Looking for a great bottle of wine to bring to your next BYO dinner in the Navasink area or in Monmouth County? Whether you're eating in Rumson, Middletown, Little Silver, Red Bank, or Fair Haven, Rumson BuyRite has a huge selection of fine wines from around the world. From California cabs that match your perfect steak entree what's your beef, to German Rieslings and white wines for sushi at Yumi, we have the perfect BYO bottle.

By Dennis Tafuri, Sommelier and Proprietor of Cask 591 Restaurant and Lounge

Is it ok to go ‘by the glass' at your favorite restaurant?  This is a great question.  I have found that most restaurant's wine by the glass selection to be pretty ho-hum and mundane.  Far too many wine programs are afraid to take risks and offer their guests interesting, esoteric wines not found in the bargain section of your local liquor store.  Who is to blame them?  After all, a bottle of wine once opened will not stay forever like the bottle of 25 year old scotch on the back bar.  The max they have before the wine goes down the drain is 2-3 days, depending on the bottle.  Now there are a lot of different ways to preserve freshly opened bottles of wine that vary greatly in expense and the sight of these items on the back bar of your favorite establishment should help set your mind at ease.

60 average wine drinkers pick their winners and losers without influences like prices and professional descriptions.    

     Luke Ong worked on Wall Street for 12 years.  During his financially successful but tedious career there he courted his later-to-be wife, Lauren, with delectable lunches he created from home.  Mrs. Ong, quickly recognizing his talents, persuaded him to pursue the passion he developed as a child in his grandmother’s kitchen and to share it with all of us!

Sometimes, you just can’t suppress your inner desire for what you love to do.  Sure, you can try to focus on other things you excel in.  But when you know where your heart is and have the fortitude to make a change, it can only turn out right.  And Executive Chef and co-owner, David Kruse, turns it out right daily, at the Island Palm Grill.

“Local Boy Makes Good” is the feeling you get when walking into Julia’s in the Atlantic Highlands, new home to Executive Chef Joe Imbrenda.  Chef Joe, a life long resident of New Jersey, who grew up in Hazlet, began his early culinary career working for his father and uncle at Mystic Islands Pizzeria.  There he began to learn the tricks of the trade, from dish washing to dough making, to management. He was smitten, and decided to enroll in a culinary program to hone his cooking skills and management proficiency.  Half way through he felt “out of place,” but ready to take on the culinary world.   He left school to intern with New Jersey native, world renowned chef and famed restaurateur, Jasper White, at the original Seafood Shack, in Cambridge, Massachusetts.  While there, Imbrenda worked every station, procuring all the knowledge he could from each area of this prestigious chef’s kitchen. 

The beautifully serene setting and Italian comfort-food will become like a Siren’s song for you, luring you back, we guarantee…although we do have a warning for you

As our regular readers well know, we’re absolute suckers when it comes to restaurants with water views, so a try-out of Sirena, at Pier Village, has been long overdue.