Jersey Shore Most Influential 2024 — Food: Marilyn Schlossbach shapes dining at the Shore

From a "Top Chef" contestant to chefs dedicated to making a difference, Monmouth and Ocean counties are lucky to claim these incredible food industry folks.

If you think there's someone worthy who is not on these lists, email Executive Editor Phil Freedman at pfreedman@gannett.com. Please include a brief explanation of why you think they are deserving and contact information.

Marilyn Schlossbach: Chef and partner, The Whitechapel Projects, and humanitarian

To say that Marilyn Schlossbach wears many hats is an understatement.

As a restaurateur and chef, she helped shape dining at the Shore — specifically on the Asbury Park boardwalk — and introduced customers to the global flavors she discovered while traveling. She wrote a cookbook, chaired the New Jersey Restaurant and Hospitality Association, and guided her employees through a pandemic while delivering food to people in need.

She didn't go to culinary school: She learned the business at her family's Avon restaurant and was thrust into the kitchen one day when the chef walked out.

As a humanitarian, she hosts holiday dinners and clothing drives for people wanting a warm meal, companionship or both. She also launched a cafe, farm and food truck where inner city youth and adults learn to work in hospitality. In all aspects of life, Schlossbach believes in the concept of community.

The mom of two left her boardwalk restaurants earlier this year, but she hasn't slowed down. The Marilyn Schlossbach Group comprises The Whitechapel Projects, a restaurant, bar, brewery and events space in Long Branch; Food For Thought by The Sea, the nonprofit food truck; Two River Mushroom Co., an organic mushroom farm; a chocolate line called The Cocoa Boat; and a moringa oil beauty line called Oshin Oil.

Joe Leone: Chef and owner, Joe Leone's Italian specialty markets

With three eponymous Italian markets at the Shore, Joe Leone is the one to turn to for Italian provisions, fresh bread and an extensive menu of prepared foods. But he is just as involved in philanthropy as he is in the food industry, from helping launch a program that provides culinary training to people who have been previously incarcerated to leading a pierogi-making fundraiser to raising money for Ukrainian refugees fleeing the war with Russia.

David Burke: Chef and restaurateur

With 20 restaurants between New Jersey and Saudi Arabia, David Burke is synonymous with fine dining that is as creative and whimsical as it is refined.

Adanech Asghedom: Chef and owner, Ada's Gojjo

In an area lacking in African cuisine, Adanech Asghedom has built a following around her Ethiopian-Dominican restaurant in Asbury Park, which serves traditional foods like injera and doro wat.

Lou Smith: Chef and owner, Blend on Main and The Peach Pit Cafe, and founder, Chef Lou's Army

Lou Smith's restaurants are hallmarks of Main Street Manasquan, and the chef's "army" — born during the COVID-19 pandemic — feeds restaurant-prepared meals to people in need.

Neilly Robinson and David Viana: Owners, Heirloom, Heirloom at St. Laurent, Lita and La Otra

What started as a cooking school and chef's table restaurant has grown into a collection of some of the state's most popular dining destinations, known for top-notch hospitality and dishes crafted by the James Beard-nominated Viana.

Chris Mumford: Owner, Hay Mumford

Once a restaurant owner who taught and inspired some of the area's top chefs, Chris Mumford — an early practitioner of farm-to-table cooking and believer of growing your own food — sells produce from his Monmouth County farm, Hay Mumford, at local farmers markets.

Cara Pescatore and Alex Mazzucca: Chefs and owners, Seed to Sprout

Before living a vegan lifestyle became mainstream, Cara Pescatore and Alex Mazzucca used their nutrition backgrounds to launch Seed to Sprout in Avon, where Shore diners continue to fall in love with their sweet and savory plant-based dishes.

Jim Flynn: Founder, Jersey Shore Restaurant Week

The founder of Jersey Shore Restaurant Week, a bi-annual event featuring dining deals and special menus, Jim Flynn's efforts help dozens of restaurants boost business during slow times of the year and introduce diners to new places.

Stephanie and Mark Cartier: Founders, No Limits Cafe

Through their Middletown lunch cafe, which doubles as a job-training facility, the Cartiers are dedicated to helping adults with intellectual disabilities find meaningful careers — and showing their potential to the rest of the world.

Sue and Erin Sharkey: Co-founders, Compassion Cafe

Sue Sharkey and her niece, Erin Sharkey (who moved to Texas in January 2022), created Compassion Cafe, a coffee shop and dog bakery on Long Beach Island that provides employment and job training to adults with intellectual and developmental disabilities.

Tim McLoone: Restaurateur and philanthropist

In addition to leading some of the Shore's most iconic restaurants, McLoone puts his musical talents to work through his nonprofit charitable group, Holiday Express.

Holly Migliaccio and Shawn Kingsley: Co-founders and owners, Rook Coffee

Childhood friends who took a chance on coffee, Holly Migliaccio and Shawn Kingsley are the driving force behind Rook, which has an intensely loyal following and nearly a dozen coffee shops.

James and Amelia Caverly: Owners, Booskerdoo Coffee & Baking Co.

Another pioneer of locally roasted coffee, the Caverlys own and franchise more than half a dozen coffee shops in New Jersey and New York.

Augie and Chris Carton: Owners, Carton Brewing Company

Augie and Chris Carton's Atlantic Highlands brewery is a flagship among New Jersey's growing craft beer industry, with local bars, restaurants and liquor stores pouring and stocking their brews.

Michael Kane: Owner, Kane Brewing Company

Since launching his Ocean Township brewery more than a decade ago, Michael Kane's brewing company now includes a brewing facility, beer garden, tasting room and distribution arm.

James Avery: Chef and owner, The Black Swan and The Mainstay

This talented and charismatic chef has made his mark on countless Jersey Shore restaurants — he currently runs a European gastropub in Asbury Park and is transforming the city's Bonney Read, a seafood restaurant, into a new bar and lounge — and cooked as Gordon Ramsey's on-camera sous chef for Fox television shows like "Kitchen Nightmares" and "Hell's Kitchen."

Tom D’Ambrisi: Owner, The Butcher’s Block

In less than five years, Tom D'Ambrisi turned former office spaces adjoining his family's wholesale meat business into one of the state's most popular and hard-to-get-into restaurants.

Jamie Giovinazzo: Owner, Eat Clean Bro

Jamie Giovinazzo started Eat Clean Bro as a backdoor operation, selling grilled chicken to his gym bros, before growing it into a company serving clean, healthy, prepped meals in New Jersey and beyond for pick-up and delivery. Eat Clean Bro products appear in local shops, and Giovinazzo's recently opened a headquarters in Eatontown.

Frank Brusco: Owner, Gabriela’s Steakhouse, Over Easy Kitchen, Patricia’s of Holmdel

Frank Brusco started a restaurant empire in 2015 when he bought Patricia's of Holmdel. Since then, he has opened the popular Gabriella's Italian Steakhouse in Middletown, and started the Over Easy Kitchen chain with partners Demetri and Kosta Rexinis.

Tide Table Group

Tide Table Group comprises six restaurants on LBI and in southern Ocean County. Founding members Bob and Ginna Nugent bought Ship Bottom Shellfish in 1981, and later partnered with long-time employee Eric Magaziner and his girlfriend (now wife), Melanie, to purchase Mud City Crab House in 1999. The team has grown as family members embed themselves in the local community, participating in charitable efforts.

This article originally appeared on Asbury Park Press: Marilyn Schlossbach: Jersey Shore Most Influential 2024