Harry's

     ASBURY PARK - Harry's Roadhouse, the much-anticipated SoHo-like restaurant and bar, opened it's doors Wednesday night at the corner of Cookman Avenue and Bond Street, becoming the latest new business to emerge in the downtown's turnaround.

     "It's New York on the Jersey Shore, very accessible but still stylish," said Louis Navarette, an interior decorator and owner of From House to Home at 721 Cookman Ave. "It's going to be an anchor and a place for people to spend time in between shopping. If we had three more, we'd have a city."

     John Dorrian, the new York restaurateur, took the building at 660 Cookman Ave. owned by developer William Sitar, stripped it to the bone, and started to build his restaurant.

     Dorrian said it took him nine months to get everything just right.

     "I like to create, " he said at Wednesday night's opening party, looking out on Cookman Avenue where store owners have decorated windows for the holidays. In years past, those windows were boarded up.

     Dorrian said he likes to get in on the first floor of a town's turnaround, and he's done the same elsewhere over the past 15 years, first in Florida, with Miami's South Beach, and then Manhattan's Chelsea district.

      He next plans to open a steak house a block away in Asbury Park and credits his co-designer, Manny Kelly, with making Harry's Roadhouse happen.

     For now, the restaurant offers a variety of cuisine, including steaks, chops, oysters, and mussels. It will be open from 5 p.m. to 2 a.m. Tuesday through Saturday. By St. Patrick's Day, the restaurant will be open for lunch, Dorrian said.