---

Owners of the chowder house and oyster bar planned for the former Baca space have selected a name for the restaurant: The Bonney Read.

Playing on a nautical theme — since they will offer fresh fish, creamy chowders and a rotating variety of oysters — the name combines the first and last name of two well-known female pirates, Mary Read and Anne Bonney.

“A lot of boats and chowder houses, particularly boats, are named after women,” said the restaurant’s Executive Chef James Avery [shown at right], who is also a partner in the venture. “We wanted a name that didn’t sound trendy and reflected what the place is about, a classic chowder house — with an edge.”

Restaurant-goers will be offered an “extremely casual but refined” dining experience where they can sit at high top tables in the “boisterous” lounge or bar area, order a cocktail or craft beer and selections from the raw bar, or, if they prefer, enjoy a full-service sit-down meal at a table in the dining area, Avery said.

“We want more of a social scene, not just a restaurant scene,” Avery said of the multi-layered approach. The restaurant will offer extended hours and a late night bar and raw bar menu after the full dining room closes.

“We don’t want to be a chowder house that dies out at nine at night, we want to be a destination that offers more,” he said.

Interior and exterior decor, color schemes and signage will be done in a “French industrial” style, he said, which relies heavily on rustic metals, woods, and white finishes.

Patrons who get a chance to sit at the chef’s table will have a front row view of the kitchen, which is planned for the space Baca’s sushi window occupied. Passers-by may get a healthy glimpse of the raw bar, visible through the large street-side windows.

Avery will look to utilize as many local seafood distributors as possible, he said, and will endeavor to introduce customers to less popular fish like Hake, a whitefish similar to cod, to helps scale back from the over-fishing of popular or well-known fish, he said.

“You can’t just go buy fish from a fisherman on the beach, but we will be focused on sustainability,” he said. “Which is kind of a buzzword right now, but it is important.”

Avery teamed up with owners of the Asbury Festhalle & Biergarten,  Andrej Ivanov and Ladislav Sebestyan, to bring the venture to the former Baca space, located in the Steinbach’s building at the corner of Cookman and Bangs Avenue.

The three signed a 25-year lease on the space in August.

Avery will also be the executive chef at the soon-to-open Festhalle, which takes precedence at the moment. The team is focused on opening the biergarten, but has applied for signage and demolition permits and are developing the menu, Avery said.

Owners had first tossed around another name, “Mercat,”a Spanish translation of the word “market,” for the restaurant’s name, but found it didn’t represent what they want the space to be: an American-style chowder house. [The previous name is still visible in the window of the preliminary rendering shown at top.]

The restaurant will cater to “people who love fresh seafood and a vibrant scene,” Avery said.

A winter 2015 opening is planned.

For more information, visit The Bonney Read’s Facebook page.

[Photo of James Avery courtesy of Patti Schmidt Photography.]

————————————————————

Follow the Asbury Park Sun on Facebook,  Twitter and Instagram.

---