Anthony Setaro - Real Estate Agent

THE KRAZIEST BURGER IN MONMOUTH COUNTY 🍔🔥

Finally made it over to Burger Kraze in Middletown, and yeah… this thing lived up to the name.

I went with the BBQ Burger — crunchy onions, jalapeños, barbecue sauce dripping everywhere and an absolutely ridiculous combination of flavors.

And whoever decided to serve these things in that little paper pouch deserves some credit, because somehow I was able to absolutely destroy this thing sitting in Carbon without wearing half of it. 😂

Mouth-watering. Messy. Absolutely delicious.

Definitely going back — what should I order next?

📍 Burger Kraze | Middletown, NJ
Burger Kraze
Mazda USA

DAY 2 🌊 — MONMOUTH BEACH

Back to the beach cam this morning.

Yesterday we checked Monmouth Beach at the 7:30 AM high tide. This is today at 8:35 AM high tide.

Same camera. Same beach. About 25 hours later.

And the Atlantic is still putting on a show.

I’ll keep documenting the same view as the storm moves through so we can actually watch how the beach changes from tide to tide.

Stay safe and watch this one from a distance. 🌊

CLUB IS CLOSED
Monmouth Beach Bath & Tennis

HIGH TIDE AT MONMOUTH BEACH 🌊

Well… yesterday I showed you what the ocean looked like as this storm was approaching.

Here it is this morning.

This is the Monmouth Beach Bath & Tennis Club beach cam at roughly 7:30 AM, right around high tide, and you can already see how dramatically conditions have changed.

The National Weather Service currently has Eastern Monmouth under a Coastal Flood Warning and High Surf Advisory, with dangerous surf and continued coastal impacts expected through the weekend.

And this is exactly what I was talking about yesterday when we connected weather to Monmouth County’s bootlegging history.

A century ago, the people moving liquor along this coastline were at the mercy of this same ocean. Routes could be planned for weeks — and then wind, tides and surf could change everything.

Different century. Same coastline.

I’ll keep checking the beach as the storm moves through.

And obviously: this is a beach-cam update. Don’t head into dangerous surf to get a better look.

📍 Monmouth Beach, NJ
Monmouth Beach Bath & Tennis

🚨 MAC & CHEESE FEST UPDATE 🧀🌧️

If you saw my post yesterday and were planning on coming into Red Bank tomorrow — change of plans.

With the storm heading our way, the 2026 Red Bank Mac & Cheese Festival has been POSTPONED.

🗓️ NEW DATE: Saturday, November 7

So unfortunately, no giant quantities of mac & cheese tomorrow. 😂

Probably the right call with the weather coming in — and now we get something cheesy to look forward to in November.

Spread the word so nobody shows up tomorrow looking for mac & cheese! 😂🧀

📍 Red Bank, NJ

THE OCEAN MADE THE RULES. 🌊

I came down to Monmouth Beach today to see what the ocean looks like ahead of the storm expected this weekend.

It hasn’t really arrived yet, but the surf is already telling a story.

And standing here always makes me think about the rum runners who worked this coastline during Prohibition.

We sometimes draw their routes on maps as nice clean lines.

Reality wasn’t anything like that.

Wind. Tides. Currents. Fog. Surf. Storms.

The environment could dictate when a boat came in, where it landed, whether another vessel could meet it offshore — or whether an entire plan had to change at the last minute.

These operations could be planned well in advance, but ultimately the people running them were still at the mercy of the Atlantic.

And when you stand here on a day like today and watch the ocean starting to turn, you understand that part of the story a little differently.

The coastline wasn’t simply where the bootlegging happened.

The coastline was one of the variables they had to beat.

📍 Monmouth Beach, NJ

Rum on the Navesink: Bootlegger Battles & the Rise of the Mafia in Monmouth County, NJ

ONE LAST BASH… WITH A SIDE OF MAC & CHEESE. 😂🧀

Another packed weekend is coming to downtown Red Bank.

Friday night, Broadwalk gets one final celebration before the season wraps up with the Broadwalk Bash — music, family fun, a bounce house, face painting and more.

Then Saturday… we get cheesy. 🧀😂

The Red Bank Mac & Cheese Festival takes over with local restaurants serving up their versions of everybody’s favorite comfort food.

So basically:

Friday: one last Broadwalk party. 🎶
Saturday: eat an irresponsible amount of mac & cheese. 🧀

Sounds like a pretty solid Red Bank weekend to me.

📍 Downtown Red Bank, NJ

Who’s coming out this weekend — Broadwalk Bash, Mac & Cheese Festival, or BOTH?

THE BANK I REMEMBER 🏦

This is one of those Then & Nows that’s personal for me.

Long before Charles Schwab was here, I remember walking into this building as a little kid with my grandfather when it was still a bank.

We’d save up quarters, nickels and pennies, sit there putting them into those paper coin rolls, and then bring them here to exchange them.

I can still vividly remember walking through those doors with him.

The building itself goes back to 1914, when it was built as the Red Bank Trust Company. More than a century later, so much of what made it recognizable is still there — the columns, the stonework, the entrance and those little architectural details you might not notice until you compare it with an old photograph.

That’s what I love about these Then & Nows.

Sometimes I’m researching a building from Red Bank’s past.

And sometimes I’m looking at my own.

📍 Broad Street — Red Bank, NJ

Who else remembers coming here when it was a bank?

UPDATE: 30-32 ITALIAN SOCIAL 🇮🇹

After my original post, I heard directly from both sides and wanted to clarify exactly what’s happening at 30 Linden Place.

The family behind La Pastaria reached out to make clear that 30-32 Italian Social is under different ownership and is not affiliated with their La Pastaria business.

At the same time, 30-32 Italian Social told me the same chef, staff and management that have recently been operating at the Red Bank location are staying, and customers can expect the same food they’ve been serving here.

So my original impression that this was simply a La Pastaria rebrand wasn’t quite right.

The simplest way to put it:

New name. Separate ownership from the original La Pastaria family. Same chef, staff and management from the recent Red Bank operation.

30-32 Italian Social says they hope to reopen in about a week.

There we go. Clarified. 😂🍝

📍 30 Linden Place, Red Bank, NJ

WHERE EVERYBODY KNOWS YOUR NAME 🍻⛪️

For a portion of my childhood, I was absolutely convinced that Cheers was underneath St. Anthony’s Church in Red Bank. 😂

Hear me out.

Our family had countless parties and celebrations downstairs at St. Anthony’s, and as a kid, we’d be waiting in that basement for someone to arrive for a surprise party.

They’d walk down those stairs from the street, through that little entrance and into a room full of family and friends yelling SURPRISE!

Meanwhile, on TV, Cheers had an entrance where everybody walked down from the street into the bar.

So somewhere in my little kid brain:

stairs going underground + everybody knows everybody = Cheers.

And honestly, St. Anthony’s probably reinforced the idea.

Because this was the kind of place where everybody really did know your name.

Parents. Grandparents. Aunts. Uncles. Cousins. Family friends. Half the Italian families in Red Bank. 😂🇮🇹

Eventually I realized Sam Malone wasn’t pouring beers underneath St. Anthony’s.

But every time I see those stairs, I still think about it.

And somehow, after all these years…

everybody still knows your name.

📍 St. Anthony of Padua — Red Bank, NJ

Anybody else have something they completely misunderstood as a kid that made PERFECT sense at the time? 😂