An oceanfront restaurant on the beach in Allenhurst.
A plant-based bakery in Atlantic Highlands.
A restaurant and lounge on a busy Asbury Park corner.
We said goodbye to these spots and more this year. Here are 10 restaurants and food businesses that we lost in Monmouth and Ocean counties in 2024.
Backward Flag Brewing, Lacey
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Backward Flag Brewing Co., a female- and veteran-owned brewery that opened in Lacey in 2015, closed in June.
“We have fought to keep our doors open for a while now, but this is a fight we cannot win,” owner Torie Fisher shared on social media. “We are so grateful for the community that has risen up around us over the years. It is meant with all genuineness that it has been a privilege and an honor to serve you.”
The brewery employed a large number of veterans, first responders and their family members; launched a charitable organization to help veterans after 9/11; released a series of canned beers to benefit veterans; and supported LGBTQ causes.
Gray Leaf Cafe, Freehold Township
Vincent Gulino opened Gray Leaf Cafe in Freehold Township’s Poets Square plaza.
Gray Leaf Cafe, an extension of Vincent Gulino’s plant-based food truck, Try Vegan, closed in October after about 10 months in business.
The Poets Square restaurant, which served popular dishes from Gulino’s truck, opened in January.
Try Vegan is still in business.
Joe Leone’s Gastronomia, Sea Girt
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This Italian specialty market, one of three owned by Joe Leone Introna, closed in February.
“We’ve come to this difficult conclusion in order to better focus our resources on delivering the exceptional food and experience our guests have come to expect from Joe Leone’s in our Point Pleasant and Manasquan locations,” the business announced.
The market, which was open for 16 years, has been replaced by The Blonde Shallot.
Joe Leone’s markets in Point Pleasant Beach and Manasquan remain open.
Killer Pies, Asbury Park
Killer Pies, which opened in spring 2022 at Mattison Avenue and Bond Street in Asbury Park, closed in June.
The restaurant, housed in the building previously filled by Trinity and the Pope, Bank on Mattison, Redemption and Skratch, served New York-style thin-crust pizza, sandwiches and housemade sodas.
The Mainstay, Asbury Park
The Mainstay, a bar and lounge that in 2023 replaced The Bonney Read after eight years at Cookman and Bangs Avenue in Asbury, closed in September.
Chef James Avery, who with Sebastian Walker managed the restaurant through their Nicely Done Hospitality group, cited post-pandemic changes in the industry for the closure.
Their second Asbury Park restaurant, The Black Swan, remains open.
Max Devros, Manasquan
Max Devros, a popular Main Street restaurant for more than a decade, closed in September.
The restaurant will become Coastal Canteen, a restaurant from Jersey Shore Restaurant Group, which also owns Harpoon Willy’s in Manasquan, and Half Moon Point in Point Pleasant Borough.
The new restaurant, with a menu shaped by dishes from Mexico, northern Africa, the Caribbean, and the Mediterranean, is planned to open in early 2025.
More: Cava bringing its first Mediterranean chain restaurant to Jersey Shore at this spot
Mister C’s Beach Bistro, Allenhurst
Mister C’s Beach Bistro is an oceanfront restaurant and bar in Allenhurst.
More than 30 years after opening the first Mister C’s in Deal, Karen Marzulli and Chic Perrotto closed Mister C’s Beach Bistro in Allenhurst in October.
The 200-seat restaurant and bar, which they moved to the beach — and rebuilt after superstorm Sandy — is owned by the borough of Allenhurst.
Marzulli and Perrotto were at the end of their lease on the space. Perrotto retired last year from a decades-long career that included restaurants and bars in Asbury Park and Brielle, and both he and Marzulli felt it was time to move on.
The Allenhurst Board of Commissioners is choosing a new restaurant tenant for the space.
Ross Brewing Co., Middletown
Sully’s Irish Stout from Ross Brewing Co. in Port Monmouth.
Ross Brewing Co., which opened its Port Monmouth tasting room in 2023, closed it in June.
Owner John Ross Cocozza cited “current economics” as a reason for the closure, along with post-pandemic realities and New Jersey’s laws surrounding craft breweries.
The brewery’s beers are available in bars, restaurants, liquor and grocery stores.
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Scala’s Italian Deli & Catering, Toms River
Anthony Scala, owner of Scala’s Italian Deli, with his mom Giuseppina who came to America as a young woman from Naples. Toms River, NJ Tuesday, January 31, 2023
After a decade of serving Italian specialties made alongside his mother, Giuseppina Scala, Anthony Scala closed his deli in January.
Anthony’s uncles and aunts owned pizzerias in North Jersey for many years, and Giuseppina “was the cook in all of them,” he said.
Anthony opened Scala’s in 2014, and Giuseppina, who was born in Naples, Italy, joined him as co-owner.
Wild in the Treats, Atlantic Highlands
Wild in the Treats, a vegan bakery that opened a little more than a year ago in Atlantic Highlands, closed in November.
Owner Tony Panzica spent 20 years baking, cooking at and managing health food stores in Monmouth County before opening the First Avenue bakery in 2023.
“After a great deal of reflection and contemplation, I have made the decision that it is time to close down Wild in the Treats,” he shared on Instagram. “There are a lot of factors that went into this decision … The short version is simply, it’s time.”
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 closed in 2024
