Under common ownership, the Melting Pot also shared a liquor license with Taste, its next-door neighbor at the Galleria. (Photo by John T. Ward. Click to enlarge)
By JOHN T. WARD
Four months after its next-door neighbor, Taste restaurant, closed amid a failure to renew its liquor license, Red Bank’s Melting Pot restaurant followed suit Monday, announcing its closing on Facebook.
A packed-greenhouse crowd at Sickles Market raised $72,500 last Friday night for Holiday Express, the rolling musical extravaganza that brings good cheer this time of year to 50 or so audiences. (Photo by Peter Lindner. Click to enlarge)
A great American (Patrick Henry? Paul Bunyan? Leo Gorcey?) once observed, “They also Done Good, who stand and wait.” And as most of us wait here in the all-clear zone between the chaos of Halloweelection Day and the holiday hyperdrive heralded by Black Friday, we remind you that November continues to offer more than a few ways in which to Do Good.
It could be as easy as contributing a couple of bucks or some nonperishable items to any of the many food banks that operate year-round on the greater Red Bank green. A donation to an area toy drive. Or a helping hand for your neighborhood school, church and youth organization to help others, simply by attending (and having a blast at) one of the fun events scheduled for the days and weeks to come.
We’ve got a few recommendations right around the corner, so pass the candied yams and dig on in.
The Melting Pot features induction heating elements in tabletops to keep the pot contents melted. (Photo by John T. Ward. Click to enlarge.)
By JOHN T. WARD
A long-closed Red Bank restaurant re-opens, a new one headed by a pair of vaunted chefs announces its debut, and a new retail shop arrives with an intriguing pitch…
All in the latest edition of redbankgreen‘s Retail Churn.
Sonya Cashner plans to open Broad & Brush at 26 Monmouth Street, one of two similar shops coming to town this summer. (Photo by John T. Ward. Click to enlarge.)
By JOHN T. WARD
Two businesses that offer do-it-yourself instruction in making rustic signs plan to open in downtown Red Bank this summer.
Yeah, that’s a thing, apparently, part of what one of the new contenders calls a trend in “farmhouse decor.”
Read all about that, and more of course, in this custom handcrafted edition of redbankgreen‘s Retail Churn.
After months of idleness, gut-job renovations are underway at the Melting Pot in the Galleria on Bridge Avenue. (Photo by Trish Russoniello. Click to enlarge.)
By JOHN T. WARD
A Red Bank restaurant is preparing to reopen after a long hiatus and change in ownership.
Meantime, another eatery has shut its doors after only six months in business, and a bicycle retailer has pedaled off into the online ether.
Details are below in this edition of redbankgreen‘s Retail Churn.
Taste restaurant in Red Bank’s Galleria complex has been closed for the past three weeks for failure to renew its liquor license, according to borough Clerk Pam Borghi. Ken Kruse, who owns Taste, tells redbankgreen the restaurant and bar “had some issues which the accountant and state had to work out” over taxes. He said he plans to reopen the Bridge Avenue eatery next week.
Meanwhile, the adjoining Melting Pot, which Kruse also owns and which is covered by the license, remains open as a BYOB, Kruse said. (Photo by John T. Ward. Click to enlarge)
Boondocks Fishery at Marine Park is just one of nearly 30 stops on and off the beaten path as the Food and Wine Walk events return for a new season. (Photo by Rachel Weston. Click to enlarge)
Calling all free-range foodies: the season for strolling smorgasbording and open-air culinary exploring is just now heating up, with the appearance of the first in 2015’s schedule of Red Bank Food and Wine Walks.
Seven months after a mass resignation of board members in a budget dispute, the Red Bank Public Library hosted a wine-tasting fundraiser to signal it is back on track to eventual full restoration of hours of operation and services Tuesday night.
The event, hosted by the Foundation for the Red Bank Public Library, featured culinary offerings from a number of borough eateries and treateries, including Faustini Wines, the Melting Pot, Readie’s Café and Sugarush cupcakes. (Photos by Susan Ericson. Click to enlarge)
Democrat Juanita Lewis has been on the council since 2009. (Photo by John T. Ward. Click to enlarge)
In Tuesday’s election for Red Bank council, incumbents Juanita Lewis and Ed Zipprich, both Democrats, face Republicans Sean Di Somma and Linda Schwabenbauer. Here are Lewis’s answers to questions sent to all four candidates by redbankgreen.
Name: Juanita Lewis
Age: 48
Where did you grow up? I was born and raised in Red Bank.
How long have you been a resident of Red Bank? All of my life, except when I went to college, graduate school and when I worked overseas for one year.
Bartenders, preparing to compete at Taste Tuesday night. Chris Paseka, below, emceed the well-attended event. (Photo by Susan Ericson. Click to enlarge)
By SUSAN ERICSON
A feeling of autumn was in the air Tuesday night at Taste in Red Bank.
A Laird’s Applejack mix-off, a continuation of Cocktail Week, was in full swing, featuring nine enthusiastically adept bartenders and their apple-inspired concoctions.
Dressing up table displays with brightly colored fall motifs, the imaginative bartenders mixed cinnamon apple margaritas – and muddled everything from sage to peaches – while dipping the rims of tiny shot glasses in cinnamon sugar.
Downtown bartender Dee with some of his output, including a blackbery cosmo, below. (Photos by John T. Ward. Click to enlarge)
To watch the one-named bartender Dee when the drink orders are coming in at Red Bank’s Downtown is to a witness unflappability amid a blur of glasses, garnishes, bottles and stainless-steel shakers.
“I have to be very quick,” Dee tells PieHole while rapidly muddling ingredients for a cucumber vodka mojito. Over 10 years of mixing and pouring, “I’ve developed speed,” says Dee. “Not every bartender likes to muddle, but I love the labor of this job.”
Starting August 10, the restaurant promotion group Red Bank Flavour plans to spotlight the town’s watering holes and the bartenders who keep their libations flowing with the first-ever Red Bank Cocktail Week.
Nearly 30 Red Bank restaurants, shops and eateries — including the Front St. Trattoria, above— will participate in a new summer schedule of Food and Wine Walk events, set to launch this Sunday afternoon. (Photo by Susan Ericson. Click to enlarge)
Between the weekend barbecues, the riverside food fests and the many open-air opportunities for grabbing a bite, it can be a bit difficult to digest all the options available to the free-ranging foodie here in the good old summertime.
If Red Bank Rivercenter and Red Bank Flavour have their way, however, we’ll all just be expected to Walk It Off — and to let our legs and wheels carry us about the borough’s sidewalks and storefronts, for the first in a new monthly round of Food and Wine Walk events.
A self-guided tasting tour that takes in more than two dozen restaurants, specialty shops, taverns and eateries, the inaugural walk runs from 2 to 6 pm this Sunday, with a strolling smorgasbord of wares and fare, from fine wines and eclectic desserts to tapas, sushi and more.
Kristy Niro and Stephen Catania finalize the wine and cheese pairings for tonight’s event at the Red Bank Public Library, below. (Photo by Jim Willis. Click to enlarge)
By JIM WILLIS
Hunting for a few good wines to serve over the holidays can be a challenge, but expert help is available tonight at the Red Bank Public Library.
The Foundation for the Red Bank Public Library is holding a holiday wine tasting benefit from 7 to 9:30 p.m. at the West Front Street facility.
“There are so many things going on on the Thanksgiving table,” says Kristy Niro of Rumson, aka the Cork Maven. “People can have a difficult time finding a wine that’s going to go with the turkey but not going to clash with their wild mushroom barley stuffing or their cranberry dish.”
Guests will be able to sample four holiday wine suggestions and some expertly paired cheeses as well.
Children line up for pre-dinner clean-hands inspection at the Boys and Girls Club. (Photos by Sarah Klepner. Click to enlarge)
By SARAH KLEPNER
After five p.m. on a recent afternoon, a pair of children in red shirts and khakis set a long table with styrofoam plates laden with tacos. Moments later, a dozen or so kids dressed in the same outfits the uniform of the Red Bank Primary School line up for inspection by Natasha Cargill, a teenaged kitchen manager.
It’s clean-hands time at at the Boys and Girls Club of Monmouth County‘s Red Bank unit, a scene that plays out so routinely that some of the kids continue to absently hold their hands above their heads long after they’ve passed Cargill’s inspection.
Looking on, Christy Crank looks pleased. As the facility director, the 38-year-old borough native sets a welcoming but firm tone for all who step through its doors.
“I see a lot of me in these kids,” says Crank. “When I was growing up, we didn’t have a Boys and Girls Club. We provide a safe space, where there’s no bullying, you get the help you need, and everyone is equal.”
Flutes of champagne in hand, women assembled at the GLAMbar for the second annual Girls Night Out, touted below in a banner over Broad Street. (Photo above by Rebecca Desfosse. Click to enlarge)
By REBECCA DESFOSSE
As night fell on a perfectly crisp autumn day, ladies kicked up their heels and headed to downtown Red Bank for RiverCenters second, semiannual Girls Night Out Thursday.
As they stopped by theGLAMbar, one of the three check-in points, they were treated to champagne, reusable shopping bags full of gifts and discounts to local businesses, restaurants and bars, along with an entry to win a $100 Red Bank gift card and other prizes.
“Were always so busy,” said Margaret Mass, director of the Red Bank Visitors Center, alluding to the women gathered nearby. “This is a chance to relax and have some fun.
Upcoming: Thursday, August 16
Red Bank Flavour, a culinary campaign driven by the boroughs restaurants and food stores, presents A Night on the Navesink: A Flavour Summer Soiree at the Molly Pitcher Inn on Thursday, August 16.
Held at Red Banks newly renovated riverfront hotel, the evening, co-sponsored by hotel owner J.P. Barry Hospitality, will offer guests culinary samplings from more than 20 borough eateries, as well as wine samplings, libations and craft beer selections from New Jersey breweries.
A portion of proceeds from A Night on the Navesink will benefit Lunch Break and the Red Bank Middle School Athletics Foundation.
Marita Lynn describes her native country’s cuisine as a melting pot of international influences. (Click to enlarge)
By JOHN T. WARD
Upscale fish and Chinese; affordable Vietnamese; gluten-free pizza: Red Bank’s ever-expanding menu is about to make room for yet another type of cuisine not seen here recently, if ever.
Caterer Marita Lynn of Aberdeen plans to open a Peruvian restaurant called Runa sometime next month in the Monmouth Street space recently vacated by the Eurasian Eatery.
In the language of Peru’s indigenous Quechuas, Runa means ‘people,’ Lynn tells redbankgreen. But Runa’s menu, like the food of modern Peru, is transnational, she said.
TUESDAY: Family Night Out to benefit Lunch Break
By dining at any one of 11 participating restaurants on June 12, Red Bank area residents can help take a bite out of hunger. A portion (or bite) of the proceeds from each lunch or dinner will be donated directly to Lunch Break, an organization dedicated to helping community members in need. Mention Lunch Break during the meal and receive complimentary tickets to see JAWS at the Count Basie Theater that night at 7 p.m.
Clockwise from top left: Young Broadway veterans Katie Boren, Miguel Cervantes, Jeff Kready and Kenita R. Miller offer up a four-course cabaret performance when Red Bank Flavour serves up some BROADWAY IN RED BANK at Two River Theater on April 16.
Last we heard from Red Bank Flavour, the promotional partnership was busily pounding the pavement to drum up interest in a Dine Downtown campaign for March. As April rounds the halfway point, however, the flavour of the month is not so much Broad Street as it is the bright lights and sensory stimulus of Broadway.
On the evening of Monday, April 16 at a point in the drab foothills of the working week, when theaters are generally dark and restaurants largely devoid of lines all eyes will be on Two River Theater, as more than a dozen of the borough’s favorite restaurateurs, caterers and vendors join forces for a night of tastes and talent that puts the show back in a showcase called Broadway in Red Bank.
Citing last year’s success, downtown Red Bank restaurants will reprise Food & Wine Walk this summer, beginning Sunday. (Click to enlarge)
By DUSTIN RACIOPPI
As if last weekend’s Riverfest wasn’t enough to show off Red Bank restaurants, downtown promoter RiverCenter is cueing up a post-park foodfest of its own an entrée into summer, if you will reinstating a biannual tradition sprung last spring that brought the crowds into and sent them all about downtown Red Bank.
So, if you haven’t fully digested the lobster, filets and burgers of last week, RiverCenter’s got a suggestion: walk it off. And grab a glass of vino while you’re at it.
The annual KaBoom! fundraiser culminated in a fireworks preview outside the Monmouth Boat Club in 2008. This year’s edition will be at Hovnanian HQ.
Whether you love it or leave town for the day because of it the annual KaBoom Fireworks on the Navesink event is one of “the fabulous events that make Red Bank and the Navesink River community the special place that it is,” says KaBoom! Committee chairman Tim Hogan.
As an attraction that draws some 150,000 gawkers and revelers to multiple sites along the riverfront, the July 3 sky-splash is surely the single biggest happening of the borough’s calendar year one in which all of the more than $200,000 needed to produce KaBoomFest comes from private donations.
While the KaMittee’s underwriting vehicles have ranged from big-league corporate sponsorships to the less sophisticated (but no less effective) “Kick In for KaBoom Bucket,” it’s the annual springtime cocktail party that has traditionally fired the first signal flare in the Countdown to KaBoomsday and on the evening of Thursday, April 28, the fuse will be lit for an intensive interlude of pyrotechnics, preparations, promotion, and the soliciting of those crucial private donations.
Dish is one of nearly 30 Red Bank restaurants joining in, as the townwide Dine Downtown promotion returns every Tuesday and Wednesday in October. (Photo by Peter Lindner. Click to enlarge)
A quick look at the list reveals a couple of newcomers so new they hadn’t even opened their doors a year ago.
Then there are the handful of homecoming favorites who’ve made it back to the list after sitting things out for a few years. And of course, there are the perennials; the names who can be sure to appear on the list each and every time as surely as they helped make Red Bank the destination for fine dining that it’s been for more than a generation.
We’re talking about the roster of restaurants that are taking part in the semi-annual Dine Downtown promotion, going on every Tuesday and Wednesday evening for the month of October. The brainchild of the folks at Red Bank RiverCenter, it’s a great and proven way for the borough’s bistros, boites, banquet rooms and before-show hangouts to greet friends old and new by serving up special prix fixe menus that include appetizer, entrée and dessert for a lusciously low price (beverages, tax and gratuities not included).
And, with nearly 30 participating restaurants in the downtown, riverfront and theater/antiques districts as well as three distinct pricing levels ($15, $25 and $30), there’s probably never been a better range of choices offered to frugal foodies in search of a fixe; a streetside smorgasbord that spans Irish, Italian, Mediterranean, Mexican, seafood, sushi, contemporary American, vegetarian and European (in addition to some flavorful fusions that you’ll have to triangulate for yourself).
We’re getting peckish just thinking about it, so flip the menu over for more details and a rundown of restaurants.
Janine Hillyer, left, and Ken Kruse, owners of The Melting Pot, are ready to titillate your taste buds with their new restaurant just next door, Taste. (Photo by Dustin Racioppi)
By DUSTIN RACIOPPI
For years, Janine Hillyer would look over from her view at the Melting Pot, which she co-owns, and see a prime space she envisioned making her own.
She watched it change occupants a couple times most recently, a restaurant, Savanna, and before that, a coffee shop called House of Coffee. Once Savanna moved out about a year ago, Hillyer and her business partner, Ken Kruse, pounced on the opportunity to make that space their own.
“We would constantly, longingly look over at this place and want to be here,” Hillyer said.
Thanksgiving at Lunch Break was on Branches Catering in 2008. On Monday night, the West Long Branch facility hosts some three dozen restaurants to raise funds for the Red Bank soup kitchen.
This long-overdue edition of Done Good a periodic rundown of what's happening locally in the realms of people helping people and their communities has tons to choose from for readers looking to lend a hand in the coming week.
It includes a gourmet's-delight event on behalf of Norma Todd's Lunch Break in Red Bank; a beach cleanup and a riverfront cleanup; a swell affair at Garmany on behalf of cancer research; and an opportunity to re-tinge the town in the interest of women's health.
Here are some of the choices:
The 2007 closing blasts, that is.
Brace yourselves for a bit of window-rattling pyrotechnics over the Navesink tonight.
Better yet, leave the sofa and television behind for a couple of hours and see for yourself as the night sky blooms in crackling colors.
In case you haven’t heard, tonight’s the annual KaBoom Fireworks on the Navesink fundraiser, held at the Monmouth Boat Club.
The goal is to offset as much of the $175,000 annual cost as possible. The July 3 spectacular, which typically draws 150,000 people into Red Bank, gets no public funding; it’s all paid for from donated funds.