By Sunayana Prabhu
RED BANK – The plate is almost full as two new culinary vendors join a diverse list of eateries at the new Anderson Market food hall. The gourmet market has just added Namkeen, a hot chicken concept with Pakistani and Indian flavor influences, and Nick and Sons, a New York Times-recognized bakery, set to open in September.
Anderson Market is being developed by Asbury Park-based hospitality group Culture Collective, and it aspires to be a community hub on the borough’s West Side in the Anderson Building at 200 Monmouth St. The firstfloor space was previously occupied by Sickles Market.
The 9,000-square-foot space will showcase curated local and regional food concepts but nothing that is already available in the neighborhood.
“We intentionally did not do Mexican because there’s already a lot of Mexican here. We intentionally did not do pizza because there’s already a lot of pizza here,” said Chris Viola, owner of Culture Collective, which also operates several popular restaurants in the region, including Barrio Costero and Reyla, and Laylow cocktail lounge, all in Asbury Park.
The two vendors most recently added to the food hall – Namkeen and Nick and Sons – were both selected for their unique offerings. Viola said Namkeen serves “phenomenal chicken” using Pakistani and Indian spices that differ from traditional hot chicken offerings.
Booskerdoo café, currently operating from the space, will remain a featured kiosk when the food hall launches in September. Confirmed vendors occupying the remaining space include Local 130 Seafood and Molly Boards, a charcuterie, sandwich and snack vendor. The market will also feature a traditional grocery store offering produce, meats and other grocery staples. The entire space will feature integrated seating for about 80 people through- out the market and a ded- icated communal lounge area designed to resemble a hotel lobby.
“We’re going to have probably 30-to-40-plus employees,” Viola said, but, he noted, “staffing has become difficult recently.”
Nevertheless, Viola is optimistic about the future of the business, hoping to capitalize on the West Side area’s growth with the proposed train station redevelopment plans that received borough council approval last week. Denholtz, the official developer of the train station project, will bring nearly 400 new apartment units to an area that is mostly rail yard and parking on either side of the train tracks. “All those people need a place to eat,” Viola said. “We’re excited about the growth. I think the West Side of Red Bank is in a really good position and we hope to be kind of the hub in the center of that while it continues to grow.”
The article originally appeared in the July 17 – July 23, 2025 print edition of The Two River Times.
