RED BANK: 26 WEST WINS STREET SETUP OK
Without discussion, the Red Bank council authorized a restaurant’s closing of a public street for seating of diners Wednesday night.
RED BANK: PLAZA LIMITS IRK OUTSIDERS
Abutting restaurant setups at the north end of Broad Street have created an atmosphere that’s drawing customers away from other restaurants, some owners say. (Photo by John T. Ward. Click to enlarge.)
[See CORRECTION below]
By JOHN T. WARD
Is a north-south divide developing on Broad Street in Red Bank?
Owners of some businesses located just south of the month-old Broadwalk street plaza say they’re being unfairly cut out of a boom in downtown visitors.
RED BANK: TRATTORIA ENDS 35-YEAR RUN
Michael and Valerie Aufiero on the terrace of their restaurant Monday. (Photo by John T. Ward. Click to enlarge)
By JOHN T. WARD
After 35 years as mainstays of the Red Bank restaurant scene, the owners of the Front St. Trattoria have made a quiet exit.
Read all about it, plus news of a planned CBD shop, in this edition of redbankgreen‘s Retail Churn.
Amid a boomlet in RED BANK: PARKLET EFFORT BEGINS
Public works employees installed concrete barricades around several parking spaces on Broad Street in downtown Red Bank Thursday afternoon.
RED BANK: PLAZA PLANS REWORKED
A public parklet on Witherspoon Street in Princeton. Red Bank officials plan to allow parklets for designated restaurant use. (Photo courtesy of Planet Princeton. Click to enlarge.)
By JOHN T. WARD
Among a series of adjustments, Red Bank’s economic reopening committee has scrapped the Sunday pedestrian plaza on Monmouth Street.
Instead, the Broad Street plaza, which has drawn large turnouts three nights a week since debuting June 18, will become a four-day affair with the addition of Sunday operations starting this weekend, Red Bank RiverCenter executive director Laura Kirkpatrick tells redbankgreen.
At the same time, plans are in the works for “parklets,” or temporary seating structures, to be built in parking spots outside a handful of downtown restaurants, including three that participated in the aborted Monmouth Street plaza effort.
RED BANK: LATIN-FLAVORED CAFÉ OPENS
Their plans disrupted by the COVID-19 crisis, a longtime Red Bank-area chef and his two sons have opened a restaurant in the Galleria complex on Bridge Avenue. Read More
RED BANK: MENNA ADMITS FOOD TRUCK ERROR
Mayor Pasquale Menna on Locust Avenue in March. (Photo by John T. Ward. Click to enlarge.)
[See UPDATE below]
By JOHN T. WARD
Red Bank Mayor Pasquale Menna says he will recuse himself from future discussions of food trucks following questions raised by redbankgreen about work he did for the owner of a proposed site of a mobile eatery.
Menna, a private practice lawyer, did not disclose his connections to the property owner during Wednesday night’s council workshop meeting, when he revived the dormant issue of food trucks. But he said the omission was unintentional.
RED BANK: MURPHY, BON JOVI BREAK B2 BREAD
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.
RED BANK: MURPHY ‘PAUSES’ INDOOR DINING
Patrons of the Dublin House in Red Bank gather at its outdoor Temple Bar on June 20. (Photo by John T. Ward. Click to enlarge.)
By JOHN T. WARD
Tapping the brakes on his economic restart effort, Governor Phil Murphy indefinitely postponed a planned resumption of indoor restaurant dining Monday.
The move is “prudent” in the face of rising COVID-19 infection rates in other states, Murphy said at his daily briefing on the pandemic.
He also cited “overcrowding, a complete disregard for social distancing, [and] very few if any face coverings” at some New Jersey bars that he did not name.
RED BANK: NEARLY NEW CALLS IT QUITS
After 27 years in business, Janice Brown has closed the Nearly Newly clothing store on Monmouth Street. (Photo by John T. Ward. Click to enlarge)
By JOHN T. WARD
After a career as a Pan Am stewardess, Janice Brown found her second act in 1993 as a Red Bank retailer, selling stylish vintage clothing.
But in the wake of the COVID-19 pandemic, Brown has decided to close the shop.
Read all about the end of the Nearly New Shop and other changes downtown in this edition of redbankgreen‘s Retail Churn.
RED BANK: PLAZAS RETURN FOR WEEK TWO
After a widely praised start last week, pedestrian plaza dining and shopping on Broad Street in Red Bank returns for week two starting Thursday night.
Under the economic restart effort, Broad Street between West Front and Wallace streets is closed to vehicles from 3 p.m to 10 p.m. Thursday through Saturday evenings, and Monmouth Street between Broad and Maple Avenue is closed all day Sunday.
But after daytime sunshine, the weather forecast for Thursday evening is iffy, with evening showers possible, according to the National Weather Service.
What happens if it rains? Does the street reopen to vehicular traffic? No, and merchants make the call for themselves whether open, close or resume operations when passing summer showers threaten, as detailed by redbankgreen here.
Here’s the extended forecast for the Greater Red Bank Green.
RED BANK: PLAZA LIGHTS UP BROAD STREET
Diners filled restaurant tables set out curbside along a portion of Broad Street as the first of two pedestrian plazas debuted in downtown Red Bank Thursday night.
Among the customers were Governor Phil Murphy and First Lady Tammy Murphy, with their son, Josh, having dinner at Char, at right.
RED BANK: PANDEMIC CLAIMS BAKERY
The COVID-19 pandemic has claimed another downtown Red Bank business.
Anthony Campitello, seen above with daughters Cristina, left, and Angie, has shut down Alfonso’s Pastry Shoppe on Broad Street after only 17 months of operation.
RED BANK: PLAZAS OPEN RAIN OR STARSHINE
With the first of two pedestrian plazas set to debut in downtown Red Bank Thursday under a dicey weather forecast, the question arises: what happens if it rains?
FAIR HAVEN: NO DUNKIN’ ON OVER EASY
Over Easy Kitchen plans to open in space vacated by Bike Haven nearly four years ago. (Click to enlarge.)
By JOHN T. WARD
No angry crowds, no predictions of traffic jams or children being run over by cars.
A restaurant proposed for Fair Haven’s Acme shopping center had a far easier time winning approval Tuesday night than its prospective neighbor, a Dunkin’ coffee shop that divided the town for months.
RED BANK: PREPPING FOR PLAZAS
With the first of two unprecedented pedestrian plazas set to debut in downtown Red Bank Thursday night, prep work was underway on Broad Street earlier this week.
Above, a crew from Powerhouse Signs, under contract with Red Bank RiverCenter, installed in-tree uplighting that owner Jim Bruno said he hoped will create a “Greenwich Village vibe” for outdoor diners and shoppers. At right, code enforcement official Frank Woods checked a sidewalk café for its distance from the curb.
RED BANK: BACK IN BUSINESS, OUT FRONT
Reopening after almost three months to the day after they were ordered shut down in the face of the COVID-19 pandemic, Red Bank restaurants drew numerous diners to their outdoor tables Monday night.
“It’s like normal – almost,” said Charlie Lyristis, co-owner of Bistro, on Broad Street, above. At right: a note left at tables for customers of Pazzo, on West Front Street.
See additional photos as restaurants resumed with sit-down, outdoor-only service under order of Governor Phil Murphy below.
ON THE GREEN: RESTAURANTS REOPEN
After a nearly three-month shutdown except for takeout, restaurants on the Greater Red Bank Green began reopening as sit-down, outdoor-only eateries Monday.
Even with the weather a bit on the cool side, “it’s nice to get of the hospital,” said a Riverview Medical Center employee sharing lunch with colleagues at Robinson Ale House in Red Bank, above. Read More
RED BANK: RESTAURANTS HUSTLE TO REOPEN
Danny Murphy, owner of Danny’s Steakhouse, with the safety guide he prepared for his employees. (Photo by John T. Ward. Click to enlarge.)
By JOHN T. WARD
Their industry battered over the past three months by the COVID-19 pandemic, Red Bank’s restaurateurs are now scrambling for a toehold on recovery.
With partial reopenings slated to begin Monday, they’re training staff in a host of new hygiene procedures. At the same time, some are also racing to shift operations into two new shopping and dining plazas being created downtown.
RED BANK: RETAIL DAMAGE, BUT HOPE, TOO
Alex Montaperto in Forge, her English Plaza shop, which hasn’t opened though it’s been ready for nine weeks. (Photo by John T. Ward. Click to enlarge)
By JOHN T. WARD
With the dust settling from one of the worst economic blows in American history, the damage to Red Bank’s retail scene is starting to come into focus.
Business shutterings and aborted lease deals are on the rise – no surprise – but there are also a few glimmers of optimism.
Read all about some of the changes downtown in this edition of redbankgreen‘s Retail Churn.
RED BANK: PLAZA DETAILS STILL IN THE WORKS
Monmouth Street between Broad Street and Maple Avenue would become a pedestrian plaza all day on Sundays as part of a recovery plan. (Photo by John T. Ward. Click to enlarge.)
By JOHN T. WARD
Details for turning two downtown Red Bank streets into part-time dining and shopping plazas hinge largely on pending clarity from Trenton, borough officials said Tuesday.
On a Zoom/conference call with merchants, borough officials said they need information from Governor Phil Murphy on key issues before they can finalize plans for allotting sidewalk and street space among restaurants, retailers and others.
RED BANK: STREET CLOSINGS FOR DINING OK’D
Broad Street would be closed from the intersection with Front Street, above, to Wallace Street three nights a week under the plan. (Photo by John T. Ward. Click to enlarge.)
By JOHN T. WARD
Two major streets in the heart of downtown Red Bank would be closed to traffic to allow mid-street dining and shopping under action taken by the borough council Wednesday night.
The economic recovery measure needed lightning-fast approval so the business district “can to be ready the second we get the call” from Trenton about expected loosening of COVID-19 restrictions, said Councilwoman Kate Triggiano.
RED BANK: MORE EATERIES BACK FOR TAKEOUT
Ginny and Bob Koehler have reopened the Inbetween Café in Red Bank for takeout breakfast and lunch.
The English Plaza eatery is among a recent wave of borough restaurants stirring back to life, while many others have continued to serve hungry, stuck-at-home area residents and first responders throughout the COVID-19 pandemic.
RED BANK: DINING ‘PLAZAS’ ON THE TABLE
Customers dining in the sidewalk seating area of Robinson Ale House on Broad Street in 2018. (Photo by John T. Ward. Click to enlarge.)
By JOHN T. WARD
Red Bank officials have formed a committee to “creatively expand outdoor capacity for restaurants and retail sales” as the town embarks on a post-COVID-19 recovery.
One idea the committee is expected to chew over: use of public spaces for outdoor dining.