New restaurant Island Creole Kitchen coming to downtown Toms River

TOMS RIVER - A new restaurant is coming soon to the corner of Main and Washington streets in downtown Toms River.

Island Creole Kitchen, a restaurant that will serve food with Caribbean and Creole flavors, is expected to open sometime next month, co-owner Stanley Romulus said.

The Main Street restaurant previously was the home of MeanBeans Burritos and Beyond and earlier, the Java Joint. Romulus said he was pleased with the downtown location of his restaurant. Previously, he and his wife Marly had a small catering business.

Watch a video about the restaurant at the top of this story, or scroll to the bottom to watch more videos about stores and restaurants coming to our area.

"There is a lot of foot traffic," he said. "You have the courthouse and the school (Toms River High School South) around there."

Parking is tight, but Romulus said the restaurant will offer delivery as well.

The 49-seat restaurant will have quick service, with most of the dishes already prepared and ready for customers. "We want people to see what you are getting," Romulus said. "Sometimes your eyes eat for you."

It's all about traditional Island recipes made from fresh ingredients, "We like to cook everything fresh," Romulus said. For instnace, the restaurant will use its own spice blends.

His family has a background in Island flavors. Romulus said his parents are from Haiti. HIs wife is half Jamaican and half Haitian.

The selection of food includes oxtail, curried goat, curried chicken, fried pork, pork chops, stewed vegetables and beans and rice.

"We moved here three years ago and we had several parties at the house," Romulus said. "Everyone was like, "Where did you order your food?' … When they found out that we were cooking the food ourselves they were amazed."

Have you seen a construction project in Monmouth or Ocean counties and wanted to know what was going there? Contact business writer David P. Willis dwillis@gannettnj.com, and we will look into it for a future column.

David P. Willis: 732-643-4039; dwillis@gannettnj.com; facebook.com/dpwillis732.