Jul. 1—It's easy to take your favorite sub shop at the Shore for granted, especially when it's been there nearly half a century like Florida Cold Cuts & Liquors in Ventnor. Its married owners Vern and Marion Sutley have roasted their own fresh meats daily for 47 years and have been understandably reluctant to pass their vintage meat slicer and secret recipes for baked ham and tuna salad on to just any successor.
So it feels like a gift that when the change finally happened, as it did this spring, when Vern saw his "dream team" of new owners came along. A pair of young couples motivated to preserve the Sutleys' no-shortcuts sandwich integrity partnered with a local restaurant icon in Cookie Till (of Steve & Cookie's and the Ventnor No. 7311 cafe just up the block) and they've handled the transition with vision and grace.
"We're honoring the past, but also creating something new," says Till, noting plans underway now to upgrade the shop's beverage selection and to bolster the grocery with local artisan products.
Old restaurant institutions don't always age well, especially at the Jersey Shore where real estate is precious and the profit-making season is short. But this summer I came across several new projects where the torch has been passed with care.
Read on for five restaurants where you can appreciate the taste of past, present and the future all in one bite.
Florida Cold Cuts & Liquors
7301 Ventnor Ave., Ventnor City, 609-822-3545; on Facebook
Anyone can make a turkey sub. But as new owners Tiffany Rando and Ryan Bray discovered during their multi-week immersion into "Sandwich School" with their predecessors Vern and Marion Sutley, there's an art to the rhythms of scratch cooking and careful sandwich-building that have made Florida Cold Cuts & Liquors in Ventnor one of the Shore's best sandwich shops since 1975.
"It took me two weeks before I was fully trusted to make the tuna," says Bray, 45, Rando's brother-in-law, whose career in restaurants with the Dougherty family (Dock's Oyster Bar, Knife & Fork) did not prepare him for the wrist-action Marion uses to hand-whip her savory tuna salad with a spoon, which, when it's perfect, achieves both airiness and lightness of color.
Slicing the meat to its ideal thinness for delicacy?
"I want to know what number to set the slicer at but Vern is like, 'What number? This slicer has been my best friend for 47 years. It's a feel thing. You have to judge it.'"
And Marion disassembled and reassembled more than a handful of their early sub attempts to tidy-up the meat placement and maximize the flavor of the sandwiches made on Atlantic City rolls or Ginsburg rye.
"There's definitely ways we can do this quicker, but then you realize: it's part of what makes this so great," says Bray.
And so Bray and Rando come in each day at 6:30 a.m. to set the fresh turkey, roast beef and sweet, clove-scented hams to bake, to remove labels from all canned ingredients (to preserve brand secrets!), to poach chicken in sweet broth for Florida's equally coveted chicken salad.
The innovations are coming fast, too. They've begun accepting credit cards and have undertaken a major overhaul of the wine and beer selection, which has quickly evolved from an afterthought of jug wine bargains to a showcase for natural and organic producers ranging reasonably from $15 to $38 a bottle.
"It's our family supporting other families doing cool things with wine," says Bray.
But he says that carrying on a great sandwich legacy has also had its unique rewards.
"There's just something awesome about making the actual turkey that goes into a good sub and having some guy come in and say: 'This is what my summer's about.'"
Dock & Claw Clam Bar
506 Centre St., Beach Haven, 609-994-8040; dockandclaw.com
The cedar shake house on Centre Street in Beach Haven has been a clam bar since the early 1970s, when a man named Johnny "Potato" Marmando built the business and, lacking a full kitchen, became known for "zapped scallops," a specialty involving butter and a relatively new technology called the microwave.
The menu's been updated for the fish taco generation at Dock & Claw Clam Bar, which took over this summer from the Harvey Cedars Clam Bar, which closed after a 30-year run. But there's still such a quirky DIY vibe to this intimate old BYOB with a horseshoe bar that rings basin brimming with ice and shellfish. Briny middlenecks and local oysters harvested from the Delaware Bay anchor the platter, their mignonette perked with a sweet-tart raspberry syrup and a side of house-branded hot sauce made with habaneros and thyme.
This is the first venture for co-owners Kevin Ketchel and Steve Haggart, two L.B.I. restaurant vets who brought chef Matt Porro with them from the nearby Delaware Avenue Oyster House, where Haggart had been chef. They're serving refreshing mocktails with berry-infused lemonades and kombucha on draft, while Porro and his kitchen partner, sister Amber Porro, turn out well-made seafood classics, from creamy fresh chowder, to garlicky clams and mussels served red, white or with chorizo, or those local oysters baked with compound butter and cotija cheese.
A fondness of Mexican ingredients is key to another of Dock & Claw's best apps, the crispy tostadas with chorizo, as well as its best-selling cod fish tacos topped mango-peach salsa. But then there is the excellent smash burger with house pickles. And Dock & Claw also makes what I consider the best lobster roll on L.B.I., its butter-toasted bun jammed with 6 ouncesof sweet knuckle meat dressed oh-so-lightly in a little mayo.
The only thing I didn't love? An overly complicated "scallop melt" with mozzarella, pesto and cherry pepper aioli that was a nod to very different version popularized by the Harvey Cedars Clam Bar. If the "zapped scallops" ghost of this clam bar's past could speak, it would say: simple is best!
13504 Long Beach Blvd., Long Beach, 609-207-6832; lomitolbi.com
Had it not been for the pandemic, 26-year-old Max Oehlmann might still be cooking in New York, where the Culinary Institute of America-trained chef found success and inspiration working at upscale addresses like Augustine and Casa Mono. But when COVID-related restaurant closures obliged him to return home near Long Beach Island, he saw an opportunity to channel his family's Chilean roots with Lomito.
Oehlmann, who got his start in local establishments run by the Tide Table Group (Mud City Crab House, Parker's Garage) chose a quick-serve concept for the beach crowd. t He's given a stylish makeover and added indoor-outdoor seating to the former El Swell taqueria in Long Beach. But don't let the casual format fool you. Oehlmann's dedication to careful scratch cooking shines through every dish.
The pan-Latino menu glances past some Mexican favorites like quesabirria and fish tacos al pastor, and they're very good. The adobo-rubbed chicken wings are impossible to resist. But Lomito's menu gains real traction with dishes inspired by the Chilean flavors from Oehlmann's father's side of the family, especially the flaky empanadas plumped with a deeply savory ground beef stuffing scented with smoky merken spice.
The sandwiches are also deeply satisfying, especially the chacarero of birria-braised beef topped with the surprise crunch of green bean salad, as well as the house signature Lomito, a superbly tender braised pork loin sparked with Peruvian aji mirasol peppers.
All that savory goodness calls for something sweet. and don't miss the brownies, which aren't especially Chilean — except for the house made dulce de leche that ribbons each square with silky caramel.
3004 W. Brigantine Ave., Brigantine, 609-264-5909; cordivarisrestaurant.com
If only every old Wawa could be reborn as an Italian restaurant like Cordivari's, our world be a tastier place. Yes, the convenience store's generic-yet-iconic architecture is still hard to mistake from Brigantine Avenue. But once inside the low-lit dining room bustling with large tables and a guitarist singing "What a Wonderful World," you're fully enveloped by warmth and tradition.
This Cordivaris have roots on Brigantine dating to the 1976 founding of the Pirate's Den, which they no longer own. bThey're best known for Tre Figlio, a fine dining Italian destination that drew fans in Galloway Township on the mainland for 23 years until it closed in 2007. The founders' son, Jim, now 57, has revived many of Tre Figlio's recipes at Cordivari's, which he opened as sole owner in 2019.His mother, Antoinette, came out of retirement at 78 to help run the dining room: "You could say I'm crazy working at my age, but I love helping my son and I'm passionate about the restaurant," she said.
The dishes exude "1990s retro Italian," a post-red gravy style notable for creamy blush sauces, arugula and fresh pasta. But with good ingredients and careful cooking, they still hold a timeless appeal. Shrimp Antoinette brings shrimp francaise over arugula in a caper cream sauce. Local scallops star beside a crispy polenta cake flecked with fig and topped with cippolini agrodolce. The kitchen could go lighter on the cream sauce for the lobster ravioli — and heavier on the lobster, which was barely present in the stuffing. But I loved the minimalist pappardelle Abruzzi, because it highlighted the supple, hand-cut egg noodle ribbons in garlic-oil sauce with broccoli rabe and sausage.
Next time, I'm splurging for the lobster Venetian (francaise with white wine cream sauce), or going for the gusto of pasta Giacomo, named for Jim's father, sauced with a spicy marinara filled with long hot peppers and the savor of chopped meatballs.
Don't be surprised if one of the Cordivari grandkids, Danielle or Natalie, is serving your table. Or if Jim's brother, Dean, a liquor exec by day, is helping out on the line. This old Wawa-turned-restaurant is a true family affair.
106 N Dorset Ave., Ventnor City, 609-822-8366; thedorsetnj.com
As a longtime resident of Absecon Island, chef Joseph Tucker had always considered Annette's to be his home away from home for brunch.
"When my daughter was three we used to live just over the bridge on Dorset, and I'd order the same thing every time: an egg white omelet with ham, American cheese and grilled tomatoes," says Tucker, 56, who owns the upscale seafooder Catch in nearby Longport with wife Chastity and brother, Robert Liccio.
When the trio boughtAnnette's from previous owners Cheryl and David Venezia, who ran it for two decades, they gave the breakfast-and-lunch space a bright makeover and a new name in honor of its street. But Tucker also heard from fellow regulars: "You're not getting rid of the smoked fish platters, are you?!" No, he didn't. Which explains the boogie board-sized plate piled high with huge scoops of smoked whitefish and bagels that landed to nods of approval at the table behind us.
We ordered some other breakfast classics, like the notably silky creamed chipped beef and an "El Paso" omelet that was promising, but whose chorizo filling was dry. The real winners draw on the Italian flavors of Tucker's South Philly upbringing. The cutlet sandwich with broccoli rabe and provolone, for example, brought serious 9th Street savor.
But there was something magnetic about "Grandma's Pepper and Eggs." It's just a simple sandwich on a seeded Aversa long roll. But done right, those fluffy eggs ribboned with strips of sweet-and-smoky house-roasted peppers and molten cheese worked like a time machine to whisk us right back with little Joey to his Nonna Pauline Liccio's kitchen table in the Italian Market. I unexpectedly ate the whole thing and the Dorset's nostalgia mission was complete.
The climactic moment arrived when the Sun God cast one final burst of fire across the Delaware Bay and its light beam caught the plumes of smoke dancing over my Tobacco Road cocktail. Did the edible mermaid floating atop my wife's cocktail at The Lookout actually just wink? It could have been my imagination, but another fun beach day was in the books. And one thing was crystal clear: Even if this massive octagon of a restaurant perch beside the Cape May-Lewes Ferry hasn't yet hit its full stride as the Shore's buzziest new opening, it certainly is the biggest and most dramatic.
That includes co-owner Jack Wright's anxiety.
"We picked the worst year to open three new restaurants, you know, with epic equipment shortages, a staffing shortage that's the worst it's ever been, the cost of proteins up 40% and menu prices rising only 5 to 10%. It's insane!" says Wright with a nervous chuckle.
The Exit Zero publisher, retailer, and restaurateur, who already operated the popular Exit Zero Filling Station in Cape May, won the contract with his partners to open a cluster of new dining venues in the Cape May-Lewes Ferry Terminal that's taken $3 million and two years to complete. The massive project, involving 500-plus seats through four concepts on multiple levels has been undergoing early adjustments all season as staff changes and later-than-expected openings shake out. There are plans to transform the property into a sprawling bayside park and entertainment center, complete with shopping village, this fall.
The Lookout is already a spectacular location to dine beside a sunset view, with seriously fun cocktails and food that's better than I expected.
Perhaps it's a trend? Despite my skepticism that a pretty perch rarely brings food better than an afterthought, we ate at several new restaurants this summer where dinner was just as charming as the vistas of blue-and-white striped beach tents and tall masts bobbing in a marina. This was especially true near the Wildwoods and Cape May on the Shore's southern end, where some of this season's most vibrant new restaurant energy can be found.
And my enthusiasm isn't limited to fancy big-ticket dining. There's a stellar new barbecue corner in North Wildwood. An indie BYOB in Cape May where a veteran local chef finally embarking on his owner-operator debut. Just as exciting: a beachside hut serving roasted oysters, locally sourced ingredients for its lunchtime menu, and Instagram-reserved "block parties" when the sun goes down.
Read on for a tasty summer beach trip.
The Lookout, 1200 Lincoln Blvd., North Cape May, 609-551-4209; visitferrypark.com
The Exit Zero Ferry Station opened last weekend with 224 seats between its casual indoor-outdoor spaces and a quirky menu of Brit-style curries, burgers, and Disco Fries similar to the Cape May original, plus fried rice, spaghetti, and Cajun shrimp penne ("literally all over the map," Wright says). But the second-floor Lookout managed to open its 120-seat octagon dining room and patio for fine dining just in time for Memorial Day. No sooner did Wright begin having second thoughts about the early menu, which leaned too traditional — lobster bisque and à la carte steaks — for him.
"Much more of a steak house than I wanted," said Wright, who's in transition with head chefs and aims to make the dishes both less predictable and a better value. These composed entrées, though, still ring in from the high-$30s to $50-plus for the chops.
We visited The Lookout before its metamorphosis began, but chef de cuisine Nick Mullavey is up to whatever changes are asked of him. He delivered an excellent crab cake with corn salsa, classic clams Casino, and a dry-aged Indian Ridge strip steak among the most flavorful I tasted at the Shore. (All are still on the menu). Salmon Wellington is the signature entrée, but I opted instead for local seafood and wasn't disappointed: five huge scallops posed over heirloom cauliflower laced with lardons, golden raisins, and verjus vinaigrette. Pastry chef Emily Newton even inspired me to re-embrace crème brûlée with its silky custard, a freshly caramelized crock topped with sweet-and-salty candied pretzels.
What's really missing is also in the works: an interior makeover to soften the cavernous room with a big plaid rug, banquettes, a central fireplace, and window treatments to mute the noise. Until then, good luck chatting with your dinner date about that lovely view.
Swine Bar, 231 W. 10th Ave., North Wildwood, 609-297-5238; theswine.bar
The secret to running a great restaurant with a view? Focus on running a good restaurant.
That's been Bill Bumbernick's credo at the Swine Bar, which he installed last year on the deck above The Surfing Pig, his North Wildwood barbecue hit. And unlike the hours-long lines for ribs at his smokehouse, the Swine Bar, despite its cheeky name, is one of the few places at the Shore one can reserve a table for a leisurely meal with a sunset marina view.
The swanky 72-seat space has retractable wind screen walls that gaze out across the bay with a jazzy soundtrack that casts a mellow vibe as you sip through well-made cocktails (try the aptly smoky Notorious P.I.G.) or a wine list featuring Bumbernick's favorite Burgundies and Sancerres (ideal for the raw bar).
Massive chilled shrimp scented with cardamom pair with mango slaw and a chile glaze for perfect start. And this season's new chef, Jeremy Palumbo, has deftly taken the baton to build on existing favorites, like the pork belly and scallop app, and added others polished during his 12-year tenure as a sous-chef at Peter Shields Inn. The pork tenderloin over creamy polenta was outstanding, as was the sirloin steak ringed by a vibrant emerald chimichurri atop baby carrots and mashed potatoes. A perfectly roasted halibut balanced on a savory berm of potatoes and pancetta, ready to swipe through ivory streaks of truffled aioli that radiated across the plate.
This isn't innovative cooking so much as that it simply showcases prime ingredients in their best light, with friendly, knowledgeable servers guiding the way. All the more impressive: When the dark wind screen was lifted to reveal the less-than-stellar conditions of a misty, cool evening, we still felt as if we'd had a special meal.
Wildwoods BBQ, 701 New Jersey Ave., North Wildwood, 609-600-3292; wildwoodsbbq.com
Long before they were partners in one of the region's best new barbecue spots, David Gill and Joel Romano were best mates in kindergarten in Canberra, Australia. That explains the singsong accent encouraging me to grab a Miller High Life from the cooler beside the register ("Yeah, they're free," deadpans Romano). It also explains the Australian beef sausages made from fatty brisket trim at this smokehouse in North Wildwood, a fast-evolving town that, with Swine Bar and year-old Trio nearby, is having a redefining food moment.
Those deeply smoked links scented with cumin and herbes de Provence are just one of the specialties that help this funky picnic table corner with graffitied walls stand out. Romano, the longtime chef at the Goat's Beard pubs, has planned for years to team up with "Gilly," a rock musician (half of The Junkie Twins with brother Anthony), who also honed his pit master's craft at Hometown Bar B Que in Brooklyn.
They installed a refurbished J&R rig in a former roast beef shop, and it's been rocking out stellar slow-smoked meats — pepper-encrusted brisket that glistens, incredibly tender pulled pork; tawny-skinned chickens still moist from a lemony bay brine. But it's the more unusual items I can't stop thinking about, like the smoked cauliflower fried to a tempura crisp. Or the deeply smoked beets over tzatziki with dukka, a crushed pistachio, peppercorn, sesame, and garlic seasoning that also adds a Mediterranean crunch to the outstanding ribs. And then there's a fantastic smash burger topped with a rail of smoked pork belly that flies off the sides of that patty like a bacon surfboard. Hang ten fingers on that beauty, and take it for a ride.
Is a burger joint in the future for this duo, too?
"This," says Romano, "is just a starting point for us."
406 Beach Ave., Cape May, 609-408-1933; primalcapemay.com
Mia Chiarella's transformation from Wildwood Pasta Princess to the Steak Queen of Cape May has featured heartbreak — but also a stirring comeback. The third-generation chef of the Chiarella's restaurant family lost both parents to illness within a five-week period when she was 28 — just as her star was rising after appearing on Anthony Bourdain's The Taste. "I was the only one left," she said.
Financial and personal troubles followed.
Now 34, Chiarella is on a better path. She quit drinking and found love with Joe Schulte, 50, her fiancé, co-chef, and partner at year-old Primal by MIA. Their L-shaped BYOB wraps around an arcade on Cape May's Promenade with unobstructed views of the beach, whose colors are beautifully echoed in the dining room moss wall created by local artist (and Primal server) Robin Altman, which also keep noise down. But the main event is a menu that eschews the big plate pastas Chiarella's family used to be known for in favor of quality meats and seafood off the wood-fired hearth Schulte built himself: "We were thinking 'bonfire at the beach!'" he says.
The bone-in rib-eye was a stunner, cooked perfectly inside the caramelized crust of a fragrant rub Chiarella blends from cocoa, curry, and cinnamon. A thick slice of halibut was equally fantastic, its moist flesh imbibed with the smoke of ash wood. This couple roams globally for ever-changing inspirations, including a zesty braised squid that also included duck sausage, olives, shrimp, and grapes in a tomato sauce spiced with gochujang. Chiarella's Italian roots make a faithful cameo, too, with a roast pork belly served over broccoli rabe in garlicky broth that is essentially a deconstructed pork sandwich.
"We're not reinventing the wheel here," Schulte says. Chiarella and her partner have instead reinvented their culinary selves.
309 Beach Ave., Arkoteria, Cape May; blockpartycapemay.com
Devotion to local ingredients, from oysters to perfect radishes and the daily catch off nearby docks, is standard in the best restaurants at the Jersey Shore, like the Ebbitt Room and Beach Plum Farm, where Matthew Crist, 40, and Joshua Liwoch, 32, spent time cooking. So it makes sense that such spontaneous seasonality should also guide the menus at Block Party. The fact their current project is a pastel pink shed in the Arkoteria food court across from Cape May's beach only adds to its allure.
This isn't standard food court fare. While I waited, they started me with an amuse-bouche of baby Napa cabbage spears cradling nuggets of lightly poached tuna belly, sourced from Tyler Hoffman's excellent Hidden Gem Poké Bowls stand across the way. Then came a half-dozen New Jersey Salt oysters, roasted with Parmesan ramp butter and a tingly splash of 28 day-fermented habanero-honey hot sauce. Dewy fresh black bass with slaw anchored the daily fish sandwich. Tacos featured duck confit with tortillas made from fresh-pressed masa.
An irresistible smoked cheddar dip was a reminder that Block Party knows its sweet spot as a destination for picnic-ready beach snacks. But just take a look at the details of the veggie dishes here, like the vegan cashew "cheese" sandwich with roasted lion's manes sourced from Wood Song Mushrooms, or the intricate "crunch salad" brimming with meticulously cut Stone Circle Farm produce, and you'll find the kind of craft and creativity that should be coveted in summer eats.
I can't wait for their series of BYOB nighttime events to start in early July, when the string lights come on and they begin passing a prix-fixe menu of half a dozen small plates to the first 30 who sign up on Instagram. That's when the block parties of Summer 2022 will really begin.
413 S. Broadway, Cape May, 609-849-9255; granabyob.com
The name is inspired by an Italian cheese. Fresh pasta is a fixture. And it occupies an old building that used to be a spaghetti house called Godmother's. But with a menu that also features tuna poke bowls, steaks, and the occasional curried accent, Grana BYOB is not an Italian restaurant.
"I'm just trying to confuse people," jokes chef-owner Carl Messick, who's simply combined some favorite things into his first venture as an owner-operator.
Messick, 40, is long overdue for the opportunity to run his own show after 12 years at the Peter Shields Inn, following stints at Black Fish and the Ebbitt Room. He'd hoped to go with a more relaxed feeling for the dining room. But the quick turnaround before summer was too tight for major renovations. So he's fallen back on crisp white tablecloth formality and stuck to some familiar upscale pleasures he knows his old Peter Shields clientele will appreciate: "People are on vacation, you can't get too crazy."
That cautious instinct extended a bit too much to the seasoning, at times, with dishes that bordered on bland. Was there really any curry in the cauliflower soup? Could someone have salted that fine "carrot-finished" Santa Carota steak ... just a little bit?
Those are easy fixes as the kitchen gets its footing. Grana already has the elements of a winner in place, including house-extruded pastas like the orecchiette with crab in a light wine sauce, or the heartier fusilli with sausage and mushrooms in a sauce enriched with egg yolks and goat cheese. A beautifully roasted duck breast fanned into pink slices over barley with a cumin-spiced carrot sauce, reassured me that yes, this kitchen does know how to season its food. So, there should be no confusion here. A good meal at Grana is definitely within reach.
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"caption":"The duck breast entree is shown at Grana BYOB in Cape May on June 17, 2022. "subtitle":"Craig26
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