NJ Food News

BINGBINGBING! #winner

I am definitely interested in some rodizio but I imagine it will be overpriced and it will be worth the extra drive to newark. I hope I’m wrong.

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Funny I saw this same article today and was going to post it until I realized who the owner was. I never really disliked the owner till observing him at Fromogerie on my couple of visits there. Love the spin they gave that venture in the article. Hey, give me some of that Bon Jovi money and see what a great place I (or any of us) can operate!!

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Cascada was a relatively short-lived Spanish bar/restaurant/nightclub located in the old Crossroads Bar space. Crossroads in its heyday (earlt to mid 2000’s) was a blues/country music venue and biker bar…

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“When seeing that the area didn’t have any Italian eateries besides the former Bensi,”

For definitions of “the area” being “The Shoppes of Old Bridge”. :wink:

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Am I the only one confused by the planned space of these two restaurants?

From the article:
Feast will seat 150 people in 6,500 square feet.
Churrascaria will be able to seat 130 people in its 550-square-feet.

Typo?

Also, FINALLY an Italian restaurant! Where have you been all my life???

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I’m sure the second is supposed to be 5,500 sq ft. I know the space(s) and that seems about accurate.

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Unless this some sort of bunk bed dining operation, 550 sq feet sounds tight!

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I call top bunk !!!

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There are “bunk bed” restaurants…

You have to climb a ladder to get the upper tables.

I feel bad for the wait staff!

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But if I can nap once the food coma sets in…

COOL! Thanks for posting.

I don’t think this has been posted yet…

Putting this up on my blog tomorrow. A hamburger place is moving into a perennial restaurant graveyard in Keyport where abut 5 or 6 places have failed since I moved to the area. One of those “What are they thinking?” moments.

"Hamburger Patty’s" to Give it a Try in Keyport Restaurant Graveyard

No pun intended—there’s a cemetery across the street. Moving into the little building next to Fantasies in Keyport is going to be Hamburger Patty’s. The first thing I thought was, “At least it’s not pizza”. They are the latest in a string of restaurants (a minimum of five since I moved to the area in the mid-90’s) to give it a try in a business graveyard of sorts. While the club next door thrives, none of the places ever seem to keep it together for very long. Bari’s Pizza probably lasted the longest, a good three or four years. The rest, mostly if not all Italian, have come and gone so fast that sometimes they were out of business before people even knew they moved in.

Image from their Facebook

One might think such a location would be a winner. It is easily accessible and one of the last dining stops before hitting the Garden State Parkway off Route 36. There will be hundreds of thousands of cars passing by on their way home from the beach. The summer alone could keep a business there going even through the slower winter months. Could it be that people stop at Wawa or QuickChek before they make it that far? Whatever the case is, no one has figured it out. The owners of Hamburger Patty’s have another location on Staten Island, so hopefully they will apply that successful business model to this and make it work.

Offering burgers, hot dogs, wings, and the like, this place does breathe some fresh air into a spot that was destined to remain in pizza limbo, or even worse, become the one millionth Chinese takeout joint in the area. My only hope is that they will be open late (located next to Fantasies makes that a no-brainer). After 11 PM, there is nothing in this area except an IHOP, and the thought of eating there makes me just want to stay home. I wish this place the best of luck. Such food offerings may be more popular with the shore crowd than pizza was.

Hamburger Patty’s is located at 65-NJ 36 in Keyport, NJ. They have an open hiring call scheduled for today from 3-6 PM for those looking for work.

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Location, location location. Isn’t that the first rule? Fantasies should take the bldg get a permit for outdoor dining; grill and bbq and serve the public pulling in.

In my decades its never been a head scratch as to why nothing last long in that location.

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Funny I was just in the area last week and noticed the sign, also noticed they finally tore down the car wash next door which always seemed to be as successful as it’s restaurant neighbor.

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Ha! The car wash is actually going to be Wawa. I have heard two versions of the story: 1) they are relocating from where they are now, less than a mile, and are going to be full service with gas. 2) they are going to keep the old location open and have TWO Wawa’s within a mile. Not really outlandish when you consider Quickchek has the same deal on the other side of the 36.

Didn’t the neighbors burn down that place three times when it was a porn shop? At least twice

Has anyone been to the hummus place yet in holmdel?

If you mean Hummus and Pita Co. in the Bell Works building, YES! I finally got to try it last week, as I was there promoting TEDxAsburyPark (coming up this Saturday, if anyone is interested, btw).

On my first pass mid-morning, I ran in to grab a bottle of water and asked if they offer samples of their (wait for it…) hummus milkshake. A resounding “Yes! We do it all the time…here you go.” and I can tell you the chocolate shake was delicious. All I could taste was almond (milk) and banana, so my guess is it’s more about the gimmick of knowing there’s hummus in there; otherwise, it’s just another smoothie.

I went back for lunch and waited in the line, which goes out the door every time, and now I know why. This is quick-serve–think Greek Eats or Chipotle–but with many more options, people serving who can’t hear the customers, and newbies like me who don’t understand how many decisions need to be made. That said, I had a whole wheat pita, a side of hummus, and their Mediterranean salad (mesclun, roasted eggplant slices, chick pea salad, and in my case, taboulleh instead of (stupid) olives and tomatoes, along with chicken and a lemony vinaigrette.

VERY tasty and while I brought home most of the hummus, I polished off the (large) salad. My only objection is that (with another bottle of water) it came to just over $15, and while it’s not totally unreasonable, I think that happened because I didn’t know that when I was asked what type of hummus I wanted that it was an add-on, as were a few other items.

All that said, I’d definitely eat there again.

Is THAT the place you were talking about, @corvette_johnny ? :thinking: