November was a big month for Shore restaurant news.
Five new restaurants and eateries opened their doors, serving everything from freshly baked bread in Little Silver to Mexican food in Toms River — and Holmdel’s Bell Works got its first full-service restaurant.
One bake shop closed its doors while another opened; three restaurants announced plans to open; and another was sold in a multibillion-dollar deal.
Here are openings, closings and other restaurant news we reported on in November.
Divi Tree Coffee announces a second location
Joe and Maylon Torrisi, owners of Divi Tree Coffee in Point Pleasant Borough, will open a second location next year in Point Pleasant Beach.
More: Divi Tree Coffee to open in downtown Point Pleasant Beach
Divi Tree Coffee, a favorite for coffee, breakfast sandwiches and baked goods in Point Pleasant Borough, has a second location in the works.
Owners Joe and Maylon Torrisi will open their new coffee shop next year in the former Green Planet Coffee Company on Arnold Avenue in Point Pleasant Beach.
“Our plan is to completely revamp the store and make it match our other store,” Joe said, adding that they will be building a kitchen in the space. Green Planet sold grab-and-go items prepared at their other location in Manasquan, which remains open.
Divi Tree offers more than half a dozen coffee roasts by the cup or pound, espresso-based drinks, cold brew, frappes, smoothies, breakfast items and toasts.
The new location will be at 700 Arnold Ave. in Point Pleasant Beach.
Mabel opens at Holmdel’s Bell Works
Mabel, a full-service restaurant inspired by coastal European cuisine, opened Nov. 15 at Bell Works in Holmdel.
After years of running Cardinal Provisions, one of Asbury Park’s most popular restaurants, owners and chefs Laura Brahn and Grace Crossman have opened the doors of a second restaurant.
Mabel, the first full-service restaurant at Bell Works in Holmdel, opened in mid-November. The coastal European-inspired bar and restaurant is on the first floor of the complex.
The menu has brunch dishes like ricotta jam toast and chicken and waffles, lunch items including scarpariello wings and a fried mushroom sandwich, and dinner dishes like clams on toast, steak tartare, cavatelli, and pork Milanese.
The restaurant is at 101 Crawfords Corner Road in Holmdel.
More: Krispy Kreme ready to reopen in Ocean County after vanishing for almost two decades
Krispy Kreme returns to the Jersey Shore
Krispy Kreme Factory opened in November in the former McDonald’s on Route 70 in Lakewood.
Krispy Kreme Doughnuts, which has been missed in Ocean County since the closing of a Brick store in 2005, is back.
The doughnut factory opened this month in a former McDonald’s at Town & Country Shopping Center on Route 70 in Lakewood. The store has a drive-through window and is open from 6 a.m. to 10 p.m.
The shop is at 1900 Shorrock St.
Vegan bakery Wild in the Treats closes
Tony Panzica opened Wild In The Treats, a vegan bakery, in Atlantic Highlands this year.
Wild in the Treats, a vegan bakery that opened a little more than a year ago in Atlantic Highlands, closed this month.
“After a great deal of reflection and contemplation, I have made the decision that it is time to close down Wild in the Treats,” owner Tony Panzica shared on Instagram. “There are a lot of factors that went into this decision… I won’t go off on a rant about how difficult it is for a small business to succeed in this world.”
He offered treats including cinnamon rolls, brownies, cupcakes, seven-layer cookies, Jasmine green tea whoopie pies and lemon bars.
“The truth is we’ve seen a recent uptick in business, so this decision wasn’t financial,” Panzica shared. “There are much more personal reasons for this. The short version is simply, it’s time.”
More: Atlantic Highlands vegan bakery Wild in the Treats to close
First Watch readies to open first Shore restaurant
First Watch will open its new restaurant in Eatontown on Tuesday, Dec. 3.
The final touches are being put on First Watch, a breakfast, brunch and lunch chain that will open its first Monmouth County location on Tuesday, Dec. 3.
The Eatontown restaurant will serve breakfast, brunch and lunch, with a menu of dishes like cinnamon chip pancakes, steak and eggs hash, and avocado toast, plus fresh juices.
Customers will receive a free pot of coffee during opening week.
The restaurant will be at 133 Route 35 in the Monmouth Plaza shopping center in Eatontown. Another is under construction in Brick.
More: First Watch chain ready to open first Jersey Shore breakfast and lunch restaurant
Sofia’s Taqueria opens in Toms River
Bread & Butter Hospitality group, which runs more than a dozen restaurants in New York and New Jersey, opened its first one at the Shore this month.
The brightly colored Sofia’s Taqueria, which replaced Roxy’s Bar & Grille at Hooper Avenue and Kettle Creek Road, serves a menu of small plates, empanadas, quesadillas, burritos, tacos and platters, plus half a dozen kinds of guacamole and more than a dozen margaritas.
An Old Bridge location opened earlier this year.
The restaurant is at 11 Kettle Creek Road in Toms River.
More: Tacos, guac, margaritas and more: Sofia’s Taqueria opens Monday in Toms River
Two Shore bakers compete on TV
Cristian Rojas of Neptune with Buddy Valastro on the set of Hulu’s baking competition show “Cookie Cupcake Cake,” streaming now.
Hulu launched a new baking competition show in November, and two local bakers are contestants.
“Cookie Cupcake Cake,” hosted by Buddy Valastro and Samantha Seneviratne, features Cristian Rojas of Neptune and Megan Aucone of Sayreville.
Rojas owns a custom cake company, The Cake Whisperer, and works in the bakery department at Wegmans in Ocean Township. Aucone is lead pastry chef for Uncle Giuseppe’s Marketplace and the lead cake decorator at their Tinton Falls location.
The show’s 12 episodes are available on the streaming network.
More: Two Shore bakers compete on Hulu’s ‘Cookie, Cupcake, Cake’
Jersey Mike’s sold in $8 billion deal
Subs from Jersey Mike’s.
Jersey Mike’s Subs, the iconic sandwich chain born in Point Pleasant, has been purchased in a multibillion-dollar deal.
Private equity firm Blackstone will purchase a majority stake in the company in a deal expected to close in early 2025. Financial terms were not disclosed, but the investment values Jersey Mike’s at around $8 billion, the Wall Street Journal reported.
In 1975, at the age of 17, founder and chief executive officer Peter Cancro purchased Mike’s Subs after working there for several summers. He changed the name and began franchising 12 years later, and today, the company has more than 3,000 locations either open or in development.
More: Jersey Mike’s sold in multibillion-dollar deal that started with a Point Pleasant sub shop
Toast City Diner opens in Manalapan
Founder Amy Russo and partner Adam Torine opened the newest Toast City Diner Monday, Nov, 25, in Manalapan.
The fifth location of Toast City Diner, open in Asbury Park since 2011 and Red Bank since 2015, is Manalapan’s newest breakfast, brunch and lunch spot.
Founder Amy Russo and partner Adam Torine took over the space previously occupied by Project Brunch in Towne Pointe Center on Route 9, and their restaurant opened in late November.
New menu additions include a pancake flight and a crispy chicken sandwich, plus cream cheese-stuffed French toast.
Toast City Diner is at 357 Route 9 S. in Manalapan.
More: Toast City Diner opens fifth NJ restaurant in Manalapan
Benchmark Breads opens in Little Silver
Benchmark Breads opened in November in Little Silver. Owners Travis and Betsy Coatney bake and sell sourdough breads, chocolate chip cookies and coffee at their shop.
After several years of selling their bread online and in markets, Travis and Betsy Coatney swung open the doors of their own retail store earlier this month.
It’s great news for fans of their sourdough, which Travis — who applied a background in brewing beer to baking bread — perfected at home during the pandemic. The baking for the store is done in a commercial kitchen in Atlantic Highlands: hundreds of loaves of country, soft sandwich, semolina, sesame semolina, cinnamon raisin, olive and herb and seeded fougasse each day.
In Little Silver, there is coffee and sweets, too, like chocolate chip cookies and chocolate babka, with cinnamon rolls in the works.
The store is at 141 Markham Place in Little Silver.
More: From baking at home to a store of their own: Benchmark Breads opens in Little Silver
Perkins Griddle & Go to launch in Monmouth County
An artist’s rendering of a Perkins Griddle & Go restaurant.
More: Perkins restaurant like you’ve never seen before coming to Monmouth County in 2025
Perkins Griddle & Go, a cafe-style restaurant chain from Perkins American Food Co., is coming to Monmouth County.
Franchise owners Lisa Dalton and Anthony Degrande have not yet selected a location for the restaurant, which is one of 10 slated for New Jersey.
Perkins announced the launch of the Perkins Griddle & Go, which will feature digital menus and self-order kiosks, in September.
The restaurants will serve breakfast, lunch and dinner with a menu featuring dishes like omelets, eggs Benedict, French toast and pancakes. The eateries, which will be smaller than traditional Perkins restaurants, also will feature a Perkins bakery.
David P. Willis contributed to this story.
Sarah Griesemer joined the USA TODAY NETWORK New Jersey in 2003 and has been writing all things food since 2014. Send restaurant tips to [email protected], follow on Instagram at Jersey Shore Eats and subscribe to her weekly newsletter.
This article originally appeared on Asbury Park Press: Jersey Shore restaurants, eateries open, close, are sold
