WHAT’S FOR LUNCH? CLAM PIZZA, IN RED BANK

Apr 18, 2014

Puglia’s clam pie, called the Mulberry Street. (Photo by Susan Ericson. Click to enlarge)

By SUSAN ERICSON

A town that has more than 20 pizza venues at any one moment has some serious competition.

In Red Bank, one goes out (Biagio’s) and another is on it’s way in (Patrizia’s). For restaurateurs, breaking the habits of diners who rarely step out of the box on on their usual Friday night order is a challenge.

Dining out, though, with pizza specifically in mind, well, there’s a chance for diners to try something different.

One of the new kids in town is Puglia. If this Bridge Avenue pizzeria, located in the former home of Red Bank Pizza, seems remotely reminiscent to another time and day, that might be due to the Little Italy vibe. The place pulls you in with its promise of good Italian food, and keeps you there with comfortable atmosphere and good service.

April 18, 2014 - 11:50 am |

WHAT’S FOR LUNCH? HOMEY, WITH FREE FRIES

Apr 11, 2014

The turkey club at Alice’s Kitchen in Sea Bright. (Photo by Jim Willis. Click to enlarge)

By JIM WILLIS

This week’s warm weather found PieHole once again putting the top down on the convertible and zipping east towards Sea Bright for lunch. We noticed progress in the clearing and preparation of the town’s public beach parking lot. Last week‘s mountains of sand gave way to cement curbs and the semblance of a parking lot.

Neighbor and frequent PieHole lunch companion Brian McCourt joined us, and suggested we try Alice’s Kitchen.

April 11, 2014 - 10:59 am |

WHAT’S FOR LUNCH? BURGERS IN SEA BRIGHT

Apr 4, 2014

Premonitions of summer at Beach Burgers and Grille in Sea Bright. (Photo by John T. Ward. Click to enlarge)

Thursday’s warm weather and bright sunshine found PieHole putting the top down on our convertible and heading east to the beach.

We poked around Sea Bright, a hive of reconstruction activity buzzing with backhoes and bulldozers. Strolling a sunny Ocean Avenue, we noticed the breeze carrying the perfume of the ocean and the warming sand, and decided on lunch at Beach Burgers and Grille, one of a handful of new businesses that set up shop in the aftermath of Hurricane Sandy.

April 4, 2014 - 11:23 am |

WHAT’S FOR LUNCH? TRATTORIA’S SALAD

Mar 28, 2014

One of our favorite plates of green around the Green: the chicken, broccoli and caramelized walnut salad at Front St. Trattoria. (Photo by Jim Willis. Click to enlarge)

By JIM WILLIS

It takes more than a wedge of iceberg lettuce and some ranch dressing to get PieHole excited about a salad.

Sure, anyone can pile on a few slices of grilled rib-eye to make a salad that’s worth eating. But that’s taking the easy way out.

Around the Green, we’ve had a couple of memorable salads that didn’t need to bring steak into the equation. The winter root vegetable salad that we once had at Dish Restaurant in Red Bank stands out because it’s a plate full of vegetables that you don’t often come across – paper thin celeriac and shaved fennel, anyone? – paired with a great citrus dressing.

The other is the excellent chicken, broccoli and caramelized walnut salad from Red Bank’s Front St. Trattoria.

March 28, 2014 - 10:26 am |

CROWDSOURCED BAR BURGERS

Mar 27, 2014

PieHole recaps some of the better bar burger suggestions from our readers. (Photo by Jim Willis. Click to enlarge)

By JIM WILLIS

Last week’s What’s For Lunch featured the mighty Globe Burger. Our proposition that it may be the best burger in Red Bank naturally sparked some suggestions from PieHole readers about other great burgers on the Green.

March 27, 2014 - 10:31 am |

WHAT’S FOR LUNCH? GLOBE BURGER & HOOPS

Mar 21, 2014

PieHole takes in some March Madness at the Globe. (Photo by Jim Willis. Click to enlarge)

By JIM WILLIS

Ah, the Globe. Home to arguably the best burger in Red Bank and beyond. Moreover, you’ll almost certainly get to enjoy that burger without having to rub elbows at the bar with someone who’s just had his Maserati valet-parked on Broad Street, making the company as good as the food.

March 21, 2014 - 11:38 am |

RED BANK: TASTY RED SNAPPER SUSHI

Mar 14, 2014

A great selection of rolls to choose from among the lunch specials scratched our itch for brown rice sushi at Sogo Sushi. (Photo by Jim Willis. Click to enlarge)

By JIM WILLIS

Sogo Sushi on Monmouth Street in Red Bank is known for its brown rice sushi. The very slight nutty taste and more robust texture of the brown rice make for a deliciously unique accompaniment to the usual sushi fare.

It’s also a bit addicting, and so we headed to get our fix for this week’s What’s For Lunch.

March 14, 2014 - 11:49 am |

WHAT’S FOR LUNCH? CURRY CHICKEN FROM BFF

Mar 7, 2014

The curry chicken salad sandwich from Balderose Fine Food in Fair Haven. (Photo by Jim Willis. Click to enlarge)

By JIM WILLIS

Back in January, when we last checked in with Fair Haven’s Balderose Fine Foods, Tony Balderose was just getting ready to reopen his doors after several months hiatus.

PieHole stopped back in Friday morning, and ordered up the curry chicken salad on a sub roll ($6.99).

March 7, 2014 - 12:30 pm |

WHAT’S FOR LUNCH? THIS, IN RUMSON

Feb 28, 2014

The Metropolitan, with a side of red potato salad, at Atlantic Bagel in Rumson. (Photo by John T. Ward. Click to enlarge)

Honestly, this kind of blew us away.

It’s called the Metropolitan, and it’s hefty sandwich of maple honey ham, provolone, lettuce, tomato and roasted peppers with your choice of dressing – we had the Russian – on a bagel.

Tasted great. All the ingredients obviously fresh. But what knocked us out was the price: $5.20. And it comes with a huge side of potato salad.

February 28, 2014 - 11:31 am |

WHAT’S FOR LUNCH? CAPPY AND FRESH MOZ

Feb 21, 2014

The A&G Special from A&G Italian Fine Foods in Little Silver (Photo by Jim Willis. Click to enlarge)

By JIM WILLIS

On a friend’s suggestion, PieHole stopped by the deli on the corner of Oceanport and Silverside avenues in Little Silver. A&G Italian Fine Foods opened just before Thanksgiving in the location vacated by Giovanni’s over a year ago.

February 21, 2014 - 1:52 pm |

WHAT’S FOR LUNCH? THIS, IN RED BANK

Feb 7, 2014

Grilled chicken wrap with curly fries, at the Red Bank Diner. (Photo by John T. Ward. Click to enlarge)

The seasoning on the grilled chicken in the grilled chicken wrap sandwich at the Red Bank Diner? It’s a secret.

And the dressing? Also a secret, teases owner Loui Kanellos, before allowing that it’s just a simple house concoction.

February 7, 2014 - 10:30 am |

WHAT’S FOR LUNCH? THIS, IN LITTLE SILVER

Jan 31, 2014

The Little Silver Panino, at Felicia’s & Sam’s. (Photo by John T. Ward. Click to enlarge)

The name “Felicia’s and Sam’s” may not shout “Italian,” but restaurants on the Green don’t get much more Italian than this cozy place in Little Silver.

Tucked away behind the CVS drugstore in the Markham Place strip mall, the place is owned by husband-and-wife Felicia and Sam Zaffiro, who emigrated to the United States separately from the same tiny town near the toe of the Italian boot, Vallefiorita.

And while the location and decor say “American luncheonette,” the menu is infused with the benefits of a culture “where every mother makes sure her daughter knows how to cook,” Felicia tells PieHole.

January 31, 2014 - 12:00 pm |

WHAT’S FOR LUNCH? THIS, IN SEA BRIGHT

Jan 24, 2014

Chicken roll with dipping sauce, at Sea Bright Pizza. (Photo by John T. Ward. Click to enlarge)

An Italian chicken roll? What’s that?

“If you go to Italy and ask for an Italian roll, they’ll look at you like you have three heads,” says Sea Bright Pizza owner Cono Trezza.”It doesn’t exist. It’s like ‘chicken parm.'”

January 24, 2014 - 11:22 am |

WHAT’S FOR LUNCH? TURKEY SUB IN LINCROFT

Jan 17, 2014

The turkey sub with hot peppers at joyce’s. (Photo by John T. Ward. Click to enlarge)

Joining a stream of paint-spattered tradesmen, women in businesswear, hungry young guys from Christian Brothers Academy and others streaming into Joyce’s Subs and Pizza, PieHole expected good, cheap What’s For Lunch eats.

Located in a characterless but busy strip mall on Newman Springs Road in Lincroft, the 40-something-year-old shop is a mainstay among neighbors that include Pat’s Market and a Dunkin’ Donuts.

January 17, 2014 - 10:14 am |

WHAT’S FOR LUNCH? PHILLY IN PHAIR HAVEN

Dec 20, 2013

Umberto’s Phlly cheese steak sandwich with onions. (Photo by John T. Ward. Click to enlarge)

When it comes to cheese steak, it’s often best not to look too closely or ask too many questions. Rubberband sandwich? Say no more.

Silvio Fabbri has no patience for it.

“It starts with good steak,” says the owner of Umberto’s Pizzeria, on River Road in Fair Haven. “You can’t buy cheap ****.”

December 20, 2013 - 12:34 pm |

WHAT’S FOR LUNCH? SOPPRESSATA ‘N CHEESE

Dec 13, 2013

Soppressata from Citarella’s Market paired with some pickled cherry peppers from the garden and a piece cheddar cheese. (Photo by Jim Willis. Click to enlarge)

By JIM WILLIS

Citarella’s Market in Red Bank carries a few different cured dry sausages that they bring in from Pastosa’s in Brooklyn.

PieHole recently picked up a sweet soppressata (approx $15 per pound) from the Prospect Avenue shop. At home, we put together a quick lunch with some pickled hot cherry peppers from this summer’s garden and a piece of cheddar leftover from a recent party.

December 13, 2013 - 12:13 pm |

WHAT’S FOR LUNCH? TUNA SUB, IN RED BANK

Dec 6, 2013

The tuna half-sub at Elsie’s. (Photo by John T. Ward. Click to enlarge)

What’s For Lunch? How about half a tuna sub from Elsie’s Sub Shop, on Monmouth Street in Red Bank, with lettuce, tomato, onion and hot peppers, for $5.15?

In a world with only about a billion sub shops, what makes for a good sub?

December 6, 2013 - 10:58 am |

FAIR HAVEN: APRÈS THE BIRD, A LIGHT LUNCH

Nov 29, 2013

The Caprese panini at Tavolo. (Photo by John T. Ward. Click to enlarge)

What’s for lunch? Gee, who can even think of food today?

But hey, we gotta eat, right? Even after a getting a bellyful on Thanksgiving.

So here’s a lunch that will tickle the tastebuds without dropping another anvil into the stomach: the Caprese panini at Tavolo Pronto, in Fair Haven.

November 29, 2013 - 11:35 am |

WHAT’S FOR LUNCH? ZAITOONI SOUP & WRAP

Nov 15, 2013

The hummus wrap and red lentil soup at Zaitooni Deli. (Click to enlarge)

The second in PieHole‘s occasional series on What’s for Lunch takes us to Zaitooni Deli, a cozy little nook on Mechanic Street in Red Bank that may just transport you to the Middle East for a few moments.

November 15, 2013 - 11:30 am |

RED BANK: WHAT’S FOR LUNCH

Nov 8, 2013

At the Danish Café in Red Bank: a tuna pita sandwich, with corn, peas, red peppers, romaine lettuce and thousand island dressing. “It’s how we make it in Denmark,” says Lone Kofod, who owns the café, located in the Galleria Red Bank, with husband Claudi.

Want to see more like this on PieHole, redbankgreen‘s fledgling food page? Let us know! (Click to enlarge)

November 8, 2013 - 10:01 am |

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