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SEA BRIGHT: BROGUE, HEARTH AND PORK ROLL

Alice’s Kitchen takes over  space that was home to downtown fixture Steve’s Breakfast & Lunch. Below, Alice Gaffney with a customer shortly after opening her doors Friday morning. (Photo below by Colby Wilson. Click to enlarge)

By COLBY WILSON

The first time you visit Alice’s Kitchen in Sea Bright, order an Irish breakfast.

That’s on the recommendation of the chef and owner, Alice Gaffney, who’s bringing the food – and an architectural touch – of her homeland to 1100 Ocean Avenue, but doing it Jersey-style.

“We’re going to have Irish soda bread, Irish breakfast, and of course pork roll,” Gaffney tells redbankgreen. After all, “this is the Jersey Shore,” she says.

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THE BRIDGE TO SUMMER SUCCESS?

highlands-bridge1The state DOT has plans to ease traffic jams at the Sea Bright-Highlands bridge construction site this summer. (Photo by Dustin Racioppi; click to enlarge)

By DUSTIN RACIOPPI

In 34 years doing business on Ocean Avenue in Sea Bright, Steve Garelli says he’s learned one thing when it comes to preparing for the summer rush, which is unofficially upon us this Memorial Day weekend.

“It’s all about the weather,” said Garelli, owner of Steve’s Breakfast & Lunch.

But in recent summers, Garelli, like many other business owners in the seaside hamlet, has learned one more thing: cranes and dump trucks can wipe out abundant sunshine rather quickly.

The construction of the Route 36 Highlands bridge, which connects Highlands to the Sea Bright/Sandy Hook peninsula and funnels traffic into the Gateway National Recreation Area, plagued local businesses last summer and wreaked havoc on motorists.

Now that the 65-foot high bridge is near completion — two lanes are operational, and two more are being added — local merchants are hopeful, but skeptical, that traffic will flow better, both on the road and in their stores this summer.

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