By Laura D.C. Kolnoski
OCEANPORT – The reimagined marina restaurant at Old Wharf Park has taken a turn – to Key West.
This week should see the soft reopening of the waterfront restaurant on Oceanport Creek, formerly Fort Monmouth’s boathouse, operating under a new name, The Wharf.
This time, the seasoned operators are well-known throughout New Jersey, both for their expertise in restaurant and bar operations and their connections to the music community.
Enter Chris Bowler and Kevin Feehan, now partners with the Criscione family that literally salvaged the building from the water after Super Storm Sandy, purchased it from the Fort Monmouth Economic Redevelopment Authority (FMERA), rehabilitated it, and ran it with an Italian theme before bringing on a succession of lessees.
The building’s exterior has been repainted, flower baskets are hung, the interior is refreshed, a stage has been added to the deck, and the entrance and parking area have been beautified.
The Criscione family is optimistic.
“We have all been working together to reopen,” said Deanna Queenan, a fulltime attorney who owns the restaurant with her father, Mario Criscione, and sister, Jessica Sarnack. “Chris and Kevin have been on site, and they are amazing. The restaurant will have a cool, tropical vibe. We’re hoping it will be well received.”
The new operating partners have extensive, relevant experience. Bowler’s parents bought Sea Bright’s Donovan’s Reef in 1976, renaming it for the John Wayne movie. He began his restaurant career there at age 11 and was integral to its operations – and its resurrection after Super Storm Sandy – before ending his involvement in 2018. He is currently a minority partner at Red Rock Tap & Grill in Red Bank.
Feehan’s resume includes founding Asbury Park’s Cadillac Ranch Saloon and helping open the Wonder Bar there, creating its look and having the famous “Tillie” face (originally a mural at Palace Amusements) painted on the façade of the venue. He has most recently been general manager of Urban Coal House, Red Bank, and previously managed Deal Lake Bar Co. in Loch Arbor and Val’s Tavern in Rumson. A musician, his Three Sheets 2 the Wind band plays Sundays at Bar Anticipation in Belmar and in various other area venues.
After meeting at Donovan’s and becoming friends some 20 years ago, the pair “decided to put our heads together and get a place of our own,” Feehan said. “We have been on a five-year mission to find the right place.” The pandemic presented impediments, and sites they eyed in Hazlet and Point Pleasant didn’t pan out. Bowler said he spoke with Mario Criscione several times, who “loved our ideas.” When the pair made an offer to buy in and run the place, a deal was solidified. While not a fish house per se, the menu, which will start small, “will be an evolution, not a revolution,” Bowler said, noting that fresh seafood will be added “down the road.”
“The food will be very casual upscale pub fare, the best quality we can put together, and reasonably priced,” said Bowler. The decor and art will reflect the pair’s travels and favorite places – New Orleans, Nashville, Key West and Hawaii – along with homages to nearby Monmouth Park.
In addition to the park, the name specifically honors the closed and demolished Olde Wharf Inne that sat across the street.
The new venture halted Bowler’s plans of a Florida retirement. “If I can’t move to Key West, I’ll move Key West here,” he said.
Live music – acoustic, duos and well-known local troubadours – will play on the deck.
“I know them all,” Feehan said. “For me, music is an avocation, not a vocation.” He characterized the style of music at The Wharf as “mellow and calm.”
“I think of Kevin as a visionary,” said Joe Bonanno, leader of JoBonanno and the Godsons of Soul, who met Feehan in 1994, when Feehan co-managed The Cove in Sea Bright. “Aside from being a Jersey Shore musician for decades, he always had dreams of opening a great music venue/ restaurant. The Wharf, in a beautiful dock-and-dine location with a parking lot, will be the pinnacle of those dreams.”
During a walk-through last week, electricians were installing new equipment, chairs were being refurbished, and new beverage systems installed. Bowler said the pair, “are determined to keep it open year-round.”
“We wanted to give ourselves a break from the day- to-day” of overseeing operations, Deanna Queenan said of her family’s decision to take on partners. She said, until now, there wasn’t enough business to keep the venue open through the winter.
“Mario gave us a tremendous restaurant in great shape,” Feehan said. “We want to make this place what it should be and keep it open all year.”
A new website for the venue, thewharfoceanportnj.com, will be available but was still under construction at press time.
The article originally appeared in the June 19 – 25, 2025 print edition of The Two River Times.
