BWW Reviews: Asbury Park Gives Classic Jersey Shore Experience a Modern Edge

At least in pop culture, Asbury Park embodies the gritty, glorious essence of the New Jersey Shore. With his first album, Greetings from Asbury Park, Bruce Springsteen helped make the area an unofficial Garden State landmark. That was just the beginning; since then, the Asbury Park boardwalk has imparted its melancholy majesty to films and TV shows-The Sopranos, The Wrestler, even one of those demented Kevin Smith movies. Yet there's much more to today's Asbury Park than scenic grit and past glory. If you drive down, you will find vintage Jersey establishments (like Springsteen's old stomping ground, The Stone Pony) alongside ambitious construction projects, thriving new restaurants, and SoHo-style art galleries.

But take a good, long walk around Asbury Park, and it will also become clear why artists and filmmakers have gravitated to this one shore town. Inland, there are gabled houses that could have been pulled straight from an Edward Hopper painting. And during the serene, sublime offseason, strolling through Asbury Park's open spaces and exploring its older, ruggedly beautiful buildings can be like walking through Salvador Dalì's idea of heaven. Like nearby Long Branch, Asbury Park has undergone considerable re-building and re-vitalization in recent years-yet it has not lost its sense of a complex, almost poetic past.

This sense of the past is very alive in the area's signature hotel. A historic building "designed by noted Beaux Arts architect Warren Whitney of New York," the Berkeley Oceanfront Hotel is one of the most impressive sights on the Asbury Park skyline. The individual rooms offer all the modern comfort you need-high-definition television, high-speed internet, king-sized beds-yet you should be sure to take a good look around the premises, too. While the upper floors are decorated with art deco black and light green, classical grandeur reigns in the palatial ballroom and mezzanine. Classical, but not cold or off-putting; in fact, the mezzanine is the perfect place to lounge in an armchair, survey Asbury Park, and plan the rest of your trip.

The Berkeley Hotel offers calm and quiet, but it is also your portal to the vibrant clubs and restaurants of Asbury Park. You can start by sampling distinctive seafood recipes at the Berkeley's own Dauphin Grille, with its happy hour specials and room service options. Only a brief stroll away are the many restaurants on Ocean Avenue and the Asbury Park boardwalk. Here, prestige establishments such as Tim McLoone's Supper Club and funky casual options such as the Wonder Bar flourish almost side-by-side.

If you're a first-time visitor, make a point of heading inland, toward the upscale shops and eateries around Cookman Avenue. Some of these businesses, such as the recently-founded Exhibit No. 9 photography gallery, pride themselves on their cosmopolitan ambience; others combine close-to-home comforts with uncommonly classy execution. For instance, at the Asbury Park branch of Old Man Rafferty's, you can order bar staples such as juicy burgers and piled-high reubens. High ceilings and the meandering floor plan makes Rafferty's so inviting; and no reuben I've had recently uses the kind of top-quality ingredients that make the Rafferty's sandwich such a treat. The menu also includes an ever-changing array of decadent desserts-all on display, deli-style, in a counter near the front.

If you're in the mood for a menu that takes you farther abroad, try the oceanside Langosta Lounge. This restaurant is the brainchild of chef, businesswoman, and international traveler Marilyn Schlossbach, who describes the Lounge's offerings as "vacation food-a mix of Mexican, Caribbean, and Asian." Expect the menu to be a bit seasonal; if you're interested in Schlossbach's spin on classic autumn fare, stop in for lunch and try the gobbler sandwich-roasted turkey, cranberry mayo, pressed ciabatta. Yet some of the most distinctive menu items-such as the hearty, flavorfully complex lobster curry-hold over from month to month. Though the Langosta Lounge has a substantial lunch menu, I'd recommend scheduling your visit for sunset or later. It takes a little darkness for Schlossbach's mellow, incandescent décor-some of it garnered from her journeys abroad-to show in the richest possible light.

Schlossbach is not the only culinary artist who has left her mark on the boardwalk district. With his deluxe rooftop lounge Watermark, entrepreneur Russell Lewis has created an Asbury Park haven for fine liquors-a spacious, smartly-designed establishment imbued with both modern verve and old world charm. The small plates at Watermark are designed to appeal to all tastes, "savory to sweet, carnivorous to vegan." But the house-crafted liquors are a gustatory experience all their own-subtly infused with tastes such as vanilla, pineapple, and jalapeno. Like the lush wood and earth tones that decorate the lounge, Watermark's cocktails are designed to be savored.

Watermark draws a relatively mature, relatively prosperous crowd, yet still has a democratic feel. Springsteen himself sometimes shows up, and mixes right in with everyone else. And even though Watermark is regularly booked for wedding receptions, the premises aren't really designed for a lot of noise. "We don't need to go over the top in terms of entertainment," says Lewis, before gesturing to Watermark's commanding, mesmerizing view of the Atlantic. "Just look out there; that's the entertainment."

Photo: Courtesy of The Berkeley Oceanfront Hotel