WHAT’S FOR LUNCH? HEALTHY DELECTABLES

May 12, 2017

Turkey meatballs in pomodoro sauce, shaved brussel sprout salad and sweet potato and asparagus quiche from the Healthy Palate. (Photo by Susan Ericson. Click to enlarge)

By SUSAN ERICSON

Let’s just say that several seasons of culinary indulgence have PieHole seeking healthier lunch alternatives. Fortunately, there are oodles of options on the Greater Red Bank Green to choose from.

This week, we made our way to the Healthy Palate in Little Silver, where everything is organic, dairy- and gluten-free. Owner, chef and “certified eating psychology coach” Jennifer Asfar filled us in on the details of eating clean. More →

May 12, 2017 - 9:30 am |

RED BANK: EATING ‘CLEAN’ TO SAVE HER LIFE

Apr 23, 2016

Amie Valpone returns Monday to Red Bank’s Front St. Trattoria, where she once waited tables, to promote “Eating Clean,” her memoir and cookbook. (Click to enlarge)

By JOHN T. WARD

Amie Valpone was a healthy woman in her early 20’s when a cascade of ailments began, taking her to the brink of death.

Battling numerous diseases and beyond the help of conventional medicine, Valpone said she spent most of the following decade curing herself through better eating — and clearing her body of toxins.

Now 33, she’s chronicled her journey in a new book, titled “Eating Clean,” which tells the the story of “how food saved my life,” Valpone told PieHole last week. More →

April 23, 2016 - 5:00 am |

WHAT’S FOR LUNCH? HEALTHY, EARTHY PIZZA

Mar 18, 2016

The vegan, one of the many selections on the menu at Earth Pizza, below. (Photos by Susan Ericson. Click to enlarge)

By SUSAN ERICSON

When Paul and Lisa Finkler opened a Pizza Fusion franchise in Red Bank in 2010, they may not have foreseen the niche their restaurant would fill. But the Broad Street restaurant was an immediate draw, and soon customers were asking for more gluten-free and vegan dishes.

Three years ago, tired of the parent company’s rules on menu changes, the Finklers bought out their contract, redubbed the restaurant Earth Pizza and did as asked.
More →

March 18, 2016 - 10:00 am |

RED BANK: FLAVOR’S ORGANIC FOR KITCH CHEF

Nov 10, 2015

Kitch Organic chef Jennifer Freeman stirs a mixture of ground turkey and vegetables while Liam Splane cuts down a flat of wheat grass. (Photos by Susan Ericson. Click to enlarge)

By SUSAN ERICSON

In the exquisite, state-of-the-art kitchen at Kitch Organic on Leighton Avenue in Red Bank, the cooks are busy preparing some extraordinary recipes.

All the food here is gluten-free and certified-organic, but that isn’t what makes it exceptional. Health benefits aside, chef Jenny Freeman is producing meals chock-full of flavor — and she’s doing it with home-grown and carefully sourced ingredients.

The 42-year-old chef went to the Natural Gourmet Institute in New York “to learn how to help heal people through food,” she tells PieHole. “I wanted to learn good nutrition and use it in my cooking.” More →

November 10, 2015 - 1:37 pm |

RED BANK: MARKET OPENS SUNDAY

May 15, 2015

A week later than its customary Mother’s Day opening, the Red Bank Farmers’ Market returns Sunday to kick off its 16th run through summer and fall.

Among the returning vendors – but not right away – is the nationally regarded Cinnamon Snail vegan food truck, which recently lost its rights to do curbside business in New York City over permitting issues. The Snail’s return to the farm market was uncertain, but a post on the farm market’s Facebook page says the truck is expected to be back “later this month.”

Pets are no longer allowed at the market, which is open from 9 a.m. to 2 p.m. in the parking lot of the Galleria, at West Front Street and Shrewsbury Avenue.(Photo by John T. Ward. Click to enlarge)

May 15, 2015 - 5:10 pm |

LITTLE SILVER: A BETTER SALAD BAR

Apr 1, 2015

Chef Silvio Guzzo talks about the many cold and hot options available at Healthfair Natural and Organic Food Market, including the grab-and-go sandwiches below. (Photos by Susan Ericson. Click to enlarge)

By SUSAN ERICSON

If bean sprouts and granola are all that comes to mind when you think about health food, then perhaps you haven’t been to Healthfair Natural and Organic Food Market in Little Silver lately.

A bigger-than-expected market on Branch Avenue near the Little Silver train station, Healthfair also offers a daily hot food bar, a cold salad bar, a juice bar and an organic coffee station.

On a recent weekday, right before lunch hour, the considerable parking lot was packed. Inside, customers were grabbing groceries as well as house-made meals to go.
More →

April 1, 2015 - 8:22 am |

RED BANK: MARKET BEGINS DOG-FREE ERA

Aug 15, 2014

A ban on dogs at the Red Bank Farmers’ Market becomes the rule with this Sunday’s edition of the 15-year-old open-air emporium.

After ordering the ban a week ago in response to a report of a dog urinating on food for sale, inspectors from the Monmouth County Regional Health Commission #1 this week informed the owners of the Galleria, which hosts the market, that restricting dogs to areas where food is not displayed would be permitted. But the idea was “deemed not to be workable,” MCRHC director Dave Henry tells redbankgreen. So now, let those puppies… sleep in. (Photo by John T. Ward. Click to enlarge)

August 15, 2014 - 1:53 pm |

RED BANK: DOG BAN IRKS FARM MARKETERS

Aug 11, 2014

A ban on dogs at the Red Bank Farmers’ Market appears to have been triggered by a complaint about a dog urinating on a watermelon, the mayor says. (Photo by John T. Ward. Click to enlarge)

[See Update at end of article]

By JOHN T. WARD

A sudden ban on dogs at the Red Bank Farmers’ Market caught vendors and local officials by surprise Sunday.

The ban, by the Monmouth County Regional Health Commission #1, appears to have outraged some shoppers, who told vendors they would not return unless their dogs were welcome at the market, which is held weekly in a parking lot at the Galleria at Red Bank on West Front Street.

News of the ban came within 24 hours of reports that the health commission warned vendors at the Red Bank Community Block Party on Drs. James Parker Boulevard that they would be shut down if they didn’t comply with agency rules, Mayor Pasquale Menna tells redbankgreen.

In neither case had the borough administration gotten any communication about the actions from the commission, which Menna called “unacceptable behavior.”

More →

August 11, 2014 - 3:50 pm |

RED BANK: HEALTH FOOD RETAILER RETURNS

Jun 10, 2014

Khalid Channa at Healthy Habits on Monday. (Click to enlarge)

By JOHN T. WARD

The paper came off the windows and a six-year vacancy in downtown Red Bank ended with the opening of the Kahalid Channa’s long-awaited Healthy Habits Natural Foods store Monday.

Channa has been here before.

More →

June 10, 2014 - 6:20 am |

RED BANK: GETTING ORGANIC AT LIBRARY

Feb 25, 2014

With snow in the forecast, it’ll still be a while before we’re getting our hands dirty. (Photo by Jim Willis. Click to enlarge)

By JIM WILLIS

Sure, your beds may still have some snow cover. But that doesn’t mean it’s too early to start planning this summer’s garden.

The Red Bank Community Garden is kicking off the the growing season with a presentation by Master Gardener Carolyn Heuser, who will speak on “Vegetable Gardening with an Organic Twist” at Red Bank Public Library.

The event is Wednesday at 7 p.m. and is open to the public.

Clarification: This event is next Wednesday, March 5th.

February 25, 2014 - 9:07 am |

RED BANK: VIA45 CHEFS GO TO MARKET

Sep 27, 2013

Chef Claudette Herring slices some of the heirloom tomatoes she and partner Lauren Phillips picked up last Sunday at the Red Bank Farmers Market. Below, Herring and Phillips at Via 45, their Broad Street restaurant. (Photos by Jim Willis. Click to enlarge)

By JIM WILLIS

“We’re going to miss the tomatoes. And the corn. The corn was so sweet this year,” chef Claudette Herring of Red Bank’s Via45 says wistfully of the change of seasons. “We’re not going to have corn like that in the winter.”

Herring and Via45 chef Lauren Phillips did some shopping at the Red Bank Farmers Market last Sunday to get a read on what’s available as we teeter from summer into fall.

The chefs suggest keeping an eye out for the last of the season’s heirloom and grape- or cherry-sized tomatoes, and found some large yellow varieties at the market.

“These tomatoes are beautiful, and they won’t be around much longer,” says Herring.

More →

September 27, 2013 - 8:34 am |

CUPCAKES GO GLUTEN-FREE AT POSH POP

Jun 28, 2012

A passerby checks out the desserts at Posh Pop. (Photos by Stacie Fanelli. Click to enlarge)

By DANIELLE TEPPER

His high school sweethearts Krizha Bayacbacao and Matthew Pytel had always dreamed of becoming entrepreneurs. Now, just a year out of college, they’ve already taken an online business to the street.

Their story, culminating with last week’s launch of Posh Pop Bakeshop on Broad Street in Red Bank, begins with a birthday cake.

Pytel, 22, has Celiac disease, which is a gluten intolerance distinct from an allergy that prevents him from being able to enjoy most sweet treats. To address this, Bayacbacao started experimenting with recipes while she and Pytel were students at Kean University, and made him a gluten-free cannoli cake.

She was so proud of it, said Pytel. It was one of the first things she made. I love cannoli, so it was chocolate cake with cannoli filling and strawberries on top. It was delicious. That night, we sat down and she was like, Why dont we just throw something together and see what happens?

What they threw together was a website touting gluten-free baked goods, and as luck would have it, it became a little website that could.

More →

June 28, 2012 - 12:42 pm |

WHEN LIFE GIVES YOU LEMONS, ADD KALE

May 11, 2012

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.

More →

May 11, 2012 - 2:06 pm |

MOBILE FOOD MAY FIND A SPOT IN TOWN

Mar 18, 2011

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.

More →

March 18, 2011 - 8:56 am |

FARMERS’ MARKET RELOCATES TO RIVER PLAZA

Nov 26, 2010

Vendors of apples, fresh bread and other goodies packed up their movable feast at the Galleria and took it across the Navesink to Chris’ Landing in Middletown three weeks ago. (Click to enlarge)

When the clock ran out on the annual fresh-everything extravaganza known as the Red Bank Farmers’ Market three weeks ago, some of the vendors wondered why it had to end.

The market traditionally runs from Mother’s Day to mid-November in the parking lot of at the Galleria Red Bank shopping center. But there’s still a cornucopia of vegetables, fruits, baked goods and crafts to sell.

“We said, as this comes to an end, there will be no place for us to go,” said Laura Dardi of Red Bank, an employee of E.R. & Son Farm, a Colts Neck grower of certified organic produce. “To be cut off two weeks before Thanksgiving is at the worst possible time.”

More →

November 26, 2010 - 10:58 am |

A NEW PIZZERIA, AND A RAVE FOR VIA 45

Mar 29, 2010

Pizza Fusion boasts 68 seats, and plans to offer delivery in about three weeks. (Click to enlarge)

We’ve got some Red Bank eatery news this rainy Monday, with a long-awaited organic-ingredients pizzeria opening today and a second Broad Street restaurant getting a laudatory review from New Jersey’s largest newspaper.

More →

March 29, 2010 - 11:26 am |