Christl Anne Marie Grossmann Stallmach died Aug. 31, 2023, at Bayside Manor Assisted Living Facility in Keansburg. She had resided there since 2020 after moving from Atlantic Highlands, her home for the prior 53 years.
Christl, the only child of Erich and Hedwig (Ernst) Grossmann, was born Oct. 20, 1941, in Karlsruhe, Germany. She survived her early childhood in Nazi Germany and completed her secondary education during the post-World War II period. Having become fluent in French she then took a job as an au pair for a family in Paris. It was during this time that she decided to seek a better future in the United States.
After arriving in the U.S., she took a job at a German restaurant in the Irvington area. It was there that she met her future husband Peter.
Christl and Peter decided to move to the Jersey Shore in the early 1960s and worked at the River House in Highlands and later the Hofbräuhaus in Atlantic Highlands. It was there that they really hit their stride with Christl running the front of the house and Peter as head chef. Their success led them to purchase the Inbetween Café on English Plaza in Red Bank in the early 1980s. Thus began an almost 20-year run of superior German cuisine, along with Peter’s annual Christmas gingerbread castles which were noted in the local media many times.
After selling the restaurant and retiring, Christl worked part-time at Dearborn Farms where she was named employee of the year early on. After Peter’s death in 2008, Christl took solace in tending to her magnificent gardens, caring for local animals and spending time with her remaining family as well as friends and adoring former customers.
She was proud of her orange 1979 Mercedes 450SL and everyone in town knew Christl was out on her grand tour when they saw her in it.
Christl will be remembered for her love of her adopted country, her family, friends and customers, her killer dry wit and her precise Germanic approach to life’s issues and solutions.
In lieu of traditional remembrances, please consider making a donation in Christl’s name to the Monmouth County SPCA in Eatontown at monmouthcountyspca.org.
This article originally appeared in the October 12 – 18, 2023 print edition of The Two River Times.
