Longtime Chef Brings Worldly Experience To Bayville Restaurant

BERKELEY, NJ — Joe Alonzo has spent most of his life in kitchens, working as a chef in restaurants from Manhattan to Seaside Heights. Following his dream of running his own local eatery, Alonzo opened Grub City in Bayville's Riverside Plaza.

Alonzo makes hot sandwiches and burgers dressed to the nines in the back of the restaurant, while his wife Jen takes care of the soup and salad orders up front and their daughter Jade rings customers up at the register.

Diners at the family-run business will see photographs of Miami, Philadelphia and New York City along the restaurant's walls. American cities like these served as the inspiration for the restaurant's menu items.

The NYC reuben, Las Vegas turkey club and Chicago-style hot dog are featured alongside the Bayville burger, a homage to the town that Alonzo has called home for nearly 25 years.

“You can tell I’m having fun with it,” said Alonzo. “I designed the menu even before I thought about getting the restaurant.”

Alonzo has worked as a chef for over 30 years. His career in the restaurant business began when he was 13 years old while working at the Italian restaurant his father owned in New York City on 44th Street, which was one block away from Times Square in the 1980s.

“I got to learn from a lot of different chefs from around the world actually because they always went to New York City to bring their cooking skills,” said Alonzo. “By the time I was 18, I graduated from high school and culinary school that summer. I was running the kitchen by then.”

Alonzo eventually moved to Ocean County, where he worked at Villa Vittoria in Brick, its sister restaurant in Seaside Heights above the Aztec Sand Bar & Grille, and then the former Holiday Inn in Toms River.

When designing his own restaurant, Alonzo wanted to make Grub City a casual eatery where people feel comfortable customizing their orders.

“I worked with crazy chefs — ‘This is the way it’s done, this is the way it’s done!’ and it evolved me into a different kind of chef," Alonzo said. “We have a motto that if it’s not on the menu, we can always make it if we have it. My father brought me up in a kitchen. I hate to go to a restaurant where someone says, ‘I don’t want onions on my cheesesteak’ and they say ‘Oh you can’t have it that way,’ so we try to cater to everyone’s specific tastes."

Most of the sandwiches on the menu can also be served in a “lean style” to accommodate low carb, vegan and gluten-free diets with specialty bread options. People can also choose to build their own sandwiches and bowls.

Alonzo anticipates the vegan selections at the restaurant will expand as they continue to be popular menu items. Grub City currently serves Beyond burgers, vegan cheese and bacon, and will soon add vegan cold cuts to the menu.

The menu was modeled after Alonzo’s own healthy lifestyle. Having always worked in kitchens, Alonzo experienced several bouts of yo-yo dieting, a pattern of losing weight, regaining it and then dieting again.

Seven years ago, Alonzo underwent sudden cardiac arrest at a gym in South Toms River. He remained in a coma for three days and considers it a miracle that he woke up.

“My wife gave me CPR over the eight minutes that I didn’t have a heartbeat. At one point they didn’t think I’d come out of the coma," Alonzo said. “I sat with my doctors, especially my cardiologist, and I devised a diet that I could stick with. I love cooking so I would never take that off my plate. My family history — I can’t change, so I changed my diet.”

Alonzo detailed the life changing experience on the back panel of Grub City’s menu, noting that the restaurant’s staff is willing to customize meals to people’s personal diets.

“We want you to have choices and are willing to adapt to your lifestyle. Any requests, any ideas, just ask,” the menu reads.

Grub City's menu will be rotated every few months to introduce new sandwiches, though favorites like the Bayville Burger will stay.

“Everybody likes it, especially if we serve it in the restaurant. It’s really high and has that 'wow factor' when you put it on the plate,” Alonzo said.

Grub City is located in Riverside Plaza at 242 Route 9 South across from the Bayville Veterinary Hospital and Elks Lodge.

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