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WHAT’S FOR LUNCH? CREATIVE BAGELRY

051016hotbagel7A bacon cheeseburger deluxe on an everything bagel, above, and a chocolate chip bagel with a schmear of Nutella cream cheese, below, at Hot Bagels Brooklyn’s Finest.  (Photos by Susan Ericson. Click to enlarge)

By SUSAN ERICSON

051016hotbagels1James Beard, “the dean of American cookery” according to the New York Times, once said that “too few people understand a really good sandwich.”

Nikos Zaires and Mike Gambale, owners of Hot Bagels Brooklyn’s Finest in Red Bank, understand, and they’re turning that humble sandwich into a higher art, making creative use of quality ingredients layered on fresh baked bagels and other bread varieties in their month-old deli.
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RED BANK: BAGEL SHOP OPENS

hot bagels 040816 2hot bagels 040816 1Mike Gambale removes fresh product from the oven at Hot Bagels Brooklyn’s Finest, a deli that opened Friday morning in a former used-car lot at Maple Avenue and Broad Street in Red Bank. The business was the subject of a last-minute, and successful bid for some minor variances needed to open earlier this week.

Gambale owns the shop with Nikos Zaires, who grew up working with his father in a Brooklyn bagel shop. “This is his recipe,” said Zaires, and the result is “a true Brooklyn bagel: kettle-cooked and baked.” (Photos by John T. Ward. Click to enlarge)

CHURN: BAGEL SHOP OK’D; NEW EATERY OPENS

zaires gambale 040416Nikos Zaires and Mike Gambale in their new shop, Hot Bagels Brooklyn’s Finest. (Photo by John T. Ward. Click to enlarge)

By JOHN T. WARD

retail churn smallA just-about-ready-to-open bagel shop got the green light from the Red Bank planning board Monday night.

But hearings on two other proposed new restaurants were rescheduled once again. And yet another eatery, this one with the word “eatery” in its name, opened on Broad Street Monday.

It’s all here in the latest serving of redbankgreen‘s Retail Churn.

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RED BANK: FULL MENU OF RESTAURANT CASES

hot bagels 040416Test baking is already underway at Hot Bagels Brooklyn’s Finest, at Broad Street and Maple Avenue. (Photo by John T. Ward. Click to enlarge)

By JOHN T. WARD

HOT-TOPIC_03Will the owners of a brand-new, ready-to-open bagel store get the OK for the walk-in refrigerator they need to operate? Will the owners of a former downtown firehouse get the green light to build a restaurant there? Will a new Asian eatery be allowed in a former mattress store?

Those three questions loom over Monday night’s Red Bank planing board agenda.

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