Asbury Park gets fresh with a new chowder house at an old institution

by Marisa Procopio

James Avery has several feathers in his cap, including appearances on FOX’s Kitchen Nightmares and Hell’s Kitchen and stints at several restaurants across the state. The newest feather, though, is actually a plume—this time in a pirate’s tricorn hat.

His new restaurant, The Bonney Read (named for famed pirates Anne Bonney and Mary Read) is housed on the bottom floor of the handsome, century-old Steinbach building, which re-opened its gleaming glass doors on August 11.

“I thought about [operating] a food truck…then about a clam shack,” said Avery. But he reconsidered. “What the Jersey Shore needs, where I’d want to take my friends, I thought, is an old-school chowder house.”

Longtime Shore residents remember Steinbach’s beautiful Christmas decorations in its display windows. Now those windows feature oyster shuckers shucking and guests happily downing homemade lobster bisque and buckets of jumbo snow crab claws. To seafood lovers, it’s easily as beautiful as holiday displays.

“It’s the best and freshest clams and seafood,” asserted Avery. “Not being trendy…just straightforward.”

The menu was structured much in the way old-time menus were, featuring go-to items as well as what can be found on any given day in any given season. The latter is unpredictable, but it’s Avery’s preference.

“Most of my menu is static—a lot of clams [from nearby Sandy Hook], seasonal produce,” he said.
“We make three different chowders. Simple, straightforward… stuff I can always get and I know will always be good. Every day the oysters rotate, though, and every day we have different specials. That’s the true spirit of a chowder house. You can’t beat it.”

The Bonney Read’s emphasis on freshness means Avery is in regular contact with vendors in the field—or, more accurately, on or near the water. “Every night I get a text [from one vendor] telling what they’re bringing in,” he said. The catch might be local squid, or blackfish, or something else. From there, he devises the best way to showcase its freshness. When a chef is blessed with a fish that’s just a few hours out of the water, it doesn’t need much fuss.

“I don’t want it to hide behind a sauce or a technique,” he stressed, adding that serving what’s house-made and handled is a point of pride. “We do all of the butchering in house…95 percent of what we serve, we make.”

And the proof is in the pudding. The restaurant has been playing to packed houses from the start. Avery’s greatest hope is that 50 years from now, The Bonney Read is still dishing up fresh seafood—an aspiration that’s not too far-fetched. “Timeless recipes and timeless techniques,” as he called them—they’re always in style…especially on the plate.

The Bonney Read
1525 Cookman Avenue, Asbury Park
732.455.3352 / thebonneyread.com