An early sign of summer at the shore, every year, is the crop of new restaurants. We keep driving by Ventnor's newest offering, the as-yet-named pizza place on Dorset Avenue, a few blocks on the left before you get to the bridge. At one point, the red-shingled building had a sign that said Pizza Mia. Cool, we thought. A few weeks later, that was replaced by a fancier scripted sign that said "The Red Room Cafe." Um, not so much. Now, there's no sign. Word on the street is that the new owners, who have done a major renovation job including street scaping and new trees in preparation for this spring's opening, originally wanted to call the place, simply, SLICE. That, we like very much. Hope you also serve good JAVA.
UPDATE: What do I know, anyway. Pizza Mia/Slice/Red Room Cafe has opened its doors as the Red Room Cafe with some good local buzz, a pretty mocha and tan awning, a chic decor, gourmet pizzas and sidewalk tables. It's joined on that block of Dorset, just past Monmouth as you're headed toward the beach, by the relocated Rain Florist. Imagine that, you've got your flowers, your wine, your dinner all in one block, plus Custard's a short walk away for desert. All that's missing is a cool coffee shop in Sue Van Duyne's old pottery store. Takers anyone?
SECOND UPDATE: Ok, last Friday? A 45-minute wait for a table at the brilliantly-named red Room Cafe, unless you had a reservation. Unheard of for a new restaurant pre-Memorial Day! The buzz on the food continues to be strong. Plus, the owner will walk down the block to get you a bottle of wine from the liquor store, which itself caved to peer pressure and painted its exterior and stays open until 11 p.m. And now there's an actual possibly true rumor of a cafe/bakery coming to Sue Van Duyne's old pottery shop. Again, until I buy my first latte on Dorset Avenue, I won't believe it.
Meanwhile, in the little spot on Ventnor Avenue next to Cleo's that used to hold the excellent Manna and before that LoBianco's (Manna has since moved to LoBianco's spot at Jerome and Ventnor in Margate), new owners are opening up a restaurant this month called Gertrude's.

That spot has been a winner for years, let's hope it continues.
UPDATE: Gertrude's is open, and was also nicely buzzing with people last week, all of whom seemed to be Margate lawyers who knew each other. Was like walking into someone else's dinner party.

In memory of Danny Federici, the E Street Band keyboard player who met Springsteen in the late 1960s at the Jersey shore, where the two kicked it up at the Upstage Club in Asbury Park. Federici, 58, died Thursday after a battle with melanoma. He got his Phantom Dan nickname from Bruce after some antics eluding police in Asbury Park back in the day, or so it is told. Federici gave the boardwalk classic 4th of July, Asbury Park (Sandy) its plaintive accordian sound, here in a video from 1975.

And, in this video from Paris in 1985, he's on the organ in Hungry Heart.

>Last night, Cookie Till, owner of Steve and Cookies By the Bay, took her application for a weekly farmers market in the parking lot of her Margate restaurant and won approval. This followed a contentious but awfully entertaining dispute with Howard Seiden, owner of Casel's supermarket, who opposed the plan, saying the farmers would unfairly compete with his and other stores in town. The market will operate Thursdays from 9 a.m. to 1 p.m. from late June through early August. Martin DeAngelis reports that Seiden's attorney, Richard King, predicted a slippery slope from tomatoes and lettuce to velvet Elvis. Till's approval is for one year.