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Noshing down the shore: Bakeries, cafes, markets keep popping up

Beach Plum Farm has served as a kind of public park since it opened in 2007, drawing hipsters pedaling tandem bikes and seniors dodging crowds on the beach, all of them taking in the bucolic scene of hogs and chickens roaming the acres of corn and cabbage.

Beach Plum Farm in Cape May sells fresh produce and feeds customers at its market and grill.
Beach Plum Farm in Cape May sells fresh produce and feeds customers at its market and grill.Read moreDavid Swanson / Staff Photographer

Beach Plum Farm has served as a kind of public park since it opened in 2007, drawing hipsters pedaling tandem bikes and seniors dodging crowds on the beach, all of them taking in the bucolic scene of hogs and chickens roaming the acres of corn and cabbage.

Curtis Bashaw, owner of Congress Hall and the Ebbitt Room in Cape May, bought the farm to supply his properties with fresh produce. But he noticed many of these visitors were coming hungry, and so he thought he'd feed them at a market and grill.

"It just feels like it wanted to be here," he said. "The setting is so magical and pretty, and we had all these eggs and these fresh meats. It just seemed like, 'Oh my gosh, wouldn't it be great to have our own breakfast sandwich here?' "

He's not the only one taking advantage of hungry masses at the Shore. Artisan bakeries, cafes, and markets continue to open from Long Beach Island to Cape May, serving locals and vacationers alike.

Jennifer Bailey co-owned 4th Street Cafe and Who's on First with her then-husband in Ocean City. When they split and she decided to go solo, she wanted to try something that "wasn't table service, or crazy breakfast, lunch, and dinner." She launched Barefoot Market.

"I just kind of wanted it to be family-oriented, local," she said, "kind of that old-fashioned thing where you could come in and get milk and butter and candy and cookies, and have it be a neighborhood, small venue."

Bailey is known for her scones, but she also sells sandwiches, salads, quiches, and other take-out options. The cafe draws mechanics and doctors as well as surfers and tanners in search of a snack.

Another spot, Little Store in Cape May, is off the beaten path, and owner Lucas Manteca likes it that way. The bakery is meant to be stumbled upon so customers feel like "they found the real treasure." At 5 a.m., fishermen line up outside for the cinnamon rolls. Later in the day, locals pile in for the duck banh mi and the avocado toast. Manteca felt there was a bakery void in Cape May that he needed to fill, coming from Argentina, where "there's a bakery every block." Michel Gras - a French pastry chef who worked with Manteca at one of his other properties, the Red Store - concocts tasty treats à la française, with the occasional Argentine influence (think dulce de leche).

Like Bashaw, Ray and Lisa Hughes also needed ingredients for their restaurant, Raimondo's, in Ship Bottom. Other people started knocking on their back door for a carrot or an onion, and they decided to create the Local Market & Kitchen, a place that could provide the town with its culinary essentials alongside salads and sandwiches for the nonchefs out there.

High season is the summer, but Local Market is becoming a hub throughout the year. During the school year, kids grab breakfast before jumping on the bus in the mornings, and they hang out doing homework or watching TV after school's out. In the fall, the venue will also offer cooking and art classes.

Ventnor No. 7311, from Cookie Till (of Steve & Cookie's) and pastry chef Kim Richmond, is also trying to extend its season beyond the summer months. Their model is customer-friendly: If you call ahead, they'll make a batch of your favorite goodies just for you at no additional cost.

Till and Richmond decided to open the bakery in May 2015. While working at Steve & Cookie's, Richmond saw having her own place as a next step. Once her children grew older, she and Till had started imagining a place of their own when they fell in love with an old '20s building in Ventnor City with corner windows.

"I was just like, 'Let's just dive in, let's do it,' " Till said. "We love to go up to New York and Philly and check things out. And we'd see such cool cafes. . . . There was nothing like that down here."

No. 7311 offers paleo, gluten-free, and vegan options, as well as your run-of-the-mill pastries. On Saturdays, there are morning buns - a cross between a croissant and a cinnamon roll - that take three days to make. Needless to say, they go fast.

As far as baked goods go, though, Bennie's may take the cake. The shop has been around since 1957, and its current owner, Ralph DiClemente, has been involved for 17 years. DiClemente always wanted to expand his bread company, but he rented out the next-door space before it was flooded during Hurricane Sandy.

"You've got that rent coming in, you say let it be," he said, "but Sandy kind of pushed my hand a little."

After a full renovation, Bennie's Bread & Italian Market opened. With meatballs, tomato pies, lasagna, brick-oven pizza, and eggplant parm made with the same recipe DiClemente's mom used 40 years ago, it has become a whole enterprise.

"It's been really, really, really good," DiClemente said. "We just carry so much more stuff now." Customers "were asking for this a while ago. We're just trying to give them what they want, and maybe a little bit more.

"I really feel blessed to be a part of people's vacations and parties," he added. "It really is an honor."

Barefoot Market, 214 West Ave., Ocean City, 609-399-0221; on Facebook.

Those who've followed owner Jennifer Bailey's projects over the years, from the 4th Street Cafe to Who's on First, were relieved and grateful she found a post-Sandy home on West Avenue at the Barefoot Market. After all, the butterscotch, blueberry, and Mexican chocolate scones are famous, and the cafe is also a reliable spot for La Colombe (and New World) coffees, simple sandwiches, fresh soups, and some impressively crusty, rustic country breads.

Beach Plum Farm, 140 Stevens St., Cape May, 609-602-0128; caperesorts.com.

There are live chickens in the parking lot and heritage-breed pigs to visit at this idyllic island farm, which supplies the Ebbitt Room, Congress Hall, and other Cape Resorts properties with fresh produce and sustainably raised meats. A new cafe grill in the farmhouse market serves up simple breakfast and lunch fare made from what's grown on the site. Try a breakfast sandwich with eggs and one of the meats - nitrate-free bacon, sausage, or scrapple - made in-house.

Bennie's Bread, 1159 Asbury Ave., Ocean City, 609-398-9450; benniesbread.com.

Our Ocean City picnics are never complete unless we have soft Bennie's Bread sandwich rolls to pile the lunch meats on. A post-Sandy expansion of this Shore institution (which dates to 1957) has resulted in a bigger, brighter, more handsome take-out market for other Italian American specialties, including sweet-sauced tomato pie, excellent chicken cutlets, meatballs, and eggplant parm to go.

Ventnor No. 7311, 7311 Ventnor Ave., Ventnor City, 609-246-7097; ventnor7311.com.

Cookie Till, of Steve & Cookie's, has opened a genuine Third Wave-style cafe with top-notch coffees from George Howell, La Colombe, and Harry's Beans. But the "small-batch" baked goods featuring progressive, alt-grain twists on familiar flavors are the best reason to go. Don't miss Cookie's "baby blues" mini-blueberry pies, supremely buttery Hungarian shortbread stuffed with strawberry jam, spot-on gluten-free crackers, and lemon bars I still dream of. The house granola is also excellent.

Little Store, 1208 Rte. 109, Cape May, 609-305-4582; littlestorecapemay.com.

Perched just across the bridge entering Cape May, this casual sister cafe and bakery to the Red Store (in Cape May Point) features fresh breads and pastries from Frenchman Michel Gras, along with a small dining area. Don't miss the selection of Argentine empanadas, the avocado toast on house-baked bread dusted with local sea salt flakes, the unconventional duck banh mi, and irresistible sweets like the butter buns and chocolate-glazed "tasti-queques" filled with jam and peanut butter. Smoothies and salads offer healthful options.

The Local Market & Kitchen, 604 Central Ave., Ship Bottom, 609-342-0061; on Facebook.

Among the most ambitious of the Shore's new market-cafes, this good-looking Ship Bottom newcomer from the team behind Raimondo's has high-quality prepared foods to go, from grilled local dayboat scallops to outstanding crab cakes, individual quiches, and crusty panini, as well as house-baked pop tarts and chocolate-glazed S'mores patties that aren't to be missed. The ample al fresco seating (with a weekend raw bar) and a coffee bar that serves good strong iced coffee on nitro are also important draws.