Abby Nooney prepares cones with chocolate and sprinkles at Coney Waffles & Ice Cream, which opened last week at 18 Broad Street. (Photo by John T. Ward. Click to enlarge.)
By JOHN T. WARD
The doldrums of summer may be upon us, but not in the realm of tastebuds.
The ever-changing food scene in downtown Red Bank continues its evolutionary bustle, as this edition of redbankgreen‘s Retail Churn shows.
Fizz Soda Fountain opened Wednesday in the Monmouth Street space formerly occupied by Red Bank Sub Shop. (Photo by John T. Ward. Click to enlarge)
By JOHN T. WARD
It took almost a year and a half longer than expected, but Fizz Soda Fountain has finally bubbled to life in Red Bank.
Done up in turquoise and gleaming stainless steel, the tiny burger-and-shake joint is as effervescent as the poppiest tune on a 1950s diner jukebox.
The upper two floors of the building, which have been vacant for years, will get two apartments each. (Photo by John T. Ward. Click to enlarge)
By JOHN T. WARD
A landmark Red Bank building’s upper two floors will be turned into spacious apartments under a plan approved by the borough zoning board Thursday night.
In a rarity in this parking-starved town, the change would reduce the demand for downtown spots, the building’s new owner told the board.
Fizz Soda Fountain, featuring burgers, shakes and a 1940’s-era soda dispenser, is to replace the Red Bank Sub Shop, at 8 Monmouth Street. (Photo by Trish Russoniello. Click to enlarge.)
By JOHN T. WARD
Throwing in the towel on the increasingly competitive market for subs, a Red Bank eatery is going old-school.
Canio Paradiso’s Red Bank Sub Shop, at 8 Monmouth Street, which closed for renovations earlier this summer, plans to reopen next month as Fizz Soda Fountain.
Moving to Red Bank from Spring Lake, Charleston Shops is taking over 9 Monmouth Street, above, former home of Toad Hollow.
By JOHN T. WARD
This installment of redbankgreen’s Retail Churn finds lots of changes underway at the corner of Broad and Monmouth streets in Red Bank.
And a good deal of it is happening at 80 Broad, the former Red Bank Mini Mall building at the southwest corner of that intersection that recently added Toki as a tenant.
The upper two floors of 74 Broad Street have been vacant for years. (Photo by John T. Ward. Click to enlarge)
By JOHN T. WARD
One of downtown Red Bank’s most prominent buildings has a new owner, redbankgreen has learned.
The century-old three-story structure at the corner of Broad and Monmouth streets was sold Friday to a local family that’s been on something of a buying spree in the central business district recently.
Boars Head turkey on store-baked bread at Sal’s Original in Shrewsbury. (Photo by Jim Willis. Click to enlarge)
By JIM WILLIS
After running some errands in Shrewsbury to pick up some pens at Staples and frozen mahi mahi at Trader Joe’s (makes for great fish tacos), we noticed it was close enough to lunch time to swing by Sal’s Original for a sandwich.
At under five bucks, the roast beef sandwich from Willow Deli negates the bad parking lot feng shui. (Photo by Jim Willis. Click to enlarge)
By JIM WILLIS
The Willow Deli is located on Willow Drive between downtown Little Silver and the Little Silver train station, and we can’t think of any deli on the Green we’ve driven past more often without ever having stopped in for a bite.
Perhaps something about the positioning of the parking lot at the apex of the curve on Willow hinted of bad feng shui and put us off our feed every time we’ve thought about grabbing a sandwich there.
The #5 from Red Bank Sub Shop is the classic Italian sub that other sandwiches want to be. The shop has an impressive soda selection as well, below. (Photo by Jim Willis. Click to enlarge)
By JIM WILLIS
PieHole popped in at the Red Bank Sub Shop on Monmouth Street to grab a couple of sandwiches for takeout. We ordered up a half a #5 – your classic Jersey “Italian” sub with ham, capicola, prosciuttini and provolone ($6.95) – and a half a turkey sub ($6.95).
As in any respectable sub shop, the sandwiches are made to order. While waiting for the meat to be sliced and the sandwiches made up, we noticed a few things that set owner Canio Paradiso’s place apart from other sub shops in town. The menu, for starters, features a couple of combinations that we were glad to see.
Among the nine spots under consideration is the one nearest Starbucks on Broad Street. (Photo by John T. Ward. Click to enlarge)
By JOHN T. WARD
Red Bank officials are weighing a proposal to cap parking at nine downtown spaces at 15 minutes.
Under the idea, pitched by by the downtown promotion agency RiverCenter, shoppers who just want to grab a cup of coffee or run a quick errand might be likelier to find a spot on the street for that purpose, said Councilman Art Murphy.
Neon signs in store windows at the City Centre strip mall on White Street. Cluck U Chicken, above left, got a warning, but Psychic Advisor Gina on Monmouth Street, below, did not, according to borough records. (Photos by John T. Ward. Click to enlarge)
By JOHN T. WARD
A recent crackdown on neon and other illuminated signs that lit up the business community with outrage prompted Red Bank officials to pull the plug on enforcement Wednesday night.
The blitz came to light at the bimonthly meeting of the mayor and council, when Councilman Mike DuPont said he had been besieged with complaints by merchants and restaurateurs over warning letters for signs some of them have had in their windows for decades.
“Many of the restaurants I visited complained bitterly,” said DuPont. “I heard all about it.”
Two years after it won planning board approval, a new Subway sandwich shop appears to be on track to completion at 60 Broad Street in Red Bank, with a design that calls for an unusual recessed outdoor seating area within the footprint of the building. The alcove was approved for tables with up to 14 seats, with another 14 inside.
There’s no immediate word on when the store will open, joining the week-old Red Bank Sub Shop – with its own odd little outdoor seating setup – just around the corner on Monmouth Street, as well as other players in the downtown’s competitive restaurant market. (Photo by John T. Ward. Click to enlarge)
Canio Paradiso, center, and crew at the Red Bank Sub Shop, which opened Monday morning at 8A Monmouth Street more than two years after Paradiso first filed plans for the business. (He promises redbankgreen the scoop on what took so long.)
At right, a view of the unusual air-shaft seating area we wrote about in July 2011. (Click to enlarge)
Robinson Hernandez cuts a customer’s hair at Red Bank House of Fades earlier this week. (Click to enlarge)
By JOHN T. WARD
Some updates from the continual swirl of comings and goings among Red Bank businesses that we like to call Retail Churn:
After months of dormancy, the conversion of the storefront at 8 Monmouth Street was completed this week. Or half-completed, that is.
With its opening on Monday, barbershop Red Bank House of Fades took over roughly half the space that for more than 50 years was home to Red Bank News and last occupied by Exotic Birds of Red Bank.
The Red Bank Sub Shop and House of Fades barbershop are setting up side-by-side at 8 Monmouth Street. (Click to enlarge)
By JOHN T. WARD
Time for a couple of Retail Churn updates from Monmouth Street in Red Bank.
Sandwich man Canio Paradiso is sprucing up at his soon-to open sub shop, the one with what has to be the borough’s oddest patio…
And a spacious new nail salon has opened its door, bring its owner full circle.
An architect’s rendering of the facades of the sub shop and barbershop planned for 8 Monmouth. An “exterior dining patio” would be hidden behind the stairwell accessed by the double doors at left. (Click to enlarge)
The prospective tenant of a prominent Red Bank storefront wants to build a sub shop with an open-air patio for customers.
Hidden behind a stairwell. Accessible from the sub shop only. Just seven feet wide. Surrounded by walls three stories high.