The Pleasant and Often Overlooked Spring Lake, NJ

Ann and I just spent a couple of pleasant days "down the Shore" -- not the Southern Shore towns to which most of our fellow Philadelphians gravitate, but one of the towns in the (shudder) Yankees orbit. Jersey Shore towns have very wide-ranging personalities -- a Methodist settlement adjacent to a honky-tonk boardwalk town adjacent to a real city like Asbury Park (which, by the way, is looking mah-velous after an infusion of $1.5 billion in new infrastructure and real estate investment) -- and Spring Lake has a personality like... well, sort of like Chestnut Hill, the village (within the Philadelphia city limits) where we live. The town is mostly residential, high-end but not over-the-top (like the Hamptons have been and Nantucket has become, to our chagrin), with a small but very attractive shopping area (Third Street), a beautiful fresh water lake in the heart of town, and a quiet beach (by Jersey Shore standards) with only sand, surf, and a boardwalk on which you can only walk -- no bikes (except 6-9am), no amusements, no food. It's a bit late in our Philadelphia careers to be "discovering" Spring Lake, but we're glad we did, and we'll go back -- probably this summer.

Some highlights:

*The Black Trumpet: This restaurant, located in the Sandpiper Inn on Atlantic Avenue (right across from the beach, but on a side residential street with little ocean feel), was warmly welcomed by The New York Times when it first opened in 2005, is still Zagat's top pick on the Shore, and was our innkeeper's "don't miss" pick. This BYOB (wine tip below) knows how to handle steaks (a bone-in filet, perfectly charred outside and pink inside, with Yukon smashed potatoes rich with bacon and cheddar, and broccoli rabe) and lobster (the "tower of lobster" special with a tail poached in saffron beurre blanc and two claws, all of the meat perfectly cooked). Now if only the venue matched the food...

*Joe's Deli (aka "Joseph's Delicatessen" -- no webpage but they're on Facebook): Joe's is on Warren St., within a block of the train tracks and adjacent to Egan's Liquors (very good wine buys and helpful staff -- stop here on your way to any of the numerous BYOBs on the Shore). The Valentino clan hails from Gagliano, Sicily, and they turn out great Italian sandwiches piled Carnegie Deli-high for half the price (and half of one of their sandwiches will get you through the afternoon). My favorites were the Sicilian (prosciutto, excellent house-made mozzarella -- bring some home -- and roasted peppers on a sub roll) and the Calabrese (four different hot cold cuts including sopressata and capicola topped with hot cherry peppers on a sub roll -- had to take my Prevacid a couple of hours early that night). They also offer fresh entrees (on our first visit, chicken francese, eggplant parmagiana, and pastas) and soups and sauces in the fridge and freezer. New Jersey Magazine named Joseph's "best Italian deli" and "best lunch" in 2007, and it's so good I could almost forgive them the DiMaggio, Berra, Mantle, and other Yankee paraphernalia that threatens to take over the place. (Apologies to Yaz and Ted and Carlton.)

*Skuby & Co.: Never have I so enjoyed visiting a menswear shop where so few of the items fit me. This shop, on the small and attractive Third Street downtown retail strip, features a beautifully edited selection of suits, sportswear, shoes and accessories by makers like Robert Talbott, Thomas Dean, and Robert Graham. They promise they can deliver a Coppley Canadian-made custom suit in 7-14 days (I plan to drag my son over there when he drives from Boston to LA to get him fitted). I did come home with some great bow ties and pocket squares to mix up the formal wardrobe a bit. The owner Bill Skuby is not someone with whom I share political beliefs (judging from his bad Obama jokes) but I do admire his great taste in casual and business casual clothing.

A little more on Asbury Park: I'm really intrigued. The downtown area was brimming with life on a Saturday night, its restaurants, coffee and ice cream shops, and retail storefronts hopping. There's still a pretty big dead zone (they call it the "redevelopment zone") between downtown and the beachfront, but it's starting to fill up with attractive townhomes. And the beachfront is something weird and wonderful -- the remants of the old casino now used for auctions and other events, some of the old hotels restored to past glories (of the Twenties and Fifties), the retail and restaurant spaces jammed, and the great old Jersey Shore clubs going full-tilt. There's a huge outdoor summerstage at the Stone Pony where you can see the back of the band from the street and hear the performance for free from blocks around. The Wonder Bar was featuring Leon Russell and Steve Forbert over the weekend (the Asbury Park Home for Aging Rockers). The town is the home of New Jersey's most highly regarded local newspaper (the Press) and seems to be making all the right moves. When we go back to Spring Lake, we'll spend some time here, too.