The first Asbury Park restaurant to officially die from COVID-19

While we know that many restaurants won’t survive the COVID-19 crisis, one has made it official: Asbury Park’s popular Modine has announced its closing.

This gorgeous, giant eatery that was a favorite of so many people in and out of Asbury Park is the among the first permanent restaurant casualties of the COVID-19 shutdown. While many are obviously struggling to survive, Modine was already on shaky ground, according to an article on NJ.com.

Its owners attributed its financial woes to the difficulty of filling the huge space during the week, while it remained hugely popular on the weekends. Modine always enjoyed a loyal fan base, with clientele who would return again and again to enjoy their famous modern southern menu: fried chicken drizzled with honey, mac and cheese, hush puppies, and ham hocks.

A restaurant that was already struggling financially before the pandemic had little to no hope of recovering, and so Modine announced its permanent closure on its Instagram page this week. The sad post read, in part, “However, due to a loss in business caused by COVID-19, we can no longer justify continuing our operations at this time. Thank you for your understanding and support. This is a bittersweet goodbye-for-now as we look forward to what lies ahead and serving you once again in the future!”

Let’s pray that this isn’t the beginning of a trend and that the partial opening of restaurant dining — at least outdoor, that is — will help offset the damage done by the COVID-19 shutdown in time to save them all.

The post above reflects the thoughts and observations of New Jersey 101.5 talk show host Judi Franco. Any opinions expressed are Judi's own.