RED BANK: FOOD TRUCKS UP FOR DISCUSSION

John Yarusi risked a summons when he parked his Johnny’s Pork Roll truck on Wallace Street in a short-lived experiment test of borough law in 2013. (Photo by Jim Willis. Click to enlarge)

By JOHN T. WARD

hot topic red bank nj Is Red Bank ready at last to unlock the gates that keep out food trucks?

The idea of easing restrictions on food truck operations came up at last week’s borough council workshop meeting, as it has in the past. But this time, it’s not being summarily rejected by the agency that promotes the downtown business district.

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June 12, 2019 - 7:45 am | Comments ()

FAIR HAVEN: STREET VEGAN TO PARK IT HERE

Adam Sobel, the Vendy Award-winning proprietor of food truck favorite the Cinnamon Snail, visits River Road Books on Saturday to sign copies of his new cookbook “Street Vegan.” And yes, There Will Be Donuts.

With his wildly popular food truck, the Cinnamon Snail, temporarily limited to weekly appearances at the Red Bank Farmers Market after losing its curbside spots in New York City, vegan chef Adam Sobel is scheduled to park himself for a spell in Fair Haven on Saturday.

As recently reported here in a mouth-watering feature on redbankgreen‘s PieHole food page, the Red Bank resident has just become proud papa to a cookbook, which he’ll be touting at a signing event at River Road Books. And, as if you needed anything to sweeten the deal, there will be doughnuts — Sobel’s justifiably famous ‘donuts’ — free with purchase the book while supplies last.

June 3, 2015 - 7:07 am | Comments ()

RED BANK: CINNAMON SNAIL, IN GLOSSY COLOR

A sample of pastries from Adam Sobel’s Cinnamon Snail food truck and copies of his new cookbook, ‘Street Vegan,’ below. (Photos by Susan Ericson. Click to enlarge)

By SUSAN ERICSON

Get out your aprons, Cinnamon Snail fans: Adam Sobel, four-time winner of the Vendy award for food trucks has penned a collection of recipes and stories that will keep you chained to your stoves.

While awaiting the truck’s expected return to the Red Bank Farmers Market, Snail-starved disciples wondering what just goes into the making of “Mexican Hot Chocolate Glazed Twists” can now take a shot at it themselves.

Sobel shares his secrets in an often-funny, non-preachy way, with chapter after delectable chapter of addictive recipes in “Street Vegan,” all while eschewing animal products.

May 20, 2015 - 11:00 am | Comments ()

RED BANK: CINNAMON SNAIL ROLLS TO A STOP

The Cinnamon Snail has been a fixture at the Red Bank Farmers’ Market in recent years. Below, chef Adam Sobel in his mobile kitchen. (Photo by John T. Ward. Click to enlarge)

By JOHN T. WARD

The Cinnamon Snail, the nationally lauded vegan food truck that calls Red Bank home and is a top draw at the town’s Farmers’ Market, is putting it in park later this month.

Chef Adam Sobel announced in a recent Facebook post that the mobile restaurant, featuring a robust menu “designed to shatter the misconceptions” about vegan cuisine, has failed in repeated efforts to renew its permit to sell on the streets of New York City, its primary location, after it expires on February 28.

As a result, Sobel wrote, the curbside operation will close down at the end of the month, though it could be resurrected as a brick-and-mortar restaurant.

February 18, 2015 - 11:00 am | Comments ()

RED BANK: KALE, SEITAN… AND PORK ROLL?

The Johnny Pork Roll truck is a new addition at the Red Bank Farmer’s Market in the Galleria parking lot. (Photo by Jim Willis. Click to enlarge)

By JIM WILLIS

morsels medium After a long winter, Mother Nature is taking her sweet time this spring, making us wait for the vast array of produce we’re accustom to seeing on Sundays at the Red Bank Farmer’s Market.

We will wait an extra week or two for the bounty of beans and other spring crops to make it to the Galleria parking lot. In the meantime, though, a new food truck – Johnny Pork Roll – means that PieHole followers can nosh on nature’s most perfect food: the pork roll, egg and cheese sandwich.

May 30, 2014 - 5:22 pm | Comments ()

RED BANK: TO MARKET, TO MARKET

Mother’s Day means the welcome return of the Red Bank Farmers Market to the parking lot of The Galleria building; a seasonal Sunday tradition that pitches its tent beginning at 9 am.

If it’s Mother’s Day weekend — and it most assuredly is, for the benefit of eleventh-hour gift shoppers everywhere — then it’s time once again for the Red Bank Farmer’s Market, the seasonal staple of local living that commandeers the parking lot of the Galleria complex (Bridge Avenue and West Front Street) every Sunday from now up to the threshold of Thanksgiving.

Between the hours of 9 am and 2 pm, a collection of area vendors will be pitching their tents to purvey a great selection of locally grown seasonal produce, freshly baked goods, handmade preserves, sauces, cheeses and more — in addition to houseplants, custom art and craft gifts, clothing items, and even some specialties geared to pets and their personal shoppers.

May 9, 2014 - 11:01 am | Comments ()

PIEHOLE: KARMA, CUPCAKES & PAD KRA PROW

Another tasty pick for your weekend grilling pleasure in our continuing series on cuts you’ll only find at a real butcher shop. (Photo by Jim Willis. Click to enlarge)

By JIM WILLIS

morsels medium

redbankgreen’s PieHole is all about local food and drink. If you haven’t liked us on Facebook yet or followed us on Twitter, you may have missed some of these recent stories…

PieHole basks in the lunchtime heat at Red Bank’s Muang Thai.
We continue our series on cuts of meat for your grill that you’ll only find at a good butcher shop.
Cupcake Magician is a 10.
Cinnamon Snail‘s karmic Kickstarter campaign feels the kindness.

May 2, 2014 - 4:19 pm | Comments ()

RED BANK: SNAIL GETS NEW SHELL

You can call it karma or just good fundraising, either way the Cinnamon Snail’s Kickstarter campaign for a new truck was a success for Red Bank’s Adam Sobel. (Photo by Jim Willis. Click to enlarge)

By JIM WILLIS

morsels medium Last week PieHole spoke with Red Bank’s viceroy of vegan cuisine, Adam Sobel, who was looking to raise $82,000 to help fund a new food truck through Kickstarter. Sobel explained to PieHole that without a second truck to vend his vegan victuals, much-needed repairs on his current truck could force the business to close up shop for up to a month.

With a few hours still left on the campaign’s clock, Sobel has passed his target and raised almost $85,000.

April 29, 2014 - 9:22 am | Comments ()

PIEHOLE: MEAT, VEGANS AND BURRITOS

PieHole has been checking in with area butchers to learn what they bring home for their grills. (Photo by Jim Willis. Click to enlarge)

By JIM WILLIS

redbankgreen’s PieHole is all about local food and drink. If you haven’t liked us on Facebook yet or followed us on Twitter, you may have missed some of these recent stories…

A free barbecue featuring grass-fed beef at Sickles Market this weekend.
The Cinnamon Snail asks for your help for a new shell.
PieHole eats a burrito and takes a nap.
Our series on area butchers’ favorite affordable and lesser-known cuts of meat for grilling continues.
The Red Bank International Flavour Festival is this Sunday.

April 25, 2014 - 3:40 pm | Comments ()

RED BANK: A TEST OF THE SNAIL’S KARMA

The Cinnamon Snail food truck is asking for help on Kickstarter. (Photo by Jim Willis. Click to enlarge)

By JIM WILLIS

morsels medium With the Red Bank Farmer’s Market starting up in just over two weeks, Adam Sobel is asking for help to make sure he’ll be able to bring his highly touted vegan food truck, the Cinnamon Snail, back to the Galleria parking lot.

April 24, 2014 - 2:02 pm | Comments ()

RED BANK: LOVED EVERYWHERE IT’S WELCOME

Chew on this: Buzzfeed says the Cinnamon Snail, which is not permitted to sell its gourmet vegan goodies here in its hometown of Red Bank, is the fourth most popular food truck in the United States. (Click to enlarge)

December 23, 2013 - 4:10 pm | Comments ()

PIEHOLE: SOPPRESSATA, CHOWDER & BRISKET

PieHole ate (just) west of the tracks in Red Bank recently, tasting some tacos and chowder.

redbankgreen’s PieHole is all about local food and drink. If you haven’t liked us on Facebook yet or followed us on Twitter, you may have missed some of these recent stories . . .

We stopped in to chat about chowder with Glenn Kovacs at the Chowda House in Red Bank.
PieHole sat down with Casey Pesce, chef/owner of d’jeet? at the Grove in Shrewsbury to get some ideas and inspiration for winter cooking.
We sampled some tacos and tortas at La Esquina in Red Bank.
We found the Cinnamon Snail a sweet parking spot in downtown Red Bank for Sundays in December, only to see those plans quickly get squashed.
Had a nice chat with Rumson’s Gingerbread House Lady.
Found our readers a really good deal on a crockpot meal.
What’s for lunch? How about a nice soppressata from Brooklyn by way of Prospect Ave in Red Bank?

Follow the links to the stories, and check out PieHole’s Facebook page or follow its Twitter feed @RedBankPieHole for up-to-the-minute postings.

December 13, 2013 - 12:17 pm | Comments ()

RED BANK: CINNAMON SNAIL PLAN SQUASHED

Red Bank has seen the last of the Cinnamon Snail, at least until next year’s Farmers’ Market at the Galleria, says mobile chef Adam Sobel. (Photo by John T. Ward. Click to enlarge)

By JOHN T. WARD

Plans for a mobile food truck to set up in downtown Red Bank on Sundays through December have fallen apart as quickly as they came together.

Vegan chef and Cinnamon Snail owner Adam Sobel tells redbankgreen‘s PieHole that town officials threw up bureaucratic requirements Friday that would be impossible to satisfy in time for the truck to operate in the Monmouth Street parking lot of Teak restaurant, as planned.

An unidentified borough employee told a Snail employee that the truck would need a peddler’s permit, the type of license issued to roving ice-cream trucks, Sobel said Saturday afternoon.

“It seems bizarre that we would have to do that just to operate on a different piece of property,” Sobel said. “It’s silliness.”

December 7, 2013 - 2:26 pm | Comments ()

RED BANK: LET THERE BE TRUCK FOOD!

The vegan magnet Cinnamon Snail will have a temporary home beside Teak, thanks to a little help from PieHole. (Photo by Peter Lindner. Click to enlarge)

By JIM WILLIS

As the final Sunday of this year’s Red Bank Farmers’ Market wrapped up in November, Cinnamon Snail food truck entreprenuer Adam Sobel was confident he’d be able to continue serving his vegan truck food to loyal followers, telling PieHole that he’d remain at the Galleria parking lot every Sunday through the month of December.

But earlier this week, Sobel put out this urgent message on Twitter:

Now, thanks to the intervention of PieHole, the Snail appears to have found a temporary Sunday home – in downtown Red Bank, a place not seen as friendly to four-wheeled purveyors of fine cuisine.

Is this the breakthrough truck food fans on the Green have been yearning for?

December 5, 2013 - 6:07 pm | Comments ()

RED BANK: CINNAMON SNAIL ON VEGAN ROLL

Adam Sobel, in striped bandana, says, “I want to get people excited about vegan. Its not all brown rice and steamed vegetables.” (Photos by Jim Willis.)

By JIM WILLIS

Adam Sobel, owner of the popular vegan food truck the Cinnamon Snail, doesnt get all preachy about being a vegan. Instead of sermons about the evils of the standard American diet or the darker side of factory-farmed animals, the 30-year-old Red Bank resident lets his food speak for itself, and hopes his cooking will get non-vegan customers to connect the dots on their own.

Since hitting the road three years ago, the Cinnamon Snail has become a Red Bank Farmers Market staple while amassing a considerable following in Manhattan, where it has won multiple awards. Mobile Cuisine Magazine, for example, named the Snail “America’s Favorite Vegan Food Truck” in 2012.

redbankgreen sat down with Sobel on the front porch of his home over a cup of chai and some yerba mate to discuss the trials and tribulations of a kitchen on wheels and whats next for the Cinnamon Snail.

June 21, 2013 - 7:29 am | Comments ()

PARK IT HERE FOR VEGAN FOOD & A FILM

The trailer for ‘Forks Over Knives,’ which will get two screenings in Red Bank Thursday night.

By DUSTIN RACIOPPI

While Adam Sobel waits to learn if he’ll be permitted to operate his four-wheeled business in Red Bank on a regular basis, he’ll have his Cinammon Snail mobile food truck downtown for at least a couple of hours Thursday night for a down-to-earth dinner and a movie.

Along with vegan-friendly comrades Patti Siciliano of Funk & Standard, Gail Doherty and Tiffany Betts of Good Karma Café and others, Sobel is taking part in an evening focused on the health benefits of eating the un-American way: organically.

The night revolves around the indie documentary Forks Over Knives, which features T. Colin Campbell, a nutrition researcher at Cornell University who believes degenerative diseases can be prevented, and in some cases reversed, by adopting a “whole foods, plant-based diet.”

Or, as Siciliano, a converted vegan who recently opened an organic juice bar in her Broad Street business, says, “just don’t eat garbage.”

July 20, 2011 - 7:33 am | Comments ()

SUNDAY: MARKET ON YOUR CALENDAR

Red Bank’s popular farmers market makes its traditional Mother’s Day debut Sunday. (Photo by Dustin Racioppi; click to enlarge)

By DUSTIN RACIOPPI

It’s time to polish momma’s apple, locavores.

Red Bank’s ever-popular, always-growing open-air emporium, the Red Bank Farmers’ Market, returns to the blacktop of The Galleria on Mother’s Day for its 12th season of dishing out homegrown fruits, vegetables and miscellaneous wares.

May 6, 2011 - 12:58 pm | Comments ()

MOBILE FOOD MAY FIND A SPOT IN TOWN

Cinnamon Snail owner Adam Sobel appears to have persuaded Red Bank officials to carve out a spot he and other mobile vendors can compete for. (Photo by Dustin Racioppi: click to enlarge)

Adam Sobel’s push for mobile food vending on the streets of Red Bank inched forward this week.

The owner/chef/driver of the popular Cinnamon Snail vegetarian and organic food truck came away from Wednesday night’s borough council meeting with a pledge that the governing body would look into creating a dedicated spot near the train station that mobile food vendors could compete for.

But the location under discussion isn’t one that Sobel, the presumptive lead candidate for the license, is sold on.

March 18, 2011 - 8:56 am | Comments ()

VENDOR GETS COUNCIL TO PICK UP THE PACE

Lines formed often at the Cinnamon Snail vegan food truck at the farmers market in Red Bank this summer and fall. (Photo by Dustin Racioppi: click to enlarge)

By DUSTIN RACIOPPI

Adam Sobel wakes up well before dawn Monday through Friday, hops in his kitchen-on-wheels and hauls up to Hoboken for a day’s work parked on the streets of Hoboken slinging gourmet vegan dishes to commuters and passersby.

A resident of Chestnut Street in Red Bank, he’d rather not. If Sobel had his druthers, he’d cut his commute to somewhere within the 1.7-square miles of the town where he lives with his wife and children.

In the last couple of months he’s tried to make it that way, by pushing the borough council and RiverCenter to allow him to operate in town. But aside from stationing his truck on the private property of the Galleria parking lot each Sunday at the Red Bank Farmers Market through the summer and early autumn, Sobel has done little more than spin his wheels.

Until Monday night, that is, when, with fanbase well-represented in the council chambers, Sobel got the council to see things his way.

November 11, 2010 - 9:28 am | Comments ()

Red Bank Green

Serving Red Bank and Greater Red Bank, NJ

RED BANK: FOOD TRUCKS UP FOR DISCUSSION

FAIR HAVEN: STREET VEGAN TO PARK IT HERE

RED BANK: CINNAMON SNAIL, IN GLOSSY COLOR

RED BANK: CINNAMON SNAIL ROLLS TO A STOP

RED BANK: KALE, SEITAN… AND PORK ROLL?

RED BANK: TO MARKET, TO MARKET

PIEHOLE: KARMA, CUPCAKES & PAD KRA PROW

RED BANK: SNAIL GETS NEW SHELL

PIEHOLE: MEAT, VEGANS AND BURRITOS

RED BANK: A TEST OF THE SNAIL’S KARMA

RED BANK: LOVED EVERYWHERE IT’S WELCOME

PIEHOLE: SOPPRESSATA, CHOWDER & BRISKET

RED BANK: CINNAMON SNAIL PLAN SQUASHED

RED BANK: LET THERE BE TRUCK FOOD!

RED BANK: CINNAMON SNAIL ON VEGAN ROLL

PARK IT HERE FOR VEGAN FOOD & A FILM

SUNDAY: MARKET ON YOUR CALENDAR

MOBILE FOOD MAY FIND A SPOT IN TOWN

VENDOR GETS COUNCIL TO PICK UP THE PACE