Dine-In: Freda’s Cafe Offers Intimacy, History and Scratch Made Cooking in Cape May
Photo by Rebecca Acevedo
BY REBECCA ACEVADO | Front Runner New Jersey.com Dine-In
CAPE MAY — The first thing you notice at Freda’s Cafe is the welcome. It starts at the door, a warm greeting that sets the tone for a night meant for a special occasion.
The dining room is small, seating no more than 30 to 35 guests, and feels loungey with tea lights glowing inside small glass jars at every table. Quaint art and photos fill the walls, some beachy, some not.
Freda’s is BYOB. In summer, tables spill outside onto the sidewalk. In the winter, an outdoor fire keeps those waiting for a table while they pursue the specials board. The restroom sits outside and around the building, part of the idiosyncrasies of an older Cape May structure.
For 30 years, owners and chefs Steve and Carol Howard have built a scrumptious business in the Victorian seaside town. This cozy restaurant is the culmination of a long journey.
“We both went to Johnson and Wales University,” Howard said. “I worked at the Plaza Hotel, and I was a manager, and she is a trained pastry chef.”
The couple moved from New York in 1986, first opening a small deli in West Cape May. Its success led them to expand. When the space for Freda’s became available, they took a chance and never left.
“We moved here in ’91,” Howard said. “We have been running our business ever since.”
Freda’s is named for his mother, whose West Indian cooking shaped his palate and his approach to flavor. “It was out of true respect for my mom,” he said. “She gave me her West Indian taste buds. Flavor is everything.”
That influence shows up in Freda’s signature crab cakes. The seasoning lands. The crab cakes arrive with a mango sauce that tastes light and fresh, sweet enough to balance the salty richness of the meat.
“You get that saltiness of the crab cake, and then you get the sweetness of the mango and the mashed potato,” Steve said. “It all works.”
Portions are generous. The shrimp, scallop, and crab tortellini arrive brimming with seafood, the scallops in big pieces, the crab plentiful and tender. The dish is brothy, almost like a light stew, something designed for bread dipping. The tortellini was plump and filled with creamy cheese.
Every entree comes with a warm homemade roll and a side salad with two dressing options: Russian dressing that brightens the greens or a ginger vinaigrette that has a tang that pops.
Everything in the kitchen is scratch made, from the sauces to the soups to the desserts, so you can make small tweaks needed for a meal you won’t forget.
Desserts end the meal on a descendant note. It was worth saving room for. The bread pudding is dark, rich, and soft, served warm with a homemade caramel sauce that melts into the pudding and tastes almost buttery. It is so yummy, people stop in for it and coffee. We would do the same. Dinner for two with two entrees and one dessert plus tip costs $135.
Specials are based on what is available from his fishmonger. Scallops and some fish are local, though he said that supply is becoming limited. Other fish come from outside the region. He adapts his menu as food availability shifts. “That is the fun thing about cooking,” he said. “You are free to create.”
Freda’s Cafe is the only Black-owned brick-and-mortar restaurant in Cape May. According to Cape May.com, “in the 1920s, Afro-Americans comprised about 30% of Cape May’s population. Nearly 60 of the businesses in the district were owned by African Americans.”
Howard credit his West Indian roots and wife’s Italian heritage for creating great, creative seasoning.
“A lot of people just don’t season things. You know to peak your taste buds,” he said.
His proof is in the generations of families that return to the restaurant every year, a pattern he traces back to consistency, the thing he values most. “We want to see you back again,” he said.
“They came with their babies, and now their babies are grown up and have children.” And now they all come back.
The experience feels like Cape May at its best. Warm, intimate, flavorful, and built on craft rather than shortcuts. The kind of place that stays with you after you walk back out the door.
Freda’s is open year-round, Friday through Monday, and more days in the late Spring. It is located near the Washington Mall at 210 Ocean Street in Cape May.
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