“We are talking at and about each other a lot these days,” says Rabbi Marc Kline (right), a member of the Red Bank Human Relations Committee and rabbi at Monmouth Reform Temple in Tinton Falls. He hopes to encourage better connections with a weekly free “coffee and conversation” event that starts Tuesday in downtown Red Bank.
The Buena Place fish fry combo platter, a recent addition to the menu at Readie’s Cafe. (Photo by Susan Ericson. Click to enlarge)
By SUSAN ERICSON
Restaurants come and go in Red Bank, maybe more often than we like. But there are a few that can brag of longevity and customer loyalty.
Opened in 1957, Readie’s Café is celebrating a big anniversary this year. Tom Fishkin, owner since 2001, tells PieHole that the deli had its launch on Monmouth Street as the Village Pork Store the same year that Elsie’s Subs, another lunchtime institution, opened its doors. It became Readie’s Fine Foods under owner Jack Readie in the 1980s.
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With a menu touting hot pastrami sandwiches, potato knishes, matzo ball soup and other hallmarks of traditional Jewish delis, Shapiro’s New York Delicatessen is set to open in Red Bank Friday.
The trailer for “The Sturgeon Queens,” a PBS documentary about Russ & Daughters released in 2014.
With luck, the Greater Red Bank Green will have a new, authentic Jewish deli by Thanksgiving, as reported last week by redbankgreen‘s Retail Churn.
Meantime, folks salivating for the arrival of Shapiro’s New York Style Delicatessen in Red Bank — or mourning the pending demise of New York’s Carnegie Deli —can nosh for an hour or two on the memories and insights of a counterman whose family knows from lox and herring.
Chef Marc Fontaine in the kitchen of O Bistro, his new French restaurant, which opened on North Bridge Avenue last week. (Photo by John T. Ward. Click to enlarge)
By JOHN T. WARD
This edition of redbankgreen‘s Retail Churn serves up yet another mouthwatering smorgasbord with news about three Red Bank eateries:
• a new French restaurant for a long-displaced chef
• a soon-to-open “New York-style Jewish deli,” complete with “pastrami salmon,” in the heart of downtown
• and expansion plans for a popular Monmouth Street bar and restaurant.
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Middletown police arrested a 38-year-old Fair Haven man last Friday on charges he went on a recent burglary spree in the township, smashing his way into at least eight retail businesses and restaurants since mid-March, they allege.
In each case, David Aochoa, 38, of Third Street, is alleged to have gained entry by throwing a red brick through a glass door, according to a series of MTPD complaints.
Pollo Azado with casamiento at Fredy Jeremy’s, seen below. (Photos by Susan Ericson. Click to enlarge)
By SUSAN ERICSON
Tucked into a nondescript, partly vacant strip mall next door to a car wash on Newman Springs Road in Red Bank, Fredy Jeremy’s is a delightful surprise.
Retaining the pizza and subs offered by the previous tenant, Red Bank resident Fredy Menjivar livens up his six-month-old restaurant with his scrumptious take on traditional Salvadoran fare.
With plenty of Mexican food options in Red Bank, “there was no place to get Salvadoran food,” says the longtime former deli worker, who yearned to showcase the tastes and flavors of his culture.
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The Greenwich Village, a Sonny’s sub filled with Italian ingredients. Below, Kenny Gambella. (Photos by Susan Ericson. Click to enlarge)
By SUSAN ERICSON
Just days after opening its doors without fanfare, Sonny’s Sandwich Shop on Ocean Avenue in Sea Bright was bustling last Friday.
Owners Kenny and Kelly Gambella bring a little of their Staten Island culinary roots to the Jersey shore, naming their new “baby” after their year-old son, Santino, known as Sonny.
The former Wayne’s Market on West Front Street is slated to open as a Jimmy John’s franchise owned by Gaslight Anthem bassist Alex Levine, at left below, and Matt Schaffert, right. (Photos by John T. Ward. Click to enlarge)
By JOHN T. WARD
The owners of two Red Bank restaurants left Monday night’s planning board meeting with unanimous approvals, one to expand and the other to open.
Buona Sera, at Maple Avenue and Monmouth Street, won an OK for a plan for a 1,200-square foot addition that might accommodate up to 50 standing customers. And Jimmy John’s Deli, a sandwich franchise co-owned by a member of the rock band Gaslight Anthem, got a thumbs-up to open in the former Wayne’s Market space on West Front Street.
The honey maple turkey sandwich on a roll from Butlers. Below, owner Paul Stout. (Photos by Susan Ericson. Click to enlarge)
By SUSAN ERICSON
It doesn’t matter if your mood is not so bright when you walk through the doors of Butler’s Market in Rumson. Owner Paul Stout has a warm and friendly smile to greet you and make you feel better.
Reopened last June after two-plus years of unsatisfying retirement for its proprietor, the deli’s food is in some ways as good as it used to be, and in many ways, much better.
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The helpful employees at Aleo Italian Specialties get customer orders out quickly. Below, some of the many gourmet takeout options. (Photos by Susan Ericson. Click to enlarge)
By SUSAN ERICSON
Stepping into Aleo Italian Specialties in the Acme shopping center on Newman Springs Road in Lincroft, PieHole was immediately hit with a feeling of deja vu.
The aroma of cheese and garlic surrounds you, calling to mind Arthur Avenue, the famous Little Italy shopping area in the Bronx. Then there’s the sight of food — everywhere. Hanging salami and cheese; shelves filled with rustic fresh breads from Brooklyn; imported dry pasta; and deli counters teeming with house-made delicacies. Your mouth waters and you forget what you came in for.
A two-fisted corned-beef Reuben on an everything bagel from Bagel Masters. (Photos by Susan Ericson. Click to enlarge)
By SUSAN ERICSON
A few clues indicated to PieHole that Bagel Masters, nestled in a strip mall on Broad Street in Shrewsbury, was a good bet for lunch.
The parking lot was full. There was a line of people from various walks of life waiting to place an order. Every table in the deli was taken.
This is just the type of place that makes you wonder, “what’re they giving away?”
Branningan’s has filed plans to add a two-tiered deck to the parking lot side of its Wharf Avenue building. (Click to enlarge)
By JOHN T. WARD
Yes, it’s already time for another edition of redbankgreen‘s Retail Churn. And once again, there’s news about Red Bank food and drink.
Right around the “read more” corner are details about big changes planned at Brannigan’s Bar & Grill, plus word of two national food chains hoping to get in on the head-spinning restaurantization of Red Bank: Jimmy John’s Deli and Chipotle Mexican Grill.
The familiar pastel-colored Adirondack chairs are back at Butler’s Market in Rumson. (Photos by Susan Ericson. Click to enlarge)
By SUSAN ERICSON
Lifelong borough resident Paul Stout owned and operated Butler’s Deli in a strip mall on East River Road in Rumson for 15 years. Two and a half years ago, he was ready for a more leisurely life, he thought, and so he closed the business and gave retirement a try.
Locals Creative Fresh Takeout took over the space, and made a stab at the sandwich trade, but threw in the towel earlier this year.
Stout, realizing that “retirement isn’t all it’s cracked up to be,” decided to re-open Butler’s in the same space.
Sandy and Paolo D’Amico behind the counter of Ferrucci’s Gourmet Delicatessen. Below, buffalo milk butter from Parma, Italy. (Photos by Susan Ericson. Click to enlarge)
By SUSAN ERICSON
Shopping at Ferrucci’s Gourmet Delicatessen in the Prospect Plaza strip mall in Little Silver is like stepping into a classic Italian grocery store, according to a customer who stopped in to pick up pizza dough brought in from Brooklyn. It’s as good as Arthur Avenue in the Bronx, he said.
Mixed New York boroughs aside, there is something about New York city tap water that makes pizza dough and bread taste better. And the bread at Ferrucci’s is delivered daily from Brooklyn along with the dough. It’s also a consistent daily sellout, says owner Sandy D’Amico.
Ready for cheese school? Read all about it in PieHole. (Photo by Jim Willis. Click to enlarge)
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A “Now Hiring” sign appears in the window of Balderose Fine Foods in the run up to its reopening this week. (Photo by Jim Willis. Click to enlarge)
By JIM WILLIS
After a bizarrely short first go, Balderose Fine Foods in Fair Haven is set to reopen this Friday, says chef and owner Tony Balderose.
PieHole saw the lights on early Monday morning, we popped in to find the Grateful Dead playing on the radio and Balderose getting the coffee equipment ready for the reopening.
The business had only been open three months last August when Balderose, of Shrewsbury, closed its doors indefintely because he was at odds with his business partners.
A sign on the front door announces an “intention to re-open October 1,” but that’s not going to happen, says founder Tony Balderose. (Click to enlarge)
By JOHN T. WARD
The fate of a food market that lasted just three months at Fair Haven’s most prominent intersection remains “up in the air” while a battle for ownership control plays out, one of the principals tells redbankgreen.
Balderose Fine Foods, which opened in mid-May, has been closed since mid-August because of the dispute, said founder and chef Tony Balderose, of Shrewsbury.
Jessica Dalmedo working her new juice bar at Fairwinds Deli Friday. (Click to enlarge)
By JOHN T. WARD
Two years after losing her teaching job in a budget squeeze, a Rumson woman has reinvented herself as a squeezer of fresh fruits, wheat grass and other healthy ingredients.
Tom Fishkin outside the Broad Street storefront into which he plans to move Readie’s Fine Foods next month. (Click to enlarge)
Here’s a movin’-on-up story we don’t see many examples of here in Red Bank’s ever-churning downtown.
At an age most retail establishments would kill to attain, Monmouth Street mainstay Readie’s Fine Foods, with roots that go back 54 years, is heading uptown.
Not that the diplomatic owner, Tom Fishkin, who doubles as chairman of Red Bank RiverCenter, would put it that way.
“People have always said Broad Street is better” because of its wider sidewalks and cachet, Fishkin tells redbankgreen. “But if you’re a destination store, it doesn’t matter which street you’re on.”
Except that is, when you’re a destination deli, with no place for customers to eat the sandwiches you make.