AP Rooftop opening three stories above Asbury Park boardwalk

Tim McLoone, who owns nine restaurants up and down the Shore, said his father always told him not to open a second-floor restaurant.

They are hard for people to find, his dad said, and potential customers can't peak inside.

"But here we are on the third floor," McLoone said with a smile from inside AP Rooftop, his restaurant, bar and lounge opening later this month above Asbury Park boardwalk's 5th Avenue pavilion.

This new venture, which is accessible via stairs and elevators at its boardwalk and street-front entrances, is McLoone's vision for a year-round gathering place. He pictures customers eating and drinking with a view of the beach through eastward-facing floor-to-ceiling windows. In the cooler months, two large fireplaces will warm the room.

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"The main motivation was that someone was going to do this," McLoone said of the restaurant, which can seat about 250 diners. "I felt from the beginning there could be a real cool jazz vibe up here."

AP Rooftop joins four other McLoone's restaurants on the boardwalk: Iron Whale, which is downstairs, and The Robinson Ale House and Tim McLoone's Supper Club nearby. The new restaurant opens up to the Arthur Pryor Bandshell, which is one level below and hosts summer concerts from the Asbury Park Concert Band.

The lunch and dinner menus, overseen by Executive Chef Rob DiBlasi, will have a Mediterranean feel with seafood, handheld items, shared plates and thin-crust pizza taught to kitchen staff by Enzo Ferrante, a certified Italian Master Pizzaiolo.

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Bar manager Rosaleen Dugas has crafted a menu of cocktails that includes Tiki Me Crazy, with ube, banana, pineapple rum, ginger whiskey, lime, and oat-based coconut cream; Earth, Gin and Fire, with Gin Mare, Scotch, Calabrian chili amaro, mango and lemon; and a baklava-style espresso martini with honey-washed vodka, espresso, St. George coffee liqueur, pistachio and cardamom.

"We wanted this to become a meeting place — there's so much demand for that here," said McLoone, who hopes customers will come for a drink before heading out for the night, or stay for dinner.

Go: 1200 Ocean Ave.; is 732-444-2043, Asbury Park; mcloones.com.

Sarah Griesemer joined the USA TODAY NETWORK New Jersey in 2003 and has been writing all things food since 2014. Send restaurant tips to [email protected], follow on Instagram at Jersey Shore Eats and subscribe to our Jersey Shore Eats newsletter.

This article originally appeared on Asbury Park Press: Asbury Park restaurants: Tim McLoone's AP Rooftop opens soon