LATE-NIGHT BURGERS COMING TO RED BANK
Jr.’s owner Mike DeSimone put together a group of investors to buy the yellow building in the background so he could expand his West End-based hamburger business there. (Click to enlarge)
By JOHN T. WARD
It may have one of the ugliest facades in Red Bank. But when Mike DeSimone looked at 17 West Front Street, he saw this:
A bustling corner with an Urban Outfitters right next door.
Four bars within a couple of hundred feet disgorging revelers who just might want a gourmet-quality burger to cap off the night.
A nearby hospital with hundreds of employees working around the clock.
A northern beachhead for his highly successful Jr’s West End, the Long Branch late-night restaurant he launched five years ago.
In fact, DeSimone liked the location so much that he persuaded a group of friends to buy the former home of Zuleyka’s Kitchen so his business could lease out the ground floor space.
He even plans to live upstairs.