Tortelloni and house-made sausage from Buona Sera’s lunch menu. (Photo by Susan Ericson. Click to enlarge)
By SUSAN ERICSON
On a warmer-than-expected spring day, the flung-open doors of Buona Sera Italian Ristorante in Red Bank offer a welcoming sight.
At night the restaurant, at the corner of Maple Avenue and Monmouth Street, can be crowded with party-goers and dates trying to impress, but lunchtime is a different, quieter scene.
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Press release from Big Brothers Big Sisters of Monmouth and Middlesex Counties
For generations in Monmouth and Middlesex counties, the area chapter of the nationwide nonprofit Big Brothers/ Big Sisters has offered children in our community access to One-to-One Mentoring Programs that have made a tremendous difference in the lives of our young people. And, each spring for much of the past two decades, the BBBSMMC has engineered a very tasteful way for supporters to get involved with these acclaimed programs.
Going up for its 18th edition on Thursday, May 4, the annual Food and Wine Tasting Event offers an opportunity to “tantalize your taste buds with a selection of wine and cocktails…indulge in hors’ doeuvres, raw bar, pasta, specialty stations and dessert,” and “try your luck at silent and chance auctions.”
The champagne corks are poppin’ as Southside Johnny and the Asbury Jukes continue a Count Basie New Year’s Eve tradition this Saturday night.
Here at the tail end of a year that many people are all too anxious to put in the rear view mirror, there’s still sufficient cause to keep the party percolating right up to the last ball-drop. And in the bars, restaurants and performance spaces of the Greater Red Bank Green, revelers have a choice of options that range from an intimate table at a favorite bistro to a big event that’s become the toast of all New Year’s Eve Extravaganzas in the state of New Jersey.
Here’s a sampling from Red Bank, Fair Haven, Rumson and Sea Bright nightspots.
Mayor Pasquale Menna, right, at last year’s inaugural Red Bank Mayor’s Charity Ball. The fundraiser returns to the Oyster Point Hotel on Friday as one of several benefit events around the borough this week. (Photo by John T. Ward. Click to enlarge)
The month of May flowers into full effect with more than just greenery and colorful scenery — it’s also prime time for charity galas and other fundraising vehicles, dedicated to the benefit of some of our area’s hardest-working nonprofit organizations.
Saxman-flutist Eric Person brings his quartet to the intimate setting of Buona Sera Ristorante Wednesday night.
His father, Houston Person, had a starring role in 2014’s series of Summer Jazz Cafe events at Red Bank’s Two River Theater — and when St. Louis-born saxman and flutist Eric Person plays his own debut gig next week in the borough that birthed the immortal Count Basie, he’ll be pioneering what just might turn out to be an all new series of cool-cat concerts at a heretofore unexplored venue: Buona Sera Ristorante.
Planning the upcoming fashion show and luncheon to benefit the Latino Scholarship program at Red Bank Regional are Linda Ensor, RBR Source supervisor Suzanne Keller, Dede Rumph, Didi Friedman, Anita Camarano and Rose Powers.
Press release from Red Bank Regional High School
The Andrew Kroon Memorial Scholarship Fund, operating under the auspices of The SOURCE at Red Bank Regional High School, has been helping to make dreams come true for more than ten years. The program assists qualifying Latino students at RBR in affording their dream of college, and to benefit the scholarship, the foundation is sponsoring a fashion show and gift auction on Sunday, February 8.
Scheduled to run from from 12 to 3 pm at Buona Sera Ristorante in Red Bank, the event will spotlight fashions furnished by The Sport Spot in Shrewsbury and Posch Boutique in Rumson. Also featured will be a 50/50 raffle, raffle basket auction and coffee bar, as well as exquisite one-of-a kind jewelry by LeCharme.
It’s being described as a “first of its kind” event for the Shrewsbury Chorale — one that’s got the members of the Lincroft-based vocal ensemble under the baton of Anthony La Gruth “buzzing with excitement.”
It’s a special “Gershwin and Gifts Gala” fundraiser that will crown the Chorale’s 2013-2014 season with an auction of unique gift items, plus catered cuisine by Red Bank’s Buona Sera Ristorante — and, as the name suggests, the music of the great American master George Gershwin.
Above: Champian Fulton, Bob Tuzzo and Tony Corrao take the bandstand when the Red Bank Jazz Orchestra presents “An Enchanted Evening of Song” at Two River Theater. Below, twentysomething European conductor Santtu-Matias Rouvali makes his NJ Symphony debut at the Basie.
Friday, February 28:
RED BANK: While it admittedly ain’t Shakespeare, the interactive “environmental” phenomenon known as Tony n’ Tina’s Wedding can be said to be one of the most influential theatrical offerings in a generation — even indirectly spawning a stroll-through spin on Macbeth at a seedy Manhattan hotel.
Beginning tonight, and continuing for four more performances this weekend, lovebirds Tony Nunzio and Tina Vitale repeatedly renew their vows in a production presented by the Count Basie Theatre — hosted NOT at the venerable Monmouth Street venue, but practically next door, at the nearby Buona Sera Ristorante. It’s there that guests can “eat, drink, dance, converse and get caught up in the festivities” as they stand in for Tony n’ Tina’s various extended family members and frenemies. The comedy and the comedic “drama” unfold with seatings at 7:30 pm Friday, 2 and 7:30 pm Saturday, and 12 and 6 pm. Sunday. Tickets ($100) include the ceremony, reception, baked ziti dinner, champagne toast, wedding cake, music and dancing. A $150 VIP option includes a “classic Italian meal and seat up close to the action.” Check here for reservations, close to selling out as we post this — and toss that bouquet for some more great catches and matches, as we Mach it into March.