Best of the Shore 2010
CRABCAKE Aficionados say Back Bay Seafood’s are the freshest. Regulars say call from the beach to get them by seven o’clock. We say: Bobby Chez, you got competition. 8305 3rd Avenue, 609-368-2022, backbayseafood.net.
NEW SHOP Who would have thought? Boutique owner, former Manhattan fashionista and current Main Line style darling Maureen Doron is a beach girl, too. Her just-opened chic and casual, instantly essential second Skirt is where we’d love to spend all day, but look too cute to, dressed in the summery Nanette, Tory and Diane we’ve stocked up on. And by the way, her first-come, first-served SATC 2 party, the one for which she’s renting out the Stone Harbor movie theater and doing a fashion show in the aisles (Saturday, May 29th at 7 p.m.)? We are so there. 272 96th Street, 609-948-4912, shop-skirt.com.
The Wildwoods
BOAT RIDE Catering to tourists’ need for speed, husband and wife Bill and Diane Henfey offer their custom-built Silver Bullet, a 70-foot, 770-horsepower speedboat that’s the wildest ride in Wildwood. Taking off from the Marina, the captain, crew and up to 149 guests race for an hour and a half along the Inner Coastal to Cape May, where they slow down to drift in the company of dolphins and the occasional seal or pelican. The captain will never tell exactly how fast you’re going, but bring a towel, and prepare to get sprayed—or drenched. $15-$28. Wildwood Marina, Wildwood, 609-522-6060, silverbullettours.com.
TONY LUKE’S FIX During her first summer as the owner of old-school sub shop Nana’s Deli, Andrea Merendino couldn’t hold back the Italian in her. So she borrowed a family friend’s recipe for roast pork and began serving up the island’s favorite hot sandwich: $6.50 buys a long roll loaded with roasted reds, sharp provolone and garlicky pig. Extra napkins required. 5803 New Jersey Avenue, Wildwood Crest, 609-729-6200.
BIKE/WALKING PATHS Even though they don’t connect, Wildwood’s two stretches of pedal/pedestrian pavement earn props for their kid-friendliness (whereas the Boardwalk, well … ). North Wildwood’s path stretches between the sea wall by the -Hereford Inlet Lighthouse, past 11th Street’s big wooden climbing toys, to the 16th Street lifeguard station. Wildwood Crest’s path goes from Cresse to Rambler, with two playgrounds, a park, and plenty of open-air hotel luncheonettes in between.
BOAT DRINKS On the deck. With a dozen raw oysters. At sunset. Beach Creek. Heaven. 500 West Hand Avenue, Wildwood, 609-522-1062, beachcreek.net.
BREW PUB When the sun’s out, there’s an afternoon game, and your better half doesn’t show up to the beach, chances are the missing spouse can be reclaimed at Goodnight Irene’s, where your MIA partner will surely be glued to the tube and “sampling” the taps of Dogfish Head, Chimay, Victory, Dale’s … 2708 Pacific Avenue, Wildwood, 609-729-3861, goodnightirenes.com.
