Food and Wine Corner

  We’ve Got To Get Ourselves Back To The Garden Hello my friends and homies , let me ask you a question, are all you all you all just feeling just a little bit anxious lately? Like you are waiting for the next shoe to drop , only one bit of bad news away from disaster? Like if you were a piece of Sushi you would be an “ Out of Control Roll” . Are you feeling , now how should I put this, Just a little freaking uncertain? Well my friends if it makes you feel better, there are very good reasons for this and one of them is quite close, buzzing and pinging in your pocket. Never before have we been so distracted, so disconnected from nature and the spiritual world. Little beknownst to us, there is an industry spending virtually a trillion dollars annually to capture your time and attention . While it may seem relatively harmless , there is a “ Toll for the Scroll”, a cost we all pay for our modern conveniences and that among other things is a loss of wonder and separation from the earth,...

                            LIVIN THE LIFE Hello my excellent friends and welcome to the very  best time of the year. Ah, Spring! The birds are singing, the buds are budding , the Yankees are cheating, the days are getting longer and everyone is is just so anticipant ( if that's a word).You can almost smell the plethora of fertilizer blowing off your neighbors lawn, and hear his wife chirping , “I told you it was too windy”. Even the word “Spring”  just connotes forward movement, leaping ahead, a new beginning and who among us wouldn’t want another chance to foul it all up again? Not Moi. FYI, Spring” or more accurately, “The Spring Equinox “ is called such because the sun is  positioned directly over the equator dividing  the periods of day and night time equally. Who knew? Not me, perhaps I should have listened more intently in science c...

  BETWIXT AND BETWEEN  ( IF IT ITCHES, THEN)  Hello my Besties and welcome to that in between time year when we are all waiting  for that big yellow ball to return to the sky, for the lilies  to bloom, for  the Robin Red Breasts to make their appearance and for the Umpires ( if they are not electronic) to yell “Play Ball”. Yes my friends it is that “Almost Time” of the year when you can feel it trying to be spring. Soon you will be able to watch the commotion at the garden stores as they scramble to double their prices of anything green , knowing full well that you will be buying them twice, once far too soon watching them freeze overnight and later when it is actually warm. And so my friends, where should you go while you're waiting for the snowbirds to return to Capistrano? Glad you asked. I for one would hightail it over to one of my favorite local haunts, the consistently excellent , always  satisfying rustic Italian Skratch Kitchen (812 Main St Br...

                       MIDDLETOWN STRIP SHOW     Hello my fellow subterranean arctic dwellers ,and welcome to the darkest , dankest, most depressing time of the year. Are you beginning to regret that you were too chicken to pull the trigger on that palatial intercoastal  condo,  you could have bought for peanuts back in the day? Well, now that I have sufficiently raised your spirits, let me ask you, could all y'all, use just a little treat to hold you over until the Summer Solstice? Of course you could. Hiding in plein site,  tucked away in an unremarkable strip mall between a luncheonette and pizza shop is the very remarkable (and great) Belford Bistro (870 Main St , Belford) , winner of my  last years “best meal of the year”,  award. The owners , husband and wife team Kurt Bomberger and Crista Trovato, late of Gramercy Tavern and Aquavit i...

    UP ON THE ROOOF Hello my wonderful friends and Happy Holidays. I sincerely hope that you and yours have found your way to Tim McLoone’s   fabulous addition to the Jousey Shore , AP Rooftop (1200 Ocean Ave, Asbury Park).Take the dedicated elevator to the third floor and you’ll know you have arrived at  what feels like your private  club in the sky. And what a space this is. It is shiny and sexy with soft glowing lighting, a killer bar and  a plethora of floor to ceiling windows showcasing a 270 degree panoramic view of the Atlantic Ocean. Now I don’t know whether it is the warm welcoming vibe, the high ceilings or just gazing out onto the ocean but there is certainly something that makes me feel instantly calmer  at AP Rooftop. To me the place just feels special. Maybe it is the masterful job that  super restaurateur ( and super person ) Tim McLoone has done in putting this shining Asbury venue together. Now just in case you recently  land...

    WE'RE GOING TO THE CHAPEL     Hello, my very awesome and  tasteful friends. Ya know, I always felt that my home town of Long Branch was somehow missing something. It seemed contrived, lacking the personality, creativity and yes, the  coolness factor of Asbury Park. This is apart from the fact that  it was historically, the birthplace of many literary giants, including Poet Laureate  Robert Pinsky, Pulitzer Prize Winner Norman Mailer and most humbly yours truly. Now if the only Culture that concerns you, is written on the side of a Cherbani Container, it may well be time my friends to expand your horizons. Enter the fabulous art and event  venue, come gastro pub, come environmental marvel; The White Chapel Projects (15, 2nd Ave, Long Branch). The WCP is aptly named for  the bustling district in London’s infamous East End  a virtual epicenter of art, culture and most importantly the home of Jack The Ripper ( who has sinc...