Hospital News

2006 Press Releases

Reprinted with permission, Courtesy, Asbury Park Press, a Gannett Co. newspaper.
BY VINCE MILLER
ASBURY PARK PRESS STAFF WRITER

Long Branch Bistro Transformed into Jazzy Dinner Lounge - CASK 591's Opening Gala Raising Money for Local Brain-Tumor Center.

LONG BRANCH, NJ, February 23, 2006 - The former Joe & Maggie's bistro in uptown Long Branch has been transformed into what its owners plan to be a hip restaurant and lounge.

CASK 591 at 591 Broadway, at Branchport Avenue, is sporting a new exterior and interior — and a new menu featuring steaks, seafood and other meats roasted on wood panels from wine casks flavored with bourbon, cognac or wine.

The public is invited to sample selections by chef Peter J. Fischbach and sous chef Vincent Tafuri at a fund-raising grand opening starting at 6 p.m. Friday.

Iva Komitski, the restaurant's promotor, calls CASK 591 "an upscale-casual dining establishment with a jazz-era lounge, where patrons will enjoy the luxury of dining in a classy and comfortable setting at affordable prices."

Menu entrees range from $6.95 to $12.95 for lunch and $9.95 to $35.95 for dinner.

Fischbach and Vincent Tafuri's brother, Dennis, bought the restaurant in November 2004 from Joseph Romanowski and Maggie Ludeke. Dennis Tafuri is a certified sommelier, or wine steward.

Fischbach and Vincent Tafuri placed second among 18 Jersey Shore chefs Jan. 29 at the first Jersey Shore Best of the Best Chefs Cook Off in Toms River, Komitski said. The three finalists were challenged to use a mystery ingredient, wild boar.

The pair won with spicy orange-glazed wild boar, sliced over mesclun salad dressed with a sesame-thai vinaigrette; wild boar with bok choy and enoki mushroom spring rolls with a spicy plum dipping sauce, over Asian slaw; and roasted rack of wild boar with smashed yucca and grilled Japanese eggplant finished in a citrus reduction.

Fischbach trained at the Academy of Culinary Arts, Mays Landing, and is a member of the National Culinary Federation. His recipes have been featured in Gourmet magazine and local publications.

He and Tafuri decided to use their grand opening to help raise money for the new Brain Tumor Center at Monmouth Medical Center, Long Branch, according to the restaurant's news release.

"I have a history of cancer in my family," Dennis Tafuri said.

Sumul N. Raval, a neurologist and neuro-oncologist trained at Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Center in New York, will be introduced as the center's section chief.

The center will coordinate neurologists, neurosurgeons, medical and radiation oncologists, neuroradiologists and pathologists to find strategies to treat brain cancer, the release said.

At the grand opening, the restaurant will feature live jazz entertainment in the Broadway Blues Lounge, on the restaurant's second floor.

Donors expecting to attend are asked to call the restaurant to register.

Donations can be accepted at the event or by mail at Monmouth Medical Center Foundation, 300 Second Ave., Long Branch, NJ 07740. Checks should be made out to MMC Foundation.

The restaurant will be open for dinner from 5 to 10 p.m. Mondays through Thursdays, 5 to 11 p.m. Fridays and Saturdays and 4 to 9 p.m. Sundays, and for lunch from 11:30 a.m. to 3 p.m. daily. Call (732) 571-8848.

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