Jon & Patty's: Grab a bite to eat at this friendly bistro

Jon & Patty's is a delightful new restaurant on Asbury Avenue in Ocean City. Recently I enjoyed a delicious grilled panini with chicken, cheese and spinach. My husband enjoyed a fresh green salad, with cranberries, feta cheese, tomato and pine nuts and grilled boneless chicken topped with melted cheese. For dessert we enjoyed a blueberry & lemon scone and a chocolate chip scone.

There are some great soups on the menu. This coffee bar is open for breakfast and lunch.

There is outdoor seating; perfect for the summer months. John is the son of local artist Marian Talese and nephew of author Gay Talese.

Jon & Patty's Coffee Bar & Bistro 637 Asbury Ave. Ocean City 399-3377

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Ocean City Seafood Company: Fresh  & Affordable Seafood

Ocean City Seafood Company is located in the heart of Ocean City at 9^th & Central Ave. They have fresh seafood and an amazing key lime pie. It is great to have so many new options to dine in Ocean City, especially since Campbell's Seafood has been closed.

On our recent visit I devoured the crab cake sandwich (pictured below) w fries & cole slaw $9.49 and a cup of crab soup $4.49. The menu also includes a fried flounder sandwich $7.99.   Full platters are also available including crab imperial 18.99, stuffed salmon 19.99, shrimp 15.99, scallops 14.99, oysters 14.99, & a 6 oz. lobster 19.99. Get a Fried Bucket of seafood for $35.99: - 6 scallops, 6 shrimp, 2 crab cakes, & 2 flounder. They also have chicken, ribs and cheeseburgers for land lovers. I was very impressed with the quality of the seafood and I will definitely return.

I also recommend the key lime pie 3.99 (worth it!) which is the only dessert on the menu! You know it's good if it's the only dessert on the menu! The best key lime pie I've had was on Little Palm Island, Florida and this is definitely a close second! There is much more on the menu including a kids menu - hot dog 2.99, & grilled cheese 1.99. chicken fingers or fish 4.99 & cheese burger 3.99.

There is ample seating for 35 inside or get your food to go.

Read more about Chef Paul Raymond on their website. www.oceancityseafood.com  

Voted Best of Shore Crab Cake 2008 Philadelphia Magazine

Ocean City Seafood Company 9^th & Central 814-1203

Eat in + Take Out + Delivery - Open 11:30 am - 9:30 pm Sun. Noon - 9 pm

Clancy's by the Sea on the Boardwalk in Ocean City- Don't Miss it!

We were pleasantly surprised to see a new restaurant on the Ocean City Boardwalk between 12^th & 13^th Street. The new construction makes you think of an outdoor bistro in Italy. We wanted to try it before the summer crowds arrived and we weren't disappointed.

The menu offers a wide variety to choose from including seafood, London broil, burgers, wraps, chicken and veal parmigiana, ribs, cheese steaks, chicken cheese steaks and more.

Kids menu for $6.95 - Chicken tenders, hot dogs, macaroni & cheese, shrimp. grilled cheese. We started the evening with Original Chowder, a fish corn chowder. They also have French onion and a crab tomato soup. My husband enjoyed a nice size salad for $2.00 with a entrée or 5.95 alone - Greens, red onion, cucumber, carrots and tomatoes. Our friend ordered the wasabi oysters, good and spicy!

The seafood potpie $21.95 was chock full of seafood- shrimp, scallops, lobster and fish with a creamy sherry sauce topped with puff pastry and mashed potatoes. An excellent choice. The chicken pot pie $12.95 was also very tasty with a rich cream sauce, chunks of chicken and vegetables. The chicken parmigiana $15.95 was a large portion of breaded chicken with a tasty red sauce and provolone cheese.

Ocean City is a dry town so they offer virgin smoothies, pina colada, strawberry and banana to name a few. The sweet iced tea seemed like a mix that I didn't care for.

Our friends recently had breakfast here and their only complaint was the service was a little slow. Hopefully they will work out any kinks. The servers were very friendly. We really wish this new venture well. Why not stop by and then take a stroll on the boardwalk. Don't forget quarters for the parking meters, 4 quarters an hour.

There is outdoor seating with umbrellas on the boardwalk to watch the people go by or inside for more formal dining.

Clancy's by the Sea 1244 Boardwalk Ocean City 398-3344

Open Breakfast Lunch Dinner

    

Gidget Goes to Long Beach Island Film Festival

Kathy Kohner Zuckerman, "the Original Gidget", was at the Jersey Shore last weekend to participate in the Lighthouse International Film Festival on Long Beach Island. The weekend event included films viewed throughout the island. Kathy spoke at the Surflight Theater to an enthusiastic crowd about her life as an early female surfer in Malibu. The audience bombarded her with many questions about her life and Kathy was eager to talk about her past.

Footage from the documentary film The Accidental Icon: The Story of the Real Gidget by Brian Gillogly was shown. The film answers the question: "Who is Gidget?" including comments by Sally Field and James Darren. The film shows the life Kathy led as a surfer and how her father wrote a fictitious story based on her life as a young female surfer. William Morris Agency was the agent for the book Gidget which became the film "Gidget" at Columbia with Sandra Dee as Gidget.  Many sequels followed including Gidget Goes to Rome.  Kathy showed pictures of all the actresses that played her life. The book was later picked up as the TV Show starring Sally Field, according to Kathy the tv show had little to do with surfing. Sally Field talked in first person just like Gidget did in her book. Her father received a lot of fan mail about his book from young girls. Kathy showed a copy of the original book (below) and a photo of her with Sandra Dee (pictured left).

Kathy then told the story of her life with original pictures she displayed on stage. She also read excerpts from her diary and shared unique glimpses into what it was like to have your teenage years brought to the big screen and television. Amazingly she shared her intimate thoughts with her father with whom she had a close relationship. She didn't seem too impressed and felt a little strange with the fame her book had become. She eventually went off to Oregon State College and gave up surfing, got married and raised a family. Her husband Marvin Zuckerman was a Dean and was a college professor. They have 2 sons and grandchildren.

Her father was a screen writer in Hollywood and her mother loved to go to Malibu in the summer (pictured left). Kathy loved the beach and at 15 began to hang out with the older boy surfers who gave her the name "Gidget" for "girl midget." In real life she had a crush on Bill Jensen, her Moon Doggie. In real life there was no love triangle between Moon Doggie, The Big Kahuna and herself. She also went home every day at 4:30 so there was no real beach party at night as depicted in the movie.

All the surfers had funny names like "The Jaw", "Turtle", "Thrifty Phil", "Tube Steak" and "The Fencer". "Tombstone" lived in the shack, the character that Cliff Robertson portrayed, "The Big Kahuna." Terms they used included "all jazzed", "what a scud", "bitchin'" (good waves), "kooks", (novice surfers), and "stoked". Her first surf board was a long board weighing 22 pounds.

The book became a Best Seller in 1957 in the top ten along with Peyton Place and Atlas Shrugged. Kathy also made it on the cover of Life Magazine. Originally Debbie Reynolds and Elvis were to play the leads in the movie. Later Sandra Dee and James Darren were given the roles. Kathy told me she grew up listening to Elvis as she was a surfer before the Beach Boys existed!!

It wasn't until more recently that she got back into surfing and the surfing community has really embraced her. She was named "One of the Top 10 Influential Surfers" by Surfer Magazine in 1999 and a Surf Legend in 1996.  She got back on a board at 60 after some coaxing and has had her story told on NBC and has traveled across the country to many charitable fund raising events to tell her story. Kathy works at Duke's Restaurant in Malibu as a hostess. The restaurant got its name from Duke Kahanamoku, the famous Hawaiian surfer born in 1890. Kathy goes to Hawaii for the Duke's Ocean Festival every year. She recently was invited to Hawaii for the opening of Jimmy Buffet's new restaurant.

College student Susannah Gora (pictured holding photo at top)is writing a book about teenage girl films and was on hand to meet and interview Kathy. Gora's book will be coming out next year. There was a play written and shown in Chicago about her life. Time will tell if her story will make it to Broadway? I for one hope it does!