from Adam Sobel’s Cinnamon Snail food truck and copies of his new cookbook, ‘Street Vegan,’ below. (Photos by Susan Ericson. Click to enlarge)
By SUSAN ERICSON
Get out your aprons, Cinnamon Snail fans: Adam Sobel, four-time winner of the Vendy award for food trucks has penned a collection of recipes and stories that will keep you chained to your stoves.
While awaiting the truck’s expected return to the Red Bank Farmers Market, Snail-starved disciples wondering what just goes into the making of “Mexican Hot Chocolate Glazed Twists” can now take a shot at it themselves.
Sobel shares his secrets in an often-funny, non-preachy way, with chapter after delectable chapter of addictive recipes in “Street Vegan,” all while eschewing animal products.
A week later than its customary Mother’s Day opening, the Red Bank Farmers’ Market returns Sunday to kick off its 16th run through summer and fall.
Among the returning vendors – but not right away – is the nationally regarded Cinnamon Snail vegan food truck, which recently lost its rights to do curbside business in New York City over permitting issues. The Snail’s return to the farm market was uncertain, but a post on the farm market’s Facebook page says the truck is expected to be back “later this month.”
Pets are no longer allowed at the market, which is open from 9 a.m. to 2 p.m. in the parking lot of the Galleria, at West Front Street and Shrewsbury Avenue.(Photo by John T. Ward. Click to enlarge)
The Cinnamon Snail has been a fixture at the Red Bank Farmers’ Market in recent years. Below, chef Adam Sobel in his mobile kitchen. (Photo by John T. Ward. Click to enlarge)
By JOHN T. WARD
The Cinnamon Snail, the nationally lauded vegan food truck that calls Red Bank home and is a top draw at the town’s Farmers’ Market, is putting it in park later this month.
Chef Adam Sobel announced in a recent Facebook post that the mobile restaurant, featuring a robust menu “designed to shatter the misconceptions” about vegan cuisine, has failed in repeated efforts to renew its permit to sell on the streets of New York City, its primary location, after it expires on February 28.
As a result, Sobel wrote, the curbside operation will close down at the end of the month, though it could be resurrected as a brick-and-mortar restaurant.
Angus McDougald with his daughter, Jade, at Red Bank Farmers’ Market. Below, Lisa Bagwell among the edible pumpkins from Organic Produce. (Photo by Susan Ericson. Click to enlarge)
By SUSAN ERICSON
For those who think the season for fresh produce is over, there are still many vendors showing up at the Red Bank Farmers’ Market to prove them wrong. It is the perfect time of year to buy fresh apple cauliflower, cabbage and Brussels sprouts.
But squash pumpkins and other cruciferous vegetables take center stage this time of year.
“I like to simply roast them and eat them,” Lisa Bagwell, of the Certified Organic stand, said of the different varieties pumpkins and squash. Noting the smaller blue hubbard squash, she added: “These are delicious. The gourds, on the other hand, are not delicious.”
Corn smut, or huitlacoche, for sale at the Twin Pond Farm table. (Photo by Susan Ericson. Click to enlarge)
By SUSAN ERICSON
The Red Bank Farmers’ Market can be counted on as a great source of fresh-picked tomatoes, corn on the cob and sunflowers, all of which and more PieHole found in abundance last Sunday.
And then there were the oddball items, one of which came with an eyebrow-raising name.
“Corn smut is what it’s called,” said Jen from Twin Pond Farm in Howell, referring to the strange amalgam on the table between us. We looked from her to the container and back, thinking maybe we didn’t hear her correctly. “Corn smut is a fungus and a delicacy that came from some blue Peruvian corn we are growing,” she added.
Returning home, we found recipes for corn smut in a Mexican cookbook, and it is, indeed, considered a delicacy. Used in a quesadilla with cheese, it isn’t that different from a mushroom.
A ban on dogs at the Red Bank Farmers’ Market becomes the rule with this Sunday’s edition of the 15-year-old open-air emporium.
After ordering the ban a week ago in response to a report of a dog urinating on food for sale, inspectors from the Monmouth County Regional Health Commission #1 this week informed the owners of the Galleria, which hosts the market, that restricting dogs to areas where food is not displayed would be permitted. But the idea was “deemed not to be workable,” MCRHC director Dave Henry tells redbankgreen. So now, let those puppies… sleep in. (Photo by John T. Ward. Click to enlarge)
A ban on dogs at the Red Bank Farmers’ Market appears to have been triggered by a complaint about a dog urinating on a watermelon, the mayor says. (Photo by John T. Ward. Click to enlarge)
[See Update at end of article]
By JOHN T. WARD
A sudden ban on dogs at the Red Bank Farmers’ Market caught vendors and local officials by surprise Sunday.
The ban, by the Monmouth County Regional Health Commission #1, appears to have outraged some shoppers, who told vendors they would not return unless their dogs were welcome at the market, which is held weekly in a parking lot at the Galleria at Red Bank on West Front Street.
News of the ban came within 24 hours of reports that the health commission warned vendors at the Red Bank Community Block Party on Drs. James Parker Boulevard that they would be shut down if they didn’t comply with agency rules, Mayor Pasquale Menna tells redbankgreen.
In neither case had the borough administration gotten any communication about the actions from the commission, which Menna called “unacceptable behavior.”
A quick tour of the Farmers’ Market, as seen on June 1. (Video by Gerda Liebmann. Click to pause.)
By JIM WILLIS
Red Bank Farmers’ Market regular John Hauser of Hauser Hill Farms in Old Bridge tells PieHole that the long, cold winter has set produce availability back by about two weeks.
“It was cold through April and May, and we’re about 10 to 14 days behind schedule,” says Hauser. The upshot is that vegetables such as green zucchinis and kirby pickling cucumbers that are typically available by the last week of May are hard to find out in the fields this week.
The vegan magnet Cinnamon Snail will have a temporary home beside Teak, thanks to a little help from PieHole. (Photo by Peter Lindner. Click to enlarge)
By JIM WILLIS
As the final Sunday of this year’s Red Bank Farmers’ Market wrapped up in November, Cinnamon Snail food truck entreprenuer Adam Sobel was confident he’d be able to continue serving his vegan truck food to loyal followers, telling PieHole that he’d remain at the Galleria parking lot every Sunday through the month of December.
But earlier this week, Sobel put out this urgent message on Twitter:
Now, thanks to the intervention of PieHole, the Snail appears to have found a temporary Sunday home – in downtown Red Bank, a place not seen as friendly to four-wheeled purveyors of fine cuisine.
Is this the breakthrough truck food fans on the Green have been yearning for?
Hauser Hill Farms eggs are among the best bargains as the Red Bank Farmers’ Market closes out its 2013 season Sunday. (Photo by Jim Willis. Click to enlarge)
By JIM WILLIS
One of PieHole‘s favorites at the Red Bank Farmers Market this season was a late discovery: the eggs from Hauser Hill Farms.
These eggs have some of the brightest yolks we’ve seen, a good indication that the chickens are eating good stuff. Crack two into your frying pan for a pair of sunny-side ups, and the yolks tower over the whites with the perkiness of a cheerleader on game day.
They’re also an incredible bargain.
PieHole spoke to farmer John Hauser to make sure he’d have plenty at his table this weekend, and to get some details on his hens. Take it here for all the details.
BTW, if you’re savoring our food coverage, be sure to make friends with our PieHole Facebook page or follow us on Twitter, where you’ll start seeing stuff that may not appear on redbankgreen‘s home page – cuz, you know, our cup do runneth over with culinary goodness.
Perky-as-heck eggs from Hauser Hill Farms. Get ’em Sunday or pine all winter. (Photo by Jim Willis. Click to enlarge)
By JIM WILLIS
One of PieHole‘s favorites at the Red Bank Farmers Market this season was a late discovery: the eggs from Hauser Hill Farms.
These eggs have some of the brightest yolks we’ve seen, a good indication that the chickens are eating good stuff. Crack two into your frying pan for a pair of sunny-side ups, and the yolks tower over the whites with the perkiness of a cheerleader on game day.
PieHole spoke to farmer John Hauser to make sure he’d have plenty at his table this weekend, and to get some details on his hens.
Fresh produce is available for the taking at the Red Bank soup kitchen. (Photo by Sarah Klepner. Click to enlarge)
By SARAH KLEPNER
In addition to serving hot meals and opening its food pantry six days a week, Red Bank’s Lunch Break is offering fresh produce for the taking every Tuesday in July and August for the second consecutive year.
Volunteers Martha Young, Betsy Wattley, and Susan Haugenes oversaw a table laden with donated corn, lettuce, nectarines, kale, potatoes, and other fruits and veggies Tuesday morning.
“It varies week to week, but we get a lot from the Red Bank Farmers’ Market,” said Haugenes, a Lunch Break board member. “We also get produce from our garden here at Lunch Break, the Shrewsbury Community Garden, and individual local gardeners.”
A wreath was placed at Piping Rock Park in Rumson, where a plaque honors borough residents who lost their lives in the September 11, 2001 attacks. (Photo by Dustin Racioppi)
By DUSTIN RACIOPPI
It was a week that started fraught with emotion, as news broke in a national address by President Obama late Sunday night that a commando team had wiped the face of evil in the Western world, Osama bin Laden, off the earth.
For those around The Green, it was a bittersweet measure of justice, as scores of residents in our area lost their lives in the September 11, 2001 attacks masterminded by bin Laden.
It hit particularly close to Middletown, which lost 37 people in the attacks. We were out Monday morning talking to those who paid their respects at Middletown’s serene 9/11 memorial garden, near the train station.
And the week went on from there.
Red Bank’s popular farmers market makes its traditional Mother’s Day debut Sunday. (Photo by Dustin Racioppi; click to enlarge)
By DUSTIN RACIOPPI
It’s time to polish momma’s apple, locavores.
Red Bank’s ever-popular, always-growing open-air emporium, the Red Bank Farmers’ Market, returns to the blacktop of The Galleria on Mother’s Day for its 12th season of dishing out homegrown fruits, vegetables and miscellaneous wares.
Vendors of apples, fresh bread and other goodies packed up their movable feast at the Galleria and took it across the Navesink to Chris’ Landing in Middletown three weeks ago. (Click to enlarge)
When the clock ran out on the annual fresh-everything extravaganza known as the Red Bank Farmers’ Market three weeks ago, some of the vendors wondered why it had to end.
The market traditionally runs from Mother’s Day to mid-November in the parking lot of at the Galleria Red Bank shopping center. But there’s still a cornucopia of vegetables, fruits, baked goods and crafts to sell.
“We said, as this comes to an end, there will be no place for us to go,” said Laura Dardi of Red Bank, an employee of E.R. & Son Farm, a Colts Neck grower of certified organic produce. “To be cut off two weeks before Thanksgiving is at the worst possible time.”
The former Hance Coal & Feed building on Shrewsbury Avenue, seen above in 2008, was razed earlier this week, below. (Click to enlarge)
A landmark barnlike structure on Red Bank’s West Side is no more.
The former Hance Coal & Feed building on Shrewsbury Avenue was taken down earlier this week by Sourlis International, owner of the Galleria at Red Bank, which plans to expand a surrounding parking lot on the site.
Eight years ago, when the Red Bank Farmers’ Market opened in the Galleria parking lot, it had only two vendors.
Today, there are 30, and every week more merchants ask to be let in, some hoping to hawk goods that have nothing to do with the market’s self-defined mission: to promote locally-grown produce. “I had a guy come here once wanting to sell rain gutters,” says Jim Sourlis, who manages the market. “He was so insistent, I had to call the police to get rid of him.”
The gutter guy probably couldn’t have cared less about the origins of the market, where the corn and tomatoes come from, or the feeling of community that springs to life on the blacktop here every Sunday in the summer. But Sourlis, whose family owns the Galleria mall, does. He says the market came into being to help support small farmers, who get first consideration in terms of space allotment. That’s what Jim’s mother, Elaine Sourlis, intended when she dreamed the place up, he says. (Elaine was vacationing in Europe until recently and was unavailable for an interview.)
“We pride ourselves on being a farmers’ market first,” Sourlis says. “The number-one thing is New Jersey farmers. It has to be from here.”
In addition to its weekly crop of vegetable and flower growers, the market features purveyors of honey, organic foods, fresh eggs, handcrafted jewelry, ravioli, a chiropractor, Lithuanian baked goods, stained-glass mobiles, tea, soap, frozen treats and hurly-burly paintings.