Asbury Park Blogger Crawl

Clockwise from top left: Jacklyn of Five Outfits Before Breakfast, Katie of Like Lillian, Alison of A Yoga Mama Muses, That’s Me, and Jordanna of Stylistically Speaking

Last June, I organized the Red Bank Blogger Crawl. It was an overwhelming success, so we decided to do it again. Since Asbury Park has seen such growth and renewal in the past few years, we knew it was the perfect selection for our next crawl. The thriving restaurant scene also made it an excellent choice. This past Saturday, some fellow bloggers and I headed to Asbury with the purpose of scoping out some of the best in food and retail and reporting back to you. All the bloggers met at Toast for the requisite blogger photo shoot and to have a bite to eat. From there, Jordanna and I headed up to Talula’s for our second brunch of the day.

Wearing: Rag and Bone Valentina Tunic in Gray also available in Black and Navy and Anine Bing Army Jacket

My husband and I had been to Talula’s before for their brick-oven pizza. That’s one of the reasons I wanted to write about Talula’s for my part of the crawl. Let me start by saying the pizza was exceptionally good with perfectly charred crust, incredible sauce and just the right amount of cheese. My husband likes it light on the cheese, I do not. Somehow, the amount of cheese was just right! (Do I sound like Goldilocks?) We also had the Monkey Bread. You haven’t indulged properly until you’ve had Monkey Bread at Talula’s. I cannot emphasize enough the yumminess and wickedly sinfulness of this Monkey Bread, but sadly it is off the menu for the season. Not that sad though, they replaced it with Apple Cider Donuts for the fall. These donuts, served with a side of whipped cream, are doused with cinnamon sugar. This was not your average Apple Cider Donut. I’m no expert on donuts or cinnamon sugar, but the cinnamon sugar was so crunchy – it’s hard to believe it was common sugar. The outside of the donut was flawlessly crispy and the inside so light, I will never eat a commercial donut again. NEVER. I also had the Ricotta Toast with Scrambled Eggs. It seems to me that scrambled eggs are scrambled eggs, but not when served atop Talula’s homemade sourdough bread. Somehow, over the past few years, I have become sort of a bread aficionado. Well, that’s not true because I am not an authority on bread but I do truly appreciate really good bread. It seems strange to me that some great restaurants serve wimpy bread. How can they do that? I digress. Sorry. Back to the bread at Talula’s. Phenomenal. With the fluffiest scrambled eggs on top, a perfect brunch, indeed. Combined with the donuts, I was teetering on the borderline of a food coma.

All of the ingredients on their menu, whenever possible, are locally sourced. The flour used for the spectacular sour dough bread is from Farmer Ground Flour in Trumansburg, New York, the ricotta from Calabaro, Connecticut, the eggs from Lancaster, Pennsylvania, the cider in the Apple Cider Donuts from Red Jacket Orchard in Geneva, New York and they serve coffee from Irving Farm Roaster in the Hudson Valley. The next time you want a fabulous brunch or pizza, take a trip to Talula’s. When you’re stuffed, and you most likely will be, you can go down to the beautiful boardwalk and walk it off.
* Ironically, the day after this post appeared, Talula’s was named one of the best places in NJ for new romance on NewJersey.com

Please visit the other bloggers who participated: A Yoga Mama Muses, Five Outfits Before Breakfast, Stylistically Speaking, Like Lillian, Reinvention Girl, The Perky Foodie, and mbeewell cultivating a bountiful life.

Image Courtesy of M Studio