Same with North Brunswick.
The Luchento location on Rt 33 West bound in the Manalapan/Monroe area is going to become an Indian restaurant opening this Friday according to the sign outside 
I am glad it is not going to be another italian place.
That is kind of a graveyard spot. Definitely wish them well though. It will be awesome to have a good Indian place at that location.
Not sure if it is news but just realize that Rai Rai Ramen from North Brunswick opened up a branch in East Brunswick (near K-pot):
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Itās quite obvious from the name that this is not an Indian restaurant. Itās Japanese with an emphasis on ramen plus a short section of Taiwanese dishes.
OMG thatās great, the NB location is SUCH A PAIN TO GET TO!!
@CurlzNJ, Ah, I see what you mean. The fact that he didnāt mention the name of the Indian restaurant and then included the link to the ramen restaurant led to my mistake.
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Awwwww itās amazing how much you can miss obnoxiously large plates of mediocre Italian food. How long has the location been empty? Itās been a few years since Iāve heard that spot mentioned. Is the Jack Baker location still open up the road? Last incarnation was something like The American Cafe? I had lunch there one timeā¦is it still operating?
Wellā¦ itās definitely been a while, i didnāt keep track. It becomes another Italian place i think and then it changed the name to Millstone Diner or something like that. I donāt think either place last more than six months and after that it has been vacated for at least a year.
The Baker Lobster Shanty become Bakerās Americanā¦ still operating and i think it does fine. From my daily commute, they always have a good amount of cars in the parking lot when I go home in the evening. I guess it is the default āAppleBeeāsā type restaurant for that area because there is nothing much around there and it has a liquor license. Quite frankly, i rather eat at AppleBeeās than Bakerās American 
The Hazlet location is still around, and always has a packed parking lot whenever I have passed it at night.
Iām sure the fact that Park East is closed has a lot to do with their business. They are the only game around. (well besides the Holiday Inn with the sports bar in it but thatās a very odd location)
My FAVORITE Fridays in Freehold story.
I was there about 10 years ago and they were doing karaoke. Iām sitting at the bar with a friend of mine and a single guy comes and sits next to us. It was visually obvious that the person who sat next to me was handicapped in some way, most likely highly functioning downs syndrome. He sat down and ordered a soda and in a very nice and innocent manner started chatting me up. Honestly, Iām not normally an approachable kind of person so it caught me a bit off guard. He was a VERY nice person and he was in fact there for the karaoke, apparently he was a bit of a local favorite.
Loooooooong story short, I had ordered some food and while I was waiting for it I decided to go outside for a quick smoke. (there was a time when I would smoke with friends who smoked, I use to be a bit of a āsocial smokerā per say). Anyway, we are outside smoking and out comes my new friend, he comes outside and says: āHey Notjr, just wanted to let you know your food came, itās at the barā I replied: āThank you Jimmy (name made up) to which he smiled and said: " I brought you some friesā and held out his extended hand which was full of french friesā¦āThank you Jimmy Iām good right nowā was my answer.
Two minutes later I return to my dish complete with a handful of bent / smashed fries returned to it.
No joke.
One more thing I will share. Jimmyās song eventually came on and he went up to sing, I still remember the songā¦Arms Wide Open by Godsmack. He belted out that tune with his whole heart and soul, he was off key, out of tune and he was really bad. As I looked around I noticed some people laughing, some just watching in astonishment and some not knowing what to do. He finished the song and came back to the bar and we chatted some more, he was so very happy.
I realized although he is handicapped he is happy. He is so full of joy for life, Iām not sure he even knows heās handicapped. I on the other hand am not handicapped (ok not officially diagnosed) and I would NEVER, EVER get up and sing like he did. No matter how much I might want to my vanity would never allow itā¦so who is truly handicapped? His handicap allows him to live a life as full as mine, if not fuller, because he doesnāt have the sense of vanity that I do which prevents me from doing a lot of things I would ālike to tryā.
It really left me with a new appreciation for people with disabilities like that and the lesson to me was we are only as disabled as we allow ourselves to be. If I continue to allow my vanity to thwart me I am indeed more handicapped than him.
That is my food for thought for the day.
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Thatās a heartwarming story.
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And I will add that aside from working with students who have disabilities, I spent a year working with the adult population as well. It certainly makes one run the gamut of emotions. After the initial shock and sadness of seeing how neglected some are, it really is a rewarding, heartfelt experience to see them doing things like @NotJrvedivici mentioned above.
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in my 4 years of commuting that way itās been like 4 different spotsā¦was the inspiration for my cursed joints post a while backā¦
The āAmericanā spot seems to be ever packedā¦prob as itās only game in town. Also noticed the Hogback Deli in that area closed which someone here recommended at one pointā¦Literally Wawa is the culinary highlight along that stripā¦
between that and his Lady Gaga impersonator story he really runs the gamut of highs and lows regarding karaoke.
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When you hang around as many gin mills as I have itās bound to happen a certain percent of the time. Like a roulette table, hang around long enough 00 is going to come out more than once.
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Small, temporary sign up at the former Lucentoās location now:
āTHE CHOZHAS RESTAURANT - Authentic Indian Restaurantā
Plus website (not much info)
at https://the-chozhas.business.site/
Still says āJan. 18ā for the opening day on the marquee-type sign out front.
Solo on South Street. Havenāt been here in years. Used to eat here semi-regularly 7-10 years ago and it just feel out of rotation. I was blown away by a gnocchi special. Perfectly cooked gnocchi in a black truffle/brown butter sauce. Glorious if not a bit pricey at $35. Right up there with the beggars purses at Via 45 and that spring pea ravioli with mint at Semolina. Will be returning to sample more of the menu which has changed quite a bit from my dated visits. Less chicken and veal parm and more cacio e pepe.
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