Humans dress up as lobsters but real thing takes a powder at Littoral Society's 5K Run

COLORFUL CRUSTACEANS: Runners who completed the 4th annual American Littoral Society Lobster Run on Saturday in Asbury Park were dressed colorfully, above and below.

CARE FOR THE COAST: The 5K Run/Walk was a fundraiser to support the Highlands-based Littoral Society's efforts to protect and preserve the ocean and coast.

HUMAN LOBSTER: Although runners dressed as lobsters, the real thing wasn't served in the buffet at the Langosta Lounge, a boardwalk restaurant I feel is a poor choice for the event. I eat there once a year only to support the Littoral Society.

PILING ON: For $45, my Lobster 5K Walk Ticket included the meal and some of the ugliest oysters I have ever seen, above. We were expected to pile all of the food, including fruit, granola and flavored yogurt, on one smallish disposable oval plate. You may not be able to find the Lobster Mac and Cheese (with hardly any lobster). Last year, each meal ticket included a chilled half Maine lobster from The Lusty Lobster in Highlands. That wasn't repeated on Saturday, unfortunately.

BACON, TOO: Not all of the food was healthy. Sausage and bacon also were served. When the restaurant ran out of disposable plates before the food ran out, two employees didn't budge to bring out real ones. In 2018, there was plenty of lobster in the mac and cheese, plus a half chilled Maine Lobster. See link and photos from last year's event below.

Read: In 2018, I headed straight for the buffet

    

 -- VICTOR E. SASSON

At the Jersey shore, they ran or walked 5K, but I headed straight for the lobster buffet

LOBSTER RUN: Runners crossing the start line on Saturday afternoon in Asbury Park for the 3rd annual 5K Run/Walk To Care For The Coast, a fundraiser for the American Littoral Society, above and below.

FISH HEAD: Head gear included this fish head, but others wore lobster or squid heads. A delicious lobster buffet awaited runners and walkers at the Langosta Lounge on Ocean Avenue.

By VICTOR E. SASSON
EDITOR

ASBURY PARK -- I'm always amazed and delighted at how a drive of less than 65 miles on the Garden State Parkway takes me back decades to summers on the New Jersey Shore.

On Saturday, I drove down to this faded shore resort with my wife for a 5K run/walk and lobster buffet -- a fundraiser to benefit the coastal-conservation programs of the American Littoral Society, a non-profit I joined in the 1990s.

To avoid a repeat of last year, when the buffet ran out before the last walkers were served, we did a brisk 2.5-mile walk on the boardwalk before the official 2 p.m. start, and were first on line for the delicious buffet.

Our next stop was nearby Bradley Beach, where my parents owned a summer home from the late 1940s until the late 1970s.

Brooklyn to Bradley

Every summer, we drove there from Brooklyn, shopped in the farmer's market across the tracks in Neptune, and welcomed my mother's brothers and sisters and their families for extended stays in the 8-bedroom house with a wraparound porch.

We usually stopped at the Neptune market after picking up my father at the railroad station on his return from running his dry goods store on the Lower East Side of Manhattan.

My mother, who like my father was born in Aleppo, Syria, cooked her Sephardic Jewish specialties every night, and the refrigerator was always full of leftovers for lunch and snacks or sandwiches in fresh pocket bread.

Great memories. 

See:

In 2017, no crustaceans

 were harmed at Lobster Run

The harsh realities

 of trying to save the coast

LOBSTER TWO WAYS: The buffet at the Langosta Lounge on Saturday included a sinful Lobster Macaroni and Cheese, foreground, and a chilled half Maine lobster from The Lusty Lobster, a seafood market in Highlands.

LUNCH BUFFET: The format of the fundraising run/walk and buffet was switched to the afternoon this year after last year's morning event and brunch included only scrambled eggs with lobster; no half lobsters were served last year.

TOMATO PIE: Before driving back to Hackensack, we stopped at Vic's, an Italian-American restaurant in Bradley Beach that opened in 1947. I ordered a large thin-crust whole-wheat pizza with onions, garlic and anchovies to go.

FULL MENU: Vic's has a full menu and a liquor license.

WEBSITE: Vic's Italian-American Restaurant is at 60 Main St. in Bradley Beach.

WRAPAROUND PORCH: A house on Third Avenue in Bradley Beach.

Asbury Park renewal

Every time we visit Asbury Park, there seems to be little progress on renewing the boardwalk, although many new apartments have been built a few blocks away in the business district.

When I worked at The Record of Hackensack in the late 1980s, I was sent to the faded resort to write about promises of renewal.

Here are some photos I took on Saturday:

AT A STANDSTILL: Not much has changed on this section of the Asbury Park boardwalk, above and below, since our last visit a year ago.

RESIDENTIAL PROJECT: From the boardwalk in front of the Langosta Lounge, we could see and hear work on what looks like a residential high-rise.

ROCKERS' ROOTS: The Stone Pony, know for launching rockers Bruce Springsteen and Bon Jovi, is going strong.

SPLISH SPLASH: A splash park for children is a bright spot on the boardwalk.

From carefree vacations at Jersey shore to the harsh reality of trying to save the coast

There are 15 nests for ospreys or fish hawks at Fort Hancock, an old Army base in Highlands now called home by a federal fisheries research lab, a public marine sciences high school, and headquarters for the coastal conservation mission of the American Littoral Society, which was founded in 1961.

On Saturday, the American Littoral Society held its annual meeting and members day at its Fort Hancock headquarters. On a historic tour of the old fort led by Jeff Dement, senior naturalist at the society, those with binoculars said this pair of ospreys were caring for three chicks.

By VICTOR E. SASSON
EDITOR

HIGHLANDS, N.J. -- I have many fond memories of the summers my family spent at our home in Bradley Beach from the 1940s to the 1970s.

My mother's brothers and sisters would drive their families out from our neighborhood in Brooklyn, taking turns as guests in the eight-bedroom house with a wraparound porch on Third Avenue.

We'd pick up my father, who commuted by train to his dry goods store on Manhattan's Lower East Side, and before going home, drove across the tracks to shop in the farmers market in Neptune.

Jersey beefsteak tomatoes, corn, potatoes and other produce were an important part of the big meals of Sephardic Jewish specialties my mother prepared for as many as 10 people every night.

Now, when I drive to the shore, it's usually for members day at American Littoral Society headquarters in Fort Hancock, an old Army base on Sandy Hook, part of the Gateway National Recreation Area.

On Saturday, the program included hikes, seining and birding; feeding of an African penguin; and a buffet lunch under a tent with terrific live music by "an Americana-flavored music duo" called The Danjos (Dan Corboy and John O'Neill).

Serious business

The American Littoral Society, founded in 1961, promotes the study and conservation of marine life and habitat, protects the coast from harm and empowers others to do the same.

At Fort Hancock, the society has powerful, like-minded partners, including a fisheries laboratory operated by the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration or NOAA, and the Monmouth County Marine Academy of Science and Technology, a four-year public high school. 

A major concern today is the low pH or acidity level of coastal waters that affects the ability of clams to form their shells.

That has a direct impact on New Jersey's hard-clam industry.

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No crustaceans were harmed at Lobster Run

A chef from The Lusty Lobster in Highlands demonstrating how to shuck a clam. American Littoral Society members day always includes clams on the half shell, washed down with cups of cold beer. 

My lunch of fresh arugula, pasta salad, roasted clams and a fat veggie burger. My wife had a cheeseburger. Fresh watermelon slices and a fruit salad also were served.

We enjoyed our lunch at a picnic table on the front porch of American Littoral Society headquarters, overlooking Sandy Hook Bay.

The Sandy Hook Lighthouse was built in 1764, and paid for by New York City merchants who wanted to cut down on the loss of goods when ships ran aground in the narrow channel leading to the city. Today, it is the oldest working lighthouse in the United States.

At Fort Hancock, the American Littoral Society occupies a building in Officer's Row, the oldest of which dates to 1892, above. The federal government is offering free 60-year leases to anyone who uses their own funds to restore one of the buildings.

No crustaceans were harmed at this year's Jersey shore Lobster Run and after-party

Nature lovers and others waiting this morning on the boardwalk in Asbury Park for the start of the 2nd annual Lobster Run, a 5K run/walk to benefit the American Littoral Society, a New Jersey-based non-profit that has been protecting and restoring the coast since 1961.

The event started and ended near the Langosta Lounge, a beachfront restaurant that ran out of buffet food before everyone who paid could enjoy their brunch.

-- ASBURY PARK, N.J.

By VICTOR E. SASSON
EDITOR

As longtime members of the American Littoral Society, we love our visits to the Jersey shore to take part in events that support the work of saving the coast.

Today was no exception -- our first Lobster Run, a fund-raising run/walk that started under an overcast sky on the boardwalk in Asbury Park.

Me and my wife walked the 3 miles to and from Bradley Beach, then joined an after-party in the Langosta Lounge, a beachfront restaurant at 1000 Ocean Ave.

The Jersey shore is a treasure, and I came to love it during the many years in the Fifties, Sixties and Seventies we drove from Brooklyn to our summer home on Third Avenue in Bradley Beach.

My brunch platter of what a harried Langosta Lounge server described as "Lobster Eggs," front, plus Greek yogurt, fruit, home-fried potatoes and an egg-vegetable wrap. Juice and alcoholic drinks weren't included in the price. Do you see any lobster in the egg dish?

Me and my wife were disappointed by the variety in the brunch buffet, and as someone who tries to eat heart-healthy food, I was surprised and shocked to see how much bacon and other cured meat runners and others were wolfing down.

There is nothing like the Jersey shore, above and below.

Langosta Lounge

Walkers like me and my wife were not only left behind by runners during the event, but we were also the last to join the line to the buffet at the so-called after-party.

We waited 20 minutes or more on line before we got to the buffet table, and found that the main egg dish, fruit and Greek yogurt were almost gone.

By a little after 11 a.m., servers announced no more buffet food would be put out, and my wife heard one of them telling late-comers the kitchen would have to prepare something for them.

Two women at the next table said that last year, after the first Lobster Run, participants were served lobsters and crab claws, in addition to other food.

This year, the only dish that supposedly contained lobster was what a server called "Lobster Eggs." 

When I got home, I looked at the Langosta Lounge's brunch menu online, and could not find any such thing listed.

The brunch didn't include juice or alcoholic beverages.

Details

American Littoral Society, 18 Hartshorne Drive, Highlands, N.J.

Website: Caring for the Coast