Working Up an Appetite

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By John Burton
RED BANK – Food lover, start your taste buds.
Appetite, the second annual three-day event, being held Aug. 1-3 at the Count Basie Theatre, is touted as a gastronomic experience and will again serve up a little different offering for the performing arts venue at 99 Monmouth St. This year’s menu will be bigger than the previous event.
“What we’re trying to do is feature the culinary arts as part of the fine and performing arts,” said Adam Philipson, the theater’s chief executive officer.
This year’s event will build on what organizers learned undertaking last year’s food festival, Philipson said.
The weekend-long event performed well last year but lessons were learned.
“When you launch something new and different” seeking to present it to a community that has come know the venue for its traditional offerings, “it’s a learning curve,” Philipson said. “We learned a lot … to refine and improve what we’re doing” this year.
“In terms of headline star power, it certainly is bigger,” said Jonathan Vena, the theater’s director of marketing and public relations.
Next weekend’s event will feature popular celebrity chefs Andrew Zimmern, host of the Travel Channel’s “Bizarre Foods” and Giada De Laurentiis, who is “one of the most legendary chefs on the planet,” as Venue called her. The three days will feature an array of demonstrations and offerings to satisfy the palate of many a foodie. “We’ve expanded that palette to include things under the epicurean flag that are different and unique,” Vena said.
Noteworthy for this year’s event is that the theater trademarked the concept and licensed it to another venue.
While the Count Basie conducts its Appetite festival, the Strathmore, a culture and arts venue in North Bethesda, Maryland, will be holding its own edition of Appetite at the same time with Zimmern and De Laurentiis appearing on opposite nights than in Red Bank.
“This could extend to other markets and reflect the food trends going on in that market at that time,” Philipson said.
Red Bank is a foodie haven, with an eclectic mix of eateries. They are “as much of a draw to Red Bank as we are in terms of what we provide on an entertainment scale,” Philipson said.
An event like this creates a synergy between the two, with the festival drawing on such local food talent as Victor Rallo, who owns Basil T’s in Red Bank, and Undici Taverna Rustica in Rumson and Danny Murphy, owner of Danny’s Grill and Wine Bar, Red Bank, Philipson said.
Jamian LaViola, who owns and operates Jamian’s Food and Drink at 79 Monmouth St., agreed.
Any event at the theater benefits his business “because we’re so close…Any kind of culinary activity is good for the food service business,” LaViola said. “It gets foodies on the streets,” who, while they may not dining in his establishment that day, will likely return to the town and try other locations.
Katerina Giambalvo, who owns and operates Monticello, a Broad Street restaurant, sees it differently. She believes any event that relies on outside food vendors and uses public parking “hurts us.”
Highlighting the growing popularity of food, wine and cooking makes sense for the theater, Philipson said.
“I think we’ve really been trying as an organization to make sure that we stay as relevant and prevalent in terms of the artists we present,” he said. “I can see this as part of our future as we move forward.”
Tickets for headline performances by Zimmern on Friday, Aug. 1,  and De Laurentiis on Saturday, Aug. 2, are on sale now through Countbasietheatre.org, phone charge at 732-842-9000 and the Count Basie Theatre box office. Admission to Appetite™ Afternoon events on Saturday and Sunday, Aug. 2-3, is $10, with tickets available in advance or at the door each day.