Reyla, Asbury Park

Was hoping they’d keep this a little under wraps, but…

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Please, like any place in this town keeps anything under wraps. Lol

Did you go to the hall of fame induction last night

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Nope! You?
And I have to say that while I was aware it was happening, it wasn’t until I read the news this morning that I knew who half the inductees were!

Based on the article I think it will be a bit too “hipster” for me.

I think they’re hyping it as hipster; I never feel out of place at Reyla–and they have my favorite food and cocktails in AP! Perhaps I’ll have to persuade you to give it a try with me.

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Yep, we were there, mostly for Southside and the Smithereens. It dragged at times but George RR Martin was entertaining and Jason Alexander was hilarious.

Harry Carson was great as well

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Not that I care, but can you legally serve cbd at a restaurant?

Cookman creamery has it in their ice cream.
It’s cbd not the THC so it doesn’t get you high

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CBD you can as long as there is no THC in it.

Interesting question and I had this discussion with someone recently. I found this excerpt about it from this site https://www.law.com/njlawjournal/2019/06/19/cbd-use-in-consumer-products-under-the-farm-bill-and-nj-law/?slreturn=20190929130041:

“In New Jersey, the Department of Health has not yet adopted any policies and/or regulations prohibiting the incorporation of hemp derived CBD and other non-FDA-approved cannabinoids in food products. Therefore, it appears that New Jersey will not take action with respect to incorporating hemp derived CBD in food, at least until the Department of Health issues regulations stating otherwise, or the FDA instructs the state to act otherwise. It is important to note that the commodity must contain lawfully sourced hemp products.”

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We had a dinner for 9 people here the other day. Honestly, not a single complaint and this is really a tough crowd usually! We ordered the all in plus a few more extras. Service was attentive without being overwhelming. I still want to try the downstairs bar.

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It’s no secret that Reyla is my favorite spot in AP, but I’ve told people that if I go missing, they should look for me at Laylow ( the bar downstairs) first! :grin: I think we need to make a date… @MsBean ??

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Haha! I’m definitely in for this date! Pick a date!

My mother in law really would like to be a vegetarian so it was nice there was so many options she could enjoy. A total home run!

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@CurlzNJ
@gracieggg

I would LOVE to get together for drinks and/or food. Now that I’m a lady of leisure I have plenty of time.

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I was back at Laylow last night (the bar below Reyla, for those who don’t want to search this thread), and wow–this team just knows how to do everything RIGHT. I brought a good drinking pal with me and she was raving from the moment we walked through the door (which is inside Reyla)… we arrived early (6:30 or so) and grabbed seats mid-bar so we had the added bonus of chatting with Pip and Trevor. I knew I was having the Lunchbox Special again, as I’ve been raving about it since my last visit; peanut oil-washed bourbon (made in-house, as they do with all of their syrups and infusions) with an orgeat foam and house-made jelly. It’s a PB&J in a glass in the best way possible.

My friend ordered the Get Off Your F*cking Meds, which, iirc, had mezcal as a base. She LOVED it.
She then tried the El Monstruo, which is a mezcal/tequila combo with spice and smoke and comes with an avocado popsicle. Again, she was in love.–and I had a second Lunchbox. :slight_smile:

In between rounds, we realized we needed some FOOD, so we ordered the Angels Eggs and the Terrine from their limited “Snack” menu, which Pip said is changing in a few weeks. The ‘deviled’ eggs were incredible; the egg filling was chick pea and ___ and there was caviar and wasabi ‘caviar’ and diced red onion on top. Heavenly indeed!


Next up was something I would never normally order, but it sounded delicious–the terrine of beef and pork, wrapped in bacon, served with Ritz crackers, honeycomb, and some of their Carolina BBQ sauce, which was mustardy and vinegary and I could have had it through a straw. The combo of all of these items WORKS.

There’s legit reason to love Reyla and Laylow; there’s nobody else in town or in the immediate area with such creative food. Holler if y’all are coming to AP. :stuck_out_tongue_winking_eye:

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We’ve not been to Reyla. Checking the website, I see they take reservations, which is a good thing. But two questions. How high is the noise level? (I avoid insanely noisy restaurants.) And what’s the parking situation? (If we go, it would be mid-week.)

Hmm. Reyla is only quiet when it’s fairly empty. That said, they redid some of the interior last year and added a lot of soundproofing, so I think if you go mid-week it will be fine. They get packed on the weekends, and certainly in-season. As for parking, it’s all paid street parking (there’s an app or there are kiosks on every block). When we went on Thursday, we found a spot <2 blocks away; just depends on the day and whether or not there’s a show at House of Independents.

Thanks for the info! It doesn’t have to be quiet. Just not hideously noisy (which is the case with too many restaurants in NYC). I’ve never heard of House of Independents. I looked at the website calendar, and it appears most performances are not mid-week. But if we go to Reyla, I will double-check beforehand.

Edited to add: On their Facebook page, they post dates for belly dancing. We’d want to avoid that, so I’ll check there as well.

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We just had drinks at Laylow and dinner at Reyla’s to celebrate being fully done buying/selling/moving WAY more crap then we thought we had etc etc.

Anyways. Laylow delivered as I expected it would. We both enjoyed our cocktails.

Upstairs the food was all delicious but they are trying a thing where you scan a QR code to order anything you want. Our phones were both mostly dead so we still ordered from our waiter. It honestly didn’t make much sense. My husband wanted a mescal but didn’t know the exact name of their mescal so impossible to search on their tool. I’m not completely sure their vision there. My only other gripe is only one dessert on the menu! Like. What! One dessert!!! But really overall very very tasty, falafel, hummus, short rib shashuka and fried little eggplant rolls of perfection.

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