The beige building at Hooper Avenue and Kettle Creek Road in Toms River, once a Charlie Brown’s Fresh Grill, has been under renovation for months, shedding its pale facade for the bright colors of Sofia’s Taqueria.
The new restaurant from New York-based Bread & Butter Hospitality opens Monday, Nov. 18, in a corner spot that most recently housed Roxy’s Bar & Grille. Decades ago it was home to Phil’s Liquor Locker Lounge — it was Charlie Brown’s before Roxy’s.
This is the second Sofia’s Taqueria in New Jersey; an Old Bridge location opened earlier this year. A third is being built in Ledgewood.
Birria tacos at Sofia’s Taqueria.
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The restaurant group, led by Philip Farinacci, Ignacio Garcia and Chef Peter Botros, owns four more Sofia’s Taquerias and seven other restaurants in New York. The group plans to open Violette’s in Woodbridge, and Caroline’s Tavern in Avenel.
“It’s all family-owned,” Farinacci said. “(It’s) three friends that do this.”
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The menu at the Toms River restaurant will be the same as in Old Bridge, which serves half a dozen kinds of guacamole, empanadas, street corn, a carne asada and paella platters.
Tacos are filled with chorizo and potatoes, fried fish, and grilled zucchini.
Cocktails at Sofia’s Taqueria.
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The restaurant will serve a dozen kinds of margaritas, and many kinds of tequila from behind an 80-seat bar, the largest of all the Sofia’s Taqueria locations, Farinacci said.
They kept some of the bar’s big-screen televisions from Roxy’s, he added.
Go: 11 Kettle Creek Road; sofiastaquerianyc.com.
Sarah Griesemer joined the USA TODAY NETWORK New Jersey in 2003 and has been writing all things food since 2014. Send restaurant tips to sgriesemer@gannettnj.com, follow on Instagram at Jersey Shore Eats and subscribe to her weekly newsletter.
This article originally appeared on Asbury Park Press: Sofia’s Taqueria opens Monday in Toms River
