Red Bank library director Elizabeth McDermott indulges her craving at Sogo Sushi. (Photo by Susan Ericson. Click to enlarge)
By SUSAN ERICSON
World traveler-turned-Red Bank Public Library director Elizabeth McDermott has a weekly itch that she scratches at Sogo Sushi on Monmouth Street: a bento box.
“It’s like comfort food to me,” says McDermott, whose previous job as a software consultant for Oracle took her all over the globe.
The large space formerly home to the Broadway Grille is to become Taka, a sushi restaurant. (Click to enlarge)
By JOHN T. WARD
Amid a proliferation of new restaurants, downtown Red Bank is taking on a decidedly Asian flavor.
Two weeks ago, Oriental Empire opened at 54 English Plaza, joining five other purveyors of Asian cuisine in the heart of town – most of them of recent vintage.
Now, a sushi restaurant has signed a lease at the high-profile corner of Broad and Monmouth streets., in the former home of the Broadway Grille.
This week in PieHole: The Lighthouse’s Italian ice machines whirr back into action after chilling out for the winter. (Photo by Jim Willis. Click to enlarge)
By JIM WILLIS
redbankgreen’s PieHole is all about local food and drink. If you haven’t liked us on Facebook yet or followed us on Twitter, you may have missed some of these recent stories…
A great selection of rolls to choose from among the lunch specials scratched our itch for brown rice sushi at Sogo Sushi. (Photo by Jim Willis. Click to enlarge)
By JIM WILLIS
Sogo Sushi on Monmouth Street in Red Bank is known for its brown rice sushi. The very slight nutty taste and more robust texture of the brown rice make for a deliciously unique accompaniment to the usual sushi fare.
It’s also a bit addicting, and so we headed to get our fix for this week’s What’s For Lunch.
The Dublin House is adding a second-story room to its Monmouth Street location. (Photo by Dustin Racioppi; click to enlarge)
By DUSTIN RACIOPPI
The Dublin House on Monmouth Street is making a little more elbow room for its customers. 
Red Bank’s authentically Irish pub grub spot won approval earlier this week to knock down a wall next to the upstairs bar and extend the area with additional seating and a stairway to the northeast end of the Victorian structure, Dub co-owner Euegne Devlin said.
“It’s just going to be like a little lounge room,” he said. “It’s basically only for the convenience of my customers.”
The addition of 20 to 25 seats in a 400-square-foot room to be done in the same style and colors of the public house’s update four years ago plus a staircase leading directly to it, will eliminate the slightly awkward walk through the upstairs dining area to get to the second-floor bar, Devlin said.
“People were complaining about going through the dining room,” he said. “When you come upstairs, (now you can) walk right into the bar.”
More business news from Red Bank after the jump.
Pink striping down River Road in Fair Haven in celebration of Pink Week, which continues this week. (Photo by Dustin Racioppi; click to enlarge)
By DUSTIN RACIOPPI
You’ll notice the redbankgreen masthead’s looking a more on the red side than green these days. That’s because last week kicked off Pink Week, Riverview Medical Center and Red Bank RiverCenter’s annual push for breast cancer awareness, detection and treatment.
We’re not here just for supportive graphics, but on this Monday morning to keep you abreast (couldn’t help it) of what that’s all about, and other news from the end of April. Click on.
By DUSTIN RACIOPPI
Fans of Red Bank’s only spot for brown rice sushi are about to get some elbow room.
Sogo Sushi, a takeout restaurant with just two tiny tables in its Monmouth Street space, is planning to bust through an interior wall to make room for seating and an expansion to the menu.
On Monday night, owner Irving Chen (right) won borough planning board approval for the plan.
Just a year after opening, Carmine’s Sub Shop has changed owners. (Photo by Dustin Racioppi; click to enlarge)
By DUSTIN RACIOPPI
Another Red Bank business bites the dust or in this case, has been stubbed out over rent in Red Bank. 
Cigars Plus, one of the last, if not the last, places to enjoy a smoke indoors in Red Bank, is heading out of town.
Owner Frank Toscano tells redbankgreen his landlord, John Bowers, of Philip Bowers Realty, didn’t want the space filled with smoke anymore and was squeezing him on rent. Toscano will maintain his original Cigars Plus shop in Brick.
“We lost our lease,” he said. “The landlord is kicking us out. He didn’t want smoking in the shop, so I have to leave.”
More details on what’s churning in Red Bank’s downtown after the ‘Read More.’
Plans for Jon Bon Jovi’s Soul Kitchen will keep the bay doors for now. (Photo by Dustin Racioppi; click to enlarge)
By DUSTIN RACIOPPI
Bon Jovi’s Soul Kitchen has found itself a new home in Red Bank. It just needs a thumbs-up from the borough to fire up the grill.
The mega-star and super-philanthropic Middletown resident’s non-profit, the JBJ Soul Foundation, has filed plans with the borough’s planning and zoning office to move into a former auto repair shop on Monmouth Street, just west of the train tracks.
RiverCenter is relocating to English Plaza in mid-March. (Photo by Dustin Racioppi; click to enlarge)
By DUSTIN RACIOPPI
After six years tucked above the bustle of Broad Street in Red Bank, RiverCenter is packing up and moving one block west. 
In mid-March, the independent agency that promotes the downtown and part of the West Side will make English Plaza its hub of operations. The move, to the same building that houses the Inbetween Cafe, PS Poppyseeds, Urban Dawgs, and Space Interiors, will create more elbow room for the handful of employees and reduce the rent, said Executive Director Nancy Adams.
“We loved being here,” she said of the offices above Zebu Forno. “But it gives us more space and some separate offices for staff.”
That’s the latest move downtown. There’s more in the rundown right around the Read More corner…