The Turning Point

[Allura]

I stayed overnight at my folk's house, in Freehold, last night. My mother & I will go out to eat given the least opportunity, and breakfast this morning was one of them. Usually our breakfast choice is the standard chain of Perkins, but there's a relatively new place in Manalapan called The Turning Point. Actually, it's a mini-chain, too, having locations in Little Silver and Holmdel, and opening one in Long Branch. The Manalapan branch is in the Wegman's shopping center, on Rt 9S.

It's a casual place, a sort of upmarket coffee shop. They only serve breakfast, brunch, and lunch. The restaurant is cute, with a lot of wood, and it's separated into 3 smaller rooms, although the largest was pretty loud when we got there. When we sat down, the table already had a pitcher of water (on a stand), which was very welcome by me. I drink a *lot* of water.

We ordered pretty straightforward stuff - eggs benedict ($8.75), a belgian waffle ($4.50) to split, and coffee. They did have French Press pots of specialty coffee, including Kona, which I love, but I doubted I'd drink an entire pot ($8), so it wasn't worth it to me. Mom only drinks decaf (trust me, it's better for everyone ). Anyway, the eggs were poached just right (soft & runny yolk, but cooked white), with shaved ham (better then canadian bacon, I thought), plum tomato slices (I passed), and english muffins, with a glaze of fairly light hollandaise sauce. The plates came with good home fries with onion & pepper in them (yay!), and a small dish of a few bites of fruit (grapes, pineapple, melon). The waffle was wonderful, although that might have been the quasi-low carbing I do . Seriously, though, it was very tender, but crisp, exactly what I want in a belgian waffle. Also, a pleasant bit of extra service - they split it ahead of time, and gave us each our own plate, each with another small bowl of fruit, in addition to butter & syrup. The coffee was pretty good, but I would have liked that kona....

I saw some other plates come out, and they all looked good. Apparently my sister had been there another time, and had a chicken pesto sandwich that she like. Never heard any details, though.

They also have a full coffee/tea bar, including several varieties of flavored beans, and loose teas. The Little silver location apparently has crepes.

Overall, I think we have a new breakfast spot. I know we weren't very adventourous, but eggs benny is sort of our "standard" for a breakfast place.

[Rosie]

"They did have French Press pots of specialty coffee, including Kona, which I love, but I doubted I'd drink an entire pot ($8),"

It is so unusual to see French Press coffee. I would have ordered that without hesitation. Thanks for the report.

[Allura]

It is so unusual to see French Press coffee. I would have ordered that without hesitation. Thanks for the report.

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I've never had French Press coffee, actually, although I recognized the pots. I understand that they were grinding the beans to order for those pots, but other then that, what's the difference between that, and, say, the drip pot I use at home?

Oh, they also had Blue Mountain and AA Kenyan. I don't know much about coffee, but they were advertising them like they were special

[Rosie]

Blue Mountain is very very expensive. French press coffee has a richer, fresher taste.

[glenn]

I've never had French Press coffee, actually, although I recognized the pots.  I understand that they were grinding the beans to order for those pots, but other then that, what's the difference between that, and, say, the drip pot I use at home?

Oh, they also had Blue Mountain and AA Kenyan.  I don't know much about coffee, but they were advertising them like they were special 

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Using a French press coffee maker, the water temperature and exposure to coffee grounds is manually controlled, resulting in a perfect, rich cup of coffee.

Many other coffee makers over extract coffee, under extract coffee, or utilize water which is not at an optimal temperature. Paper filters prevent coffee’s flavorful oils from reaching your mouth and can add off-flavors from the filter itself.

French presses are wonderful machines because you manually control the water temperature and exposure time, resulting in a rich, perfect cup of coffee.

[Randi]

I have to confess that this place appeals to me so much that I've done a Mapquest search to see which of the locations is closest to me (Manalapan is). I have also saved the .pdf versions of their menus for great breakfast ideas I can make at home.

This place is way up on my "I gotta get there" list! It sounds delightful!

[Taboni]

We used to go to the location in Little Silver quite often for lunch, and although the food was very good most times, the always abysmal service and a particular episode with the after effects of some dodgy chicken have kept us away for some time. I may be inclined to try it again though. They do have excellent coffee and a good selection of teas.

[lamb]

I haven't been there yet, but a good friend of mine and her college-age daughter frequent Turning Point for lunch. Friend's daughter is a picky eater (although when Mom is paying, she'll eat almost anything ) and they rave about this place. It is fairly close to me, but because I'm in NYC daily, and my weekends are usually chock-full with, well, weekend things, it's still on my list of places to go. I have heard that it gets really crowded during weekend lunch. Can't keep a good place a secret, I guess!

[Allura]

I stopped in at the Manalapan location for lunch with my mother & sister today. Had a 10 minute wait at 2pm, so I guess they're doing well.

My mother had a cup of cream of mushroom soup, and I had a cup of NE clam chowder to start. It's raining and COLD here today for some reason, so we both wanted the soup. Didn't try mom's, but the clam chowder was more like a potato soup with corn & clams in it. Not bad, but not quite what I expected. Lots of big clam pieces, though.

I had a chicken pesto panini sandwich, which I'm eating the second half of now, actually. Grilled chicken breast, grilled thin-sliced zucchini, roasted red peppers, pesto, mozzeralla, decent roll. Served with tortilla chips and salsa. It was a very nice combination; usually I'm picky about my sandwiches, and it all worked well together. Sis had "the full monty" - a basic monte cristo, although not as sweet as most of them. Hers was served with a rasperry sauce that she loved, and lots of cut & diced fruit all over the plate including pineapple, grapes, strawberries, melon & mango. My mother had a veggie quesedilla (Mom was sick, so I didn't get to try anything of hers) that she mentioned included spinach & mushrooms. I think she had more chips on her plate. We all took a bit home. Oh, and I had coffee to (house, but still good) and we all had water. I actually really like that the pitcher is on the table - interstingly it had a slice of orange in it, not lemon.

Service was good, although she didn't ask if we wanted dessert. She mentioned at the end that their computers (POS?) were down at one point, but it didn't affect us in any way.

Oh, and we wanted dessert, but they didn't have anything particularly interesting (lemon pound cake, brownie, or cookies), so we went over to Wegman's and got some individual things to eat upstairs.

Edited to add an ingredient to my sandwich. Looked down & realized I forgot the mutz!

Edited May 21, 2005 by Allura (log)

[Allura]

As you may have guessed, my mother likes this place. We went to the one in Long Branch on Sunday morning, for brunch. It's in a very new area called "Pier Village" - upscale shops below condos. Nice large windows for people watching (it faces the beach, although there's parking between it & the boardwalk, and a fireplace in the room we were in.

Usually I eat fairly basic things for breakfast; even my omelets are of the meat & cheese variety. But "Smoked Salmon Benedict" caught my eye - rye toast (I subbed multigrain; shoulda left it alone), cream cheese, smoked salmon, plum tomato, poached egg, asparagus, and hollandaise. Very nice mix of flavors. We all split an order of pancakes as "dessert" - again, not quite what I was expecting. They were almost cakey, but crisp on the outside, almost reminded me of a thick crepe; I don't think I'm describing them well. Mom had an egg burrito type thing, my husband had a chicken sandwich with pepper jack & ranch, Dad had a chicken/tuna/egg (?) salad, and my sister had french toast. All good, but I think I picked the winner.

We walked it off along the shops & the boardwalk after, saying hi to all the dogs people had brought. DH even tried his hand at the cheesy skating rink they had set up (wasn't actually ice; weird). A nice little afternoon.

[Lilija]

I'm a 'regular' at the Holmdel location, the food is good, and since becoming friendly with the staff, the already good service has become outstanding.

I'm more of a lunch person, I don't care for many traditional breakfast foods, and their tuna salad is the best I've ever had. I loved it so much, I changed the way I made it at home, to something closer to their recipe. I know this is lame, but they make great grilled cheese, too. I feel like a 5 year old when I order one, but...that bread... Generally fresh ingredients, all around, quality stuff, well presented.

Once in a while, like with any place, there's bumps in the quality or service, but it's decent, overall. Great change of pace from diners or franchise resturaunts.

[Tamara]

This is hands down my fav breakfast place. I get their brown rum sauce on the side with every breakfast dish and even buy it to use at home with anything i can. I'm a regular at Holmdel - Anne being the best waitress.

They are even opening up a new location next year in Hoboken - yippeee!

Tamara