Volunteer firefighters battling the blaze, as seen from the north side of the building. (Video by John T. Ward. Click to enlarge)
See UPDATE below
By JOHN T. WARD
Fire in a third-floor unit briefly emptied a seven-story apartment building overlooking the Navesink River in Red Bank Thursday afternoon.
Volunteer firefighters on the roof of the Town & Country Deli. (Photo by John T. Ward. Click to enlarge)
By JOHN T. WARD
Red Bank’s second fire in 36 hours destroyed a Red Bank convenience store and deli early Saturday.
An exhibit used in the Coffee Corral hearing illustrates the placement of the new building, which would on Shrewsbury Avenue at the corner of Drs. James Parker Boulevard. The existing shop would be used for roasting beans. (Photo by John T. Ward. Click to enlarge.)
By JOHN T. WARD
Red Bank’s Coffee Corral won approval for an ambitious West Side building plan Monday.
The borough planning board gave a unanimous OK for owners Courtlyn Crosson and her father, business founder Russ Crosson, to transform vacant land at the corner of Shrewsbury Avenue and Drs. James Parker Boulevard into a new home for the coffee shop, plus an adjoining restaurant.
Coffee Corral owner Courtlyn Crosson hopes to build a new, larger coffee shop, and a separate deli, on the empty lot at the corner of Shrewsbury Avenue and Drs. James Parker Boulevard. (Photo by John T. Ward. Click to enlarge.)
By JOHN T. WARD
Six years after it opened in a tiny West Side construction office, Red Bank’s Coffee Corral is rarin’ for bigger pastures.
Owners Courtlyn Crosson and her father, business founder Russ Crosson, are scheduled to go before the borough planning board next month with an ambitious plan to transform the corner of Shrewsbury Avenue and Drs. James Parker Boulevard into a new home to the coffee shop, plus an adjoining restaurant.
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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Wawa’s Italian hoagie. (Photo by Susan Ericson. Click to enlarge)
By SUSAN ERICSON
Long before a video espousing a similar message (albeit with coarser language) went viral this week,
several PieHole fans strongly urged us to include Wawa in our eternal quest for superior subs.
One eyebrow raised in deep skepticism, we decided to bite, and paid a visit to the ubiquitous convenience chain’s store on Bridge Avenue in Red Bank.
The #15 Italian sub from the 58-year-old Elsie’s Sub Shop in Red Bank. (Photo by Susan Ericson. Click to enlarge)
By SUSAN ERICSON
On a visit to Elsie’s Sub Shop in Red Bank back in September, PieHole met Michael Mullins, a retiree from Middletown now living in Arizona. Whenever he returns to his Monmouth County roots, he told us, he makes a point of stopping at Elsie’s.
“In 1959, I’d take the bus down to the Carlton Theater [now the Count Basie Theatre] from Middletown. Back then the bus was ten cents,” he said. “Before I caught the bus to go home, I’d stop at Elsie’s for a number five,” or a turkey-and-cranberry-sauce sub.
Pastrami on seeded rye with a side of coleslaw and a traditional pickle bowl at Shapiro’s New York Style Delicatessen. (Photo by Susan Ericson. Click to enlarge)
By SUSAN ERICSON
In a carnivorous mood, PieHole headed over to the newly opened Shapiro’s New York Style Delicatessen in Red Bank, where we found plenty of Jewish-style sandwiches to choose from.
Corned beef and chicken noodle soup are staples at most of the delis on the Greater Red Bank Green, so what sets this place apart from the others? For a transplanted New Yorker, it’s the nostalgic Yiddish menu choices, such as blintzes (sweet stuffed crepes), latkes (potato pancakes), tongue (braised cow tongue) and kishke (stuffed derma), that we haven’t seen or tasted in years.
Duck confit tater tots from Red Rock Tap + Grill. (Photo by Susan Ericson. Click to enlarge)
By SUSAN ERICSON
Soul-satisfying soups, beefy burgers, crusty pizzas…
From a year’s worth of lunches good, bad and inedible, PieHole‘s What’s For Lunch? feature picks the Top 10 of 2016.
Click to restaurant names to see complete individual reviews.
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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.
A seasonal grilled chicken salad and a cup of Rhode Island clam chowder from the Windward Deli. (Photos by Susan Ericson. Click to enlarge)
By SUSAN ERICSON
It’s easy to pass by the Windward Deli, set back alongside the railroad tracks at Drs. James Parker Boulevard and Maple Avenue in Red Bank. So PieHole is doing you a favor by telling you to stop in.
Plenty of parking in front of and behind the building makes it easy to swing by for not-your-usual take out deli grub. A small courtyard with inviting picnic tables surrounded by verdant shrubbery offers an additional reason to grab lunch and eat al fresco.