New look, new menu at Apple Street Kitchen in Tinton Falls
Apple Street in Tinton Falls has reopened after a renovation that added new dining spaces. Owner Casey Pesce prepares a dish from his new menu.
If you’ve ever dined at vegan restaurant Seed to Sprout in Avon, you have probably wondered how owners Alex Lopez and Cara Duerr get their plant-based dishes to taste so good.
The cashew and tofu omelets are fluffy and “cheesy,” the tempeh bacon cheddar melt is rich and savory, and the baked goods are “buttery” and decadent.
In the 14 years since launching Seed to Sprout — first as pop-up dinners and raw food cleanses, and then as restaurants and a bakery — Lopez and Duerr have developed a roster of vegan recipes, and they are sharing more than 80 in their first cookbook, “Seed to Sprout Kitchen.”
The 200-page book showcases dishes like matcha horchata, tacos al pastor made with oyster mushrooms, and tempeh Caesar salad, and it includes QR codes that take readers to videos of Lopez and Duerr demonstrating cooking techniques used in the recipes, like how to make carrot “lox” and cut tofu.
The book also includes the recipe for the restaurant’s beet burger, which impressed celebrity chef Guy Fieri when he visited Seed to Sprout for a 2024 episode of “Diners, Drive-ins and Dives.”
The cookbook is available at Thunder Road Books in Spring Lake, BookTowne in Manasquan, The Little Point Bookshop in Point Pleasant Beach, Asbury Book Cooperative in Asbury Park, and River Road Books in Fair Haven.
To celebrate the release, Lopez and Duerr will host the following book-signing events this fall:
• Noon to 4 p.m. Sunday, Oct. 5, at The Little Point Bookshop Book Festival, Point Pleasant Beach Bandshell, Baltimore and Arnold avenues • 6 p.m. Thursday, Oct. 16, at Thunder Road Books, 1100 3rd Ave. in Spring Lake• 1 to 3 p.m. Saturday, Nov. 1, at Barnes & Noble, 180 Route 35 in Eatontown• 5 p.m. Sunday, Dec. 14, at Asbury Book Cooperative, 644A Cookman Ave. in Asbury Park.
For more information, visit seedtosproutnj.com.
Sarah Griesemer joined the USA TODAY NETWORK New Jersey in 2003 and has been writing all things food since 2014. Send restaurant tips to sgriesemer@gannettnj.com, follow on Instagram at Jersey Shore Eats and subscribe to her weekly newsletter.
