New Jersey Avenue bridge to Asbury Park restaurant scene from Ocean Grove across Wesley Lake. June, 2015. By Paul Goldfinger © Blogfinger.net. Click to enlarge.
By Paul Goldfinger, Editor@Blogfinger.net
Asbury Park once experienced “Glory Days,” but in the 1980’s, it went into a downhill spiral and it turned into “No Where.” Then, in recent years, perhaps ten, a slow and difficult rebirth has been occurring, and now it’s clear that Asbury Park has turned a definite corner in the renaissance and is becoming “Somewhere.” Of course there are still problems in governance, crime, poverty and schools. In some ways it is a tale of two cities—roughly east and west.
In December 2013, we posted a piece on Blogfinger that wondered if the acclaimed Asbury Park restaurant scene downtown had become a true “destination” for visitors from around here and elsewhere. We were interested in this subject because of the relationship that Ocean Grove has to AP. That includes the fact that many Grovers go there for dinner on a regular basis, and oftentimes we walk over there at night. In 2013, half of our Blogfinger readers who took our poll said that AP had not yet become the “go to” place for fine dining. Here is a link to that article.
But now, in 2015, we have reason to believe that the tide has turned over there regarding the dining situation. We wrote a recent glowing review about Taka’s new location, and today we will be reporting on a new name in town: “Cross & Orange.”
CHRIS BELLAMY in a live performance from his album Down in the Keys:
Bob. You are right about the important role of those riots in the ruination of the city. But the attempts to bring AP back seems to extend from the eighties. I think it’s great that they are moving in the right direction. We have been posting articles for several years regarding the “Asbury connection” referring to the relation between AP and Ocean Grove. Both places compliment each other.
OG came back from a bad place also, as did many places on the Jersey Shore, but that success occurred prior to that of AP. —–Paul
Just a minor comment that some might trace Asbury Park’s decline back to the riots that broke out in the city and they began during the 1970 July 4 weekend.
It is wonderful that Asbury Park has turned around now, isn’t it?
Between Brick Wall and Biergarten, i only travel for beer if im going directly to a brewery and getting it fresh, and with Kane in Ocean, Beach Haus in Belmar and Carton in Atl. Highlands i dont have to go far. Id say me and my girl go there once a week or so for a meal, Brickwall is the spot we most frequent
Now that’s a neat photo!
Every week we walk over to Asbury for dinner. Cross & Orange, Taka, Fish, Pascal and Sabine, Tallulah’s, Toast, Biergarten….Just keeps getting better and better.