Need Some Help For Weekend Dining - Monmouth

[bgut1]

I'm looking to try a new place on Saturday. The choices on my short list are as follows:

1. Market in the Middle - Asbury

2. Brickwall Tavern - Asbury

3. Bobo's 33 - Highlands

4. Bella's - Highlands

5. Drew's Bayshore Bistro - Keyport

Kind of all over the place - but I've been wanting to try one of these places for a while. Any suggestions?

[jsfein]

Brickwall Tavern is a nice space, but standard pub grub. I really enjoy Bobo's 33 and, no, you don't necessarily need to enjoy Meditarranean food (saw your post on Chowhound). There are Meditarranean apps and entrees, but other more "American" choices as well. Highly recommend.

Market in the Middle and Drew's are on my "to go" list.

Never heard of Bella's. Is it new?

[bgut1]

Brickwall Tavern is a nice space, but standard pub grub.  I really enjoy Bobo's 33 and, no, you don't necessarily need to enjoy Meditarranean food (saw your post on Chowhound).  There are Meditarranean apps and entrees, but other more "American" choices as well.  Highly recommend.

Market in the Middle and Drew's are on my "to go" list. 

Never heard of Bella's.    Is it new?

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Thanks for the response jsfein. I don't think Bella's is that new. I remember reading about it onMcFoodie's website. Here is the webpage. Link

Showed the various menus to my wife and she seems to like Market and Bella's. I know people are raving about Bobo's but the menu doesn't do it for me. I will report back on our choice.

Edited October 14, 2006 by bgut1 (log)

[Taboni]

I wen't to Bobo's a couple of weeks ago and as much as I wanted to enjoy it I found we left a little disappointed. I loved the space, cocktails, etc., and the appetizers were promising, but the main courses left me a little bit flat. I kept thinking "underspiced" for some reason. I guess I expected more zip out of the middle eastern menu.

That being said we will be going back to give it another shot just purely on reviews, etc. Every place can have a little bit of an off night, or perhaps we ordered poorly.

[bgut1]

I wen't to Bobo's a couple of weeks ago and as much as I wanted to enjoy it I found we left a little disappointed. I loved the space, cocktails, etc., and the appetizers were promising, but the main courses left me a little bit flat. I kept thinking "underspiced" for some reason. I guess I expected more zip out of the middle eastern menu. 

That being said we will be going back to give it another shot just purely on reviews, etc. Every place can have a little bit of an off night, or perhaps we ordered poorly.

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Just got back from Market in the Middle in Asbury and I left completely satisfied. This place rocks. While the space and service was in a word "unconventional" the food was fantastic. We arrived a few minutes late for our 8:30 reservation to find the place packed. The evening didn't start out to well having to wait about 25min at the bar for our table to open up. However, once seated, the night got better in a hurry. The menu is very interesting in its composition. A mixture of Asian and American items. We started with an order of edamame and steamed vegetable gyoza, the "amazing" Mediterranean platter (with homemade hummus, tabouleh, pita chips, and olives), the tuna entree and the baby back ribs. Everything was spot on and I mean perfect. Trust me, it wasn't the wine talking even though we had a great Fess Parker Riesling. Look - even the edamame - a most common dish was exemplary. The soybeans were fresh, warm, and coated with a fantastic sea salt and lime juice. The ribs were perfectly charred with a great barbecue sauce (tasted very similar to the old southern house in pt. pleasant). We decided to trust our waitress who recommended the kamikaze desert which was a chocolate torte in a strawberry sauce with vanilla ice cream delivered flambéed. A perfect meal all around and best yet, the meal with wine, 3 apps, entrees and a shared dessert was under a $100 for the two of us. I can't recommend this place enough. Go people.

Edited October 15, 2006 by bgut1 (log)

[McFoodie]

I had dinner at Market in the Middle on Thursday night and completely agree with your assessment. And with Brickwall directly next door, you could have had your pre-dinner drinks there and killed 2 birds with one stone (except that the drinks at Market are so exceptional that there's really no reason to do that unless the bar is too packed.

I also agree that Bobo's comes close but doesn't exactly get there. It's a great option for drinks before Copper Canyon (which rules) or Bella's (I had lunch there this week as well).

Drew's is very, very high on my To Do List as well.