28 Cape May Magazine July 2014

W ildwood Crest has upped its restaurant game. The recently reopened Two Mile Restaurant and Bar has

given me another reason to cross the Middle Thorofare Bridge to try new restaurants. It’s also made me learn the real name of the toll bridge. Friends and I visited the waterside restaurant this spring,

shortly after it opened for its second season. I’d made reservations with the hostess earlier in the day, so I wasn’t

pleased when we arrived and were told that the restaurant doesn’t take reservations except on certain holidays. It wasn’t a holiday that day but Liz, our

hostess, made us feel like we were on holiday when she asked us to wait, and, moments later, escorted us to a choice booth overlooking the sound in the nearly full restaurant. Our waitress, Lilly, kept the party going.

Despite having been on the job for less than five weeks, she was funny, knowledgeable, and extremely responsive to our many questions and requests. Her customer-service skills were those of a seasoned veteran. Our group of three shared two appetizers:

the Crab Attack Fries and Nutella Curry Satay. We ordered the fries, in part, because we liked the name, but we finished them because they were really good. Seasoned with Old Bay (to which we added even more), the fries came nacho-style, topped with lump crab meat, Cheddar Jack cheese, sour cream and bacon. The Nutella Curry Satay featured four skewers of seared chicken, served with a slightly sweet dipping sauce made with Nutella, curry spice, coconut milk and cashews. Personally, I would have preferred the dip to be less sweet and spicier and nuttier. Knowing that my friends had the seafood

side of the menu covered, I opted for land food; specifically, the Stuffed Chicken, which was filled with prosciutto, pesto and smoked mozzarella, then coated with herbs, Asiago cheese and breadcrumbs. I substituted mashed sweet potatoes for mashed white potatoes, and had the “chef ’s vegetable,” which was asparagus. Overall, my meal was excellent, but I’d have liked it even more if the chicken had been a little less fried. One friend ordered the Broiled Seafood

Combination, which we later learned is the most popular item on the menu. His combo consisted of shrimp, scallops, flounder, a crab cake and a stuffed clam, served with mashed potatoes and asparagus. The shrimp, scallops and fish were nicely dry-grilled, he reported, and the flounder, seasoned with Old Bay, was very good. My other companion ordered the Orange

Crush Shrimp—another top seller—

FOOD & WINE | dining out

TWO MILE RESTAURANT AND BAR

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featuring jumbo shrimp in orange vodka butter, served with coconut rice and asparagus. She was pleased with her selection. Her shrimp, a generous portion of seven, were firm, flavorful and prepared the way she liked them: not breaded, but steamed and sautéed. She also praised the sauce as “good-spicy” and “good-not-creamy.” Two Mile Restaurant, and its sister

restaurant next door, The Crab House, are the latest ventures of the Hansen family, who also own H & H Seafood and Camp Kayaks, a rental-and-touring business. Both reprise earlier seafood restaurants at Two Mile Landing-The Two Mile Inn and Crab House-that closed in 2007. The Hansens (father Blair, his son, Jasen, and daughter, Rachel), ultimately bought the 200-acre property in 2012, and gutted much of the original structures. They opened the new casual-dining Crab House

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30 Cape May Magazine July 2014

in 2012, and the upscale Two Mile Restaurant and Bar in 2013. Blair and Jasen continue to run

the commercial-fishing-and-wholesale side of the business -both are commercial fishermen-and Rachel operates the restaurants and kayak company. Her husband, Ross Morrell, is the chef at the restaurants. Rachel, a former seventh-grade

science teacher at a local middle school, was surprised by the volume of business the first of the two restaurants generated when it opened. “We went from a fish market with 10 picnic tables to a restaurant serving thousands of people,” she said. “We served 1,400 meals the first weekend we opened. It was crazy.” With the sunset views that are

unique to South Jersey and 500 feet of waterfront, Two Mile Landing’s two restaurants promise to get a little crazier this summer-in the best possible way, of course. ~ LM Two Mile Restaurant and Bar is

located at Fish Dock Road off Ocean Drive in Wildwood Crest. The restaurant is open daily from 4 to 10pm in season. Call 609-522-1341 for additional information.

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