{"id":4182,"date":"2017-06-16T03:02:40","date_gmt":"2017-06-16T07:02:40","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/shorebeat.com\/lavallette-seaside\/?p=4182"},"modified":"2017-06-16T11:27:45","modified_gmt":"2017-06-16T15:27:45","slug":"two-gringos-bring-mexican-food-to-barrier-island","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/shorebeat.com\/lavallette-seaside\/2017\/06\/two-gringos-bring-mexican-food-to-barrier-island\/","title":{"rendered":"Two ‘Gringos’ Bring Mexican Food to Barrier Island"},"content":{"rendered":"
\"Gringo's<\/a>

Gringo\u2019s Mexican Shore Shack in Ocean Beach. (Photo: Daniel Nee)<\/p><\/div>On an island filled with boardwalk pizza, cheese balls and seafood, two restaurateurs saw an opportunity to bring a different style this season, and made it happen.<\/p>\n

Greg Walls, a lifelong island resident, partnered with\u00a0Jeremy Denardo this spring to create \u201cGringo\u2019s Mexican Shore Shack,\u201d featuring what Walls described as food with \u201cAmerican influences of authentic Mexican cuisine.\u201d<\/p>\n

The menu features burritos, tacos, quesadillas and more traditional Mexican fare, with a special emphasis on freshness.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe pico de gallo is made daily, our guacamole is made to order, and we pride ourselves on our freshness,\u201d said Walls, whose family has also owned The Bayside Cafe in Lavallette and the Dune Grass Cafe in Bay Head.<\/p>\n

\"Gringo's<\/a>

Gringo\u2019s Mexican Shore Shack in Ocean Beach. (Photo: Daniel Nee)<\/p><\/div>The name of was the restaurant was inspired by Denardo, who worked at one of Walls\u2019 other restaurants last season. An accomplished jiu jitsu artist, Denardo would leave New Jersey to practice in Brazil ever winter for near 10 years.<\/p>\n

\u201ci would\u00a0go there and train, and I was always labeled the Gringo,\u201d he said with a laugh. \u201cSo it stuck, and it\u2019s kind of a play on us as two white guys doing Mexican.\u201d<\/p>\n

\"Gringo's<\/a>

Gringo\u2019s Mexican Shore Shack in Ocean Beach. (Photo: Daniel Nee)<\/p><\/div>Denardo\u2019s family has also long been in the restaurant business, he said.<\/p>\n

The restaurant, a former deli and pizzeria, underwent a full renovation after Walls and Denardo closed on the property in March. The interior is colorful and coastal with subdued tones to create a perfect vibe to go along with the menu, and comes with photos Denardo took of shacks in Brazil.<\/p>\n

In an area that is crowded with Mexican options on the mainland, the pair feel there was a need for the cuisine on the island, where competition is lighter and comes from other areas.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe don\u2019t want to compare ourselves or compete so much, because we just want to make it our own,\u201d said Walls. \u201cI think it\u2019s important for us to have our own identity.\u201d<\/p>\n

The restaurant is also capitalizing on the overwhelming popularity of Mexican food, complimented by the beach setting.<\/p>\n

\u201cTacos are huge now, a big hit, and a great beach food,\u201d said Denardo. \u201cYou can go light and have one, or have four and be filled.\u201d<\/p>\n

\"Gringo's<\/a>

Gringo\u2019s Mexican Shore Shack in Ocean Beach. (Photo: Daniel Nee)<\/p><\/div>Gringo\u2019s will be open for breakfast, lunch and dinner all season, and will remain open into the fall. The restaurant will serve traditional Mexican dishes like chorizo and hash for breakfast every day, then stay open into the night.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe both felt very confident that we would be received well by offering something new \u2013 for people to have another option,\u201d said Walls.<\/p>\n

For More Information<\/strong><\/p>\n

Gringo\u2019s Mexican Shore Shack<\/strong>
\n3257 Route 35 North, Ocean Beach
\n732-250-8226
\nWebsite<\/a> and Facebook Page<\/a><\/p>\n

<\/div><\/div>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

On an island filled with boardwalk pizza, cheese balls and seafood, two restaurateurs saw an opportunity to bring a different style this season, and made it happen. Greg Walls, a lifelong island resident, partnered with\u00a0Jeremy Denardo this spring to create \u201cGringo\u2019s Mexican Shore Shack,\u201d featuring what Walls described as food with \u201cAmerican influences of authentic […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":4189,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_feature_clip_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":true,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","default_image_id":0,"font":"","enabled":false},"version":2},"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false},"categories":[18,14],"tags":[853,1156,1157,239,130],"class_list":["post-4182","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-featured","category-local-life","tag-barrier-island","tag-gringos-mexican-shore-shack","tag-mexican-food","tag-ocean-beach","tag-seaside-heights"],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/shorebeat.com\/lavallette-seaside\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/06\/gringos_ocean_beach.jpg","jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/pgsn9q-15s","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/shorebeat.com\/lavallette-seaside\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4182","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/shorebeat.com\/lavallette-seaside\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/shorebeat.com\/lavallette-seaside\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/shorebeat.com\/lavallette-seaside\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/shorebeat.com\/lavallette-seaside\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=4182"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/shorebeat.com\/lavallette-seaside\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4182\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/shorebeat.com\/lavallette-seaside\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/4189"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/shorebeat.com\/lavallette-seaside\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=4182"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/shorebeat.com\/lavallette-seaside\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=4182"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/shorebeat.com\/lavallette-seaside\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=4182"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}