Big changes are coming to the well-known restaurant 709, located at 709 Arnold Avenue in Point Pleasant Beach. On November 15, the property and building were sold to the owners of B2 Bistro + Bar in Red Bank.
This will be the second of a 12-restaurant expansion the group is planning for the next five years.
The Food
The menu has already converted to B2’s elevated signature dishes like slow-cooked pig, which comes in whole and is braised overnight and then pulled and served with cauliflower puree and baby bok choy.
The house-made Fazzoletti pasta changes seasonally. Currently on the fall menu is the Autumn Fazzoletti fresh pasta sheets, seasonal vegetables, sage crema, with crushed walnuts. B2 Point Beach will continue to offer sushi, which is now in the very capable and experienced hands of Ocean Township’s Takara Japanese Steakhouse. Interesting snacks include the popcorn done two ways: brown butter, fines herbes, and Maldon sea salt or truffle Parmesan.
The Drinks
Happy hour fans will love B2’s extended hours and special food and drink menus: Monday through Friday, happy hour runs from 3 p.m. to 7 p.m. Sunday it’s all day. The cocktail program is a very important component to B2’s brand. The restaurant will be bringing some of Red Bank’s signature cocktails and creating more geared to the shore scene, using fresh fruit purees. Pictured below is one of their holiday cocktails, the NHM.
The Building
Construction will begin, in stages, in January. Plans for the façade include an open entry to the sidewalk with garage doors. The infamous 709 bubble walls will be coming down to create a more open floor plan. Upstairs changes will include full-service dining and bar inside and a fireplace and couch seating on the veranda. All renovations are expected to be complete by end of May.
The People
Meg LaManna, executive chef and part owner, recently returned from a four-year stay in Miami, where she worked as a chef at the Mandarin Oriental and then worked under Michelle Bernstein, two-time James Beard award winner at Michy’s, in Miami. LaManna is a local, born and raised in Point Pleasant Beach, and a graduate of PPB High School.
LaManna’s partner, Steven Valentine, will serve as operations manager. Since opening his first restaurant in 1991, Valentine has worked in all aspects of restaurant operations including vice president and director of operations of a 97-location regional restaurant corporation.
Like the Red Bank location, B2 Point Beach will use many ingredients sourced from local New Jersey farms like Beyond Organic Growers in Freehold and the Green Duchess Farm in Hillsborough. “Locally sourced produce, meat, and seafood is what we’re all about,” LaManna says. “It’s very important to us that we get to know our farmers and how they raise and treat their livestock and grow their produce.”
B2 Bistro + Bar (Point Pleasant Beach)
709 Arnold Avenue
Point Pleasant Beach, NJ
732-295-0709
