By MADDY VITALE
What a year it has been for Shorebreak Café, located in the heart of Sea Isle City.
The café, which features delectable, sweet pastries that are as beautiful as they are tasty, celebrated its first anniversary in family-friendly style Monday. The eatery, located at 4002 Landis Ave., offers homemade, freshly baked savory treats year-round.
On the anniversary, customers were treated to a lot more. From special confections with a birthday theme, to music, giveaways and even pastry chef hats for the kids, the morning into the evening was just one big, sweet day.
“This has been all day long,” Amy Glancey, who is owner of Shorebreak Cafe, along with her husband, Chris Glancey, said of the line of customers ordering up scones to cakes and other delicious baked goods.
She credited the fine chefs, including head pastry chef, Dana Iannelli, for a successful first year.
“Dana is amazing. It’s been a fantastic day and well-deserved for Dana and the entire team,” Amy Glancey noted. “We’ve had kids all day with their families just having a great time.”
Bridget and Jason Eichmiller, summer residents in Sea Isle who also live in Florida, brought their children, Alyssa, 12, Jason, 10, and 8-year-old Molly, along with their cousins, Jack Leighton, 9, of Media, Pa., and his sister, 5-year-old Maggie, for the family fun.
“There is a great selection of good stuff for the kids and the adults, and the coffee is great,” Bridget Eichmiller said with a smile.
The Eichmiller and Leighton kids enjoyed some cool and colorful drinks before getting their sweets.
Jack Leighton liked his chilled, blue-colored beverage because of a special added treat.
“I like the gummies!” he exclaimed as he pulled one out to show off as the other kids giggled.
“This is an amazing atmosphere, and it is really cool that they included the kids on the anniversary,” Jason Eichmiller said of the festivities.
The menu had all of the favorites, from chocolate chip muffins to crumb cakes, bagels and breakfast sandwiches, but there were also some pastries with an added birthday-themed twist.
There were blue Birthday Mermaid Cookies, Funfetti Vanilla Scones, Party Buns and some irresistible Stuffed Strawberry Cream Cheese Sprinkle Cookies.
Iannelli has worked in bakeries across the nation. She even competed on the Food Network’s Wedding Cake Championship. Her South Jersey roots brought her back to enjoy the area she loves and impart her pastry delights on plenty of happy Shorebreak Café customers.
She explained how the team came up with what pastries to make.
“We did a poll with the top-selling pastries,” she said of the fun menu. “We took classics like sprinkle cookies and we rolled it with strawberry cream cheese.”
Some of the signature favorites, such as the cinnamon buns, were transformed into birthday celebration cakes, complete with sprinkles and a new name, “Party Buns.”
Shorebreak Cafe employee Jessica Tadros pulled a sheet of party buns out of the oven to the delight of some customers.
For those who couldn’t make it to the morning or early afternoon bash, not to worry, there were some cool treats featured for “Ice Cream Happy Hour” from 3-5 p.m. Guests received free scoops of ice cream with any purchase of an ice cream item.
Shorebreak Café is located at 4002 Landis Ave. in Sea Isle City. The café is open Wednesday through Monday 7 a.m. to 10 p.m. and Tuesday from 7 a.m. to 4 p.m. For more information, visit shorebreakcafe.com, call 609-486-2137 or Email cafe@shorebreakresorts.com.
