Karen and Rei's Cafe
We were busy wrapping some Christmas presents with friends when this couple started telling us about this new room in Karen and Rei’s Dennis Township restaurant.
Everyone knows Karen & Rei’s is one of the county’s best places to enjoy a well-crafted meal from start to finish while watching Karen Nelson in the open-air kitchen creating appetizers, soups, salads, side dishes and entrées, not to mention her fabulous, decadent desserts.
Even in the dankest, darkest months at the Jersey Shore, it can be sometimes difficult to get a reservation at a time you want.
But what we didn’t know until then was that Rei Prabhakar had opened a small room in the restaurant to provide a small respite from the daily grind while enjoying treats of baked goods, chocolates or desserts created by the owners themselves.
The woman giving us the goods on Rei’s baked goods was telling us how she and her husband would get their children occupied with something and then sneak over to the restaurant for some coffee and dessert at least a few evenings a month.
Then we learned that the room is open all day when the restaurant, which is also Karen and Rei’s ho,e where they’re raising their 3-year-old son, Laxshman, will be open that night.
“We started it last August, but we keep it kind of low key,” Rei explained.
It’s something of a diversion from running the restaurant, a creative way for the creative couple to do what they love.
“Frankly we wanted to explore our interest in baking and pastries,” said Rei. “It’s not a business endeavor, but something we do for fun. I enjoy baking, my wife enjoys making chocolate, but if no one comes in, we don’t pull our hair out.”
They do no advertising about the “sweets room,” but when people hear of a god thing, word spreads.
“We’ve made some friends from Cape May, from Mauricetown, with our neighbors here in Dennis,” Rei said.
What is it they’re discovering?
“It’s different, it’s baking the way it used to be done, not like is done in a commercial bakery,” Rei explained. “There are no shortcuts taken. We use European style butter, it has a higher butterfat and is a better quality than what a commercial baker would use because he would look to cut cost. I’m the baker and I’m not looking to cut cost.”
He makes an all-butter croissant, and doughnuts the old-fashioned way.
“I make them the way the Germans did them. The Europeans were big on citrus, so I use that. I’m not giving people a piece of fried cake dough, that’s not what we do here,” Rei said.
Everything from the pastries to the crunchy loaves of bread, to the mini cinnamon loaves to the muffins and tarts are made on the premises, and they are served with drinks that equally as impressive.
The coffee is a roasted blend from La Colombe, a nationally renowned coffee roaster and distributor in Philadelphia. Even the hot chocolate is special, even mystical.
“Cortez believed hot chocolate was a mystical beverage, and it’s very aromatic. I use Mexican cinnamon, star anise, ground almond and Venezuelan single estate chocolate, among other things,” Rei said.
The drink is rich and delicious. Single estate chocolate beans from Venezuela are spicy and nutty, and the chocolate is made right there on the plantation, much like an estate bottle of wine.
Other items that can be found on any given day are raisin Danish, sugar buns, Danish pastry, sticky buns, muffins, briosch, eight to 10 varieties of breads from crusty French baguettes to crusty demi baguettes, a not-so-crusty sour dough, whole grains, pepperoni stick, cheddar onion and more, and scones.
“Most of the people we serve are coming and going. It’s not a big sit down meal, it’s an amenity, a culinary diversion,” Rei explained. “It’s something else to do in Cape May County, sit down and chat with a friend and nosh on something.”
Karen and Rei’s Café
1882 Route 9 North
Clermont, 08210
624-8205
ON THE MENU
Hours: Opens at 9 a.m. on days when the restaurant will be serving
dinner (currently, Thursday through Sunday). Closes at approximately 9
p.m.
Customers can drop in for a fresh-baked treat and a Venezuelan hot chocolate or an Asian chai, or for one of the 20 to 22 homemade desserts and a café latte, mochachino, espresso or just a “Regular Old Joe” of La Colombe coffee.
Rei’s homemade fresh-baked goods include various long baguettes and crunchy Italian loaves, old-world style doughnuts, croissants, cinnamon raisin bread, briosch, Danish, muffins.
Karen’s homemade chocolates include espresso truffles (freshly ground espresso beans, steeped in cream and blended with dark chocolate), ancho-dusted macadamia nuts (slow roasted nuts, caramelized, coated with dark chocolate then dusted with cinnamon, cocoa powder and ground ancho), cardamon orange caramel (soft, fresh caramel, steeped with cardamon, orange zest and raisins, then hand-dipped in dark chocolate), Kirshwasser truffles (dark chocolate and cream blended with a touch of Kirschwasser liquor -- cherry flavored brandy), and peanut pyramid (creamy peanut filling surrounded by dark chocolate).
Karen & Rei’s Encyclopedia of Desserts is too vast to mention all here, but…Bailey’s Choclate Mousse, Espresso and Peanut Toffee Cheesecake, White Russian Chocolate Chunk Cheesecake, Banana Chocolate Fudge Brownie Cheesecake, Deep Dish Apple Pie, Homemade Ice Cream Sampler, Classic Crème Brulee, and White Chocolate Macadamia Tart.
Parking on premises.
Seating is in a small room off the main dining room, and can accommodate around 16 people.
Escape for a few moments in Karen & Rei’s new café.
Rob Seitzinger can be e-mailed
at seitz[at]catamaranmedia.com or you can comment on this story by
calling 624-8900, ext. 250.
Check out his Cape Cuisine food blog