Cape May will be holding its first restaurant week May 31 through June 6.  Sponsored by Cape May Magazine and the Chamber of Commerce of Greater Cape May, the week long event will showcase some of Cape May’s best restaurants, which will be offering fixed prices to make your culinary adventure both affordable and tempting.  There are two levels of dining being offered, $22.09 and $33.09. All participating restaurants will offer a three course meal, including appetizer, entree and dessert, from a menu that shows at least three choices for each course every night they are open during Restaurant Week. (Beverage, tax and gratuities are not included.)

For more information and a list of participating restaurants you can visit their website. Click here.

What a wonderful weekend we just had here in Cape May!  The weather was perfect and town was abuzz with activity. If you didn’t know, this week, April 24 - May 3, is Cape May’s Spring Festival Week with tours and events throughout town.

If you weren’t able to make it down there is still a lot happening now through Sunday. There is an Antiques and Collectible Show scheduled for Saturday and a Murder Mystery Lunch happening on Saturday and Sunday. For complete information on the Spring Festival you can go to the Mid-Atlantic Center for the Arts website.

If you’ve ever walked down the mall, you’ve probably noticed the Town Crier. It’s the kiosk situated on the 400 block near Casale’s Shoes and Ben & Jerry’s Ice Cream. Operated by the Cape May Chamber of Commerce, the Town Crier has a map of Cape May, a calendar of events and happenings, and a selection of brochures and flyers from local businesses.

What you might not know is the Town Crier also presents a series of free events throughout most of the year under the umbrella title of The Cape May Experience. This April the Town Crier is presenting “Savor Something Sweet”. Each Saturday at 1:00 pm, two of Cape May’s wonderful candy shops, the Fudge Kitchen and Fralinger’s, are offering a selection of free goodies to visitors on the mall. I swung by this past Saturday and spent of few moments chatting with Susan Babineau-Roberts from the Mission Inn while she was passing out the goodies. (Unfortunately, I abstained from sampling the delectable treats, since I am determined to lose 10 lbs. by Memorial Day.) This weekend is the last for the free sweets, so hurry on down.

In May, the Cape May Experience will move to the beachfront near Convention Hall for a southern-styled beach party. “Fire up for Summer” will include a good ole fashioned Hoot’nanny, with fiddler and oh so much more. (7pm 1st., 8th & 15th) For more information on Town Crier events, you can visit the Cape May Chamber website.

Local artist, David Clemans, will appear at the Soma Gallery this coming Sunday, April 19, to discuss his current exhibition “RIVER RUN TO THE SEA” his artistic exploration of Cape May. He will also be signing his book of prints from the exhibit. Light brunch fare will be served. 12:30 - 2:30 PM. Talk begins at 1:00 PM.

Mr. Cleman’s exhibit along with artist Marc Shenfield’s exhibit ”Cape May in Detail” will continue at the gallery until May 3. For additional information you can visit the gallery website at www.somagallery.net.

I received an e-mail from the Beach Theatre Foundation the other day. Unfortunately, the Foundation did not renew their lease with the Franks Theatre Group. So it looks like the Franks Group will be operating the theater this summer. (I guess they decided they might as well make a buck before they tear it down.)

There is some potential good news. The Beach Theatre Foundation is working with a consulting firm and developers to see if  a “boutique hotel” could be incorporated into designs for the property while still maintaining the theater. For more information read the whole story at the Herald Newspaper’s website.

While driving past the Beach Theatre this morning I noticed the marquee had been changed. It now reads, “Reopening May 22″ and lists The Soloist, Terminator Salvation and Wolverine as some of the upcoming features. So, it looks like the Beach Theatre Foundation will once again be operating the theater, at least for this summer.

For those of you who don’t know, the Franks Theater chain, got approval from the historic commission a couple years ago to tear down the theater and build condominiums over the existing retails stores along Beach Drive. A grassroots organization, the Beach Theatre Foundation,  was quickly formed in attempt to save it. The biggest problem is the Franks group is asking $12 million dollars for it, which, if you ask me, is pretty outrageous. The BTF has been looking for a developer and has secured some loans to lease the theater and operate it in the mean time.

For more information on the history of the Beach Theatre and the efforts fo save it, you can go to the foundations website at www.beachtheatre.org.

Each week, it seems, another restaurant reopens for the season. So here are some additional restaurants that are now open or will be very soon. And a some restaurants I overlooked in my original post. (Sorry.)

First some of the restaurants I forgot to mention. The Ebbitt Room is now serving dinner Thursday - Monday, with live piano music every Saturday night. Cabanas Beach Bar & Grill is open Thursday through Sunday, while upstairs Martini Beach is serving a light dinner menu  on Friday & Saturday nights. And how could I have forgotten the Mad Batter? Located on Jackson Street, the Batter is open daily for breakfast, lunch and dinner.

Reopening this coming Thursday, April 2 are  The Merion Inn , Cucina Rosa and one of my all-time favorites, Union Park.  All three will be serving dinner Thursdays through Sundays. In addition, George Mesterhazy will once again be back on the piano at the Merion.  Aleathea’s will be reopening this coming Friday, as well as Mangia, Mangia. And finally, the grandaddy of Cape May fine dining restaurants, the Washington Inn will reopen next weekend, just in time for Easter.

I’m sure I have proably forgotten one or two restaurants, and if your favorite is missing let me know.

The Second Singer-Songwriter Cape May will be held this coming weekend March 27-28, 2009 at historic Congress Hall and select venues throughout town. The event celebrates new music over 2 nights with showcase performances by original acts and artists from solo to full band. For complete information visit the event website at Singer Songerwriter Cape May. 

I love Cape May in the off-season. The quiet, leisurely pace. No crowds. FREE PARKING! During this time of year, one  of the questions I invariably get is, “Where do we eat?” So I’m offering a quick rundown of who’s open and when they’re serving.

Of course, there is the Lobster House, that stalwart of Cape May. It is always open serving lunch and dinner daily.  Check out the luncheonette for fast service and lower prices, along with daily specials. And just across the road from the LH is Lucky Bones. Since it opened three years ago, it has fast become one of Cape May’s most popular dining spots. Serving lunch and dinner daily, it has great brick-oven pizzas and a lively bar scene.

The Blue Pig Tavern at Congress Hall serves breakfast, lunch and dinner daily year round. And there is always a nightly special. If you like diner food, the Ocean View Restaurant is now open daily. Cheap eats, great service and parking make it a terrific choice for the budget minded. (I love the open face, hot turkey sandwich with real turkey.} And don’t forget local haunts like the Pilot House (great burgers), The Ugly Mug, the C-View Tavern and Jackson Mountain Cafe.

Other restaurants currently operating on winter schedules include Freda’s Cafe, Thursday - Monday,  the Copper Fish open for dinner Thursday- Sunday, Geckos open for lunch and dinner Thursday-Sunday, the Moonfish Grill (now owned and operated by Tisha’s Fine Dining) open Thursday - Saturday, and just opened this past summer (and terrific) is Panico’s Bistro open Friday - Sunday.

Restaurants open Friday and Saturday include the Black Duck, Godmother’s, Oyster Bay and the Blue Claw. Finally I would be remiss not to mention Bally-Hoos, open Wednesday - Sunday and still offering their Prime Rib special each Wednesday and Seafood Buffet on Thursdays and the Cape Orient, Cape May’s only Chinese, Japanese, Thai, Fusion restaurant open daily year ound for lunch and dinner.

Welcome to our brand new, redesigned blog. I’ve been so excited to work on it these past few months and I hope you’ll enjoy reading it. 

I have to be honest. I was dreading going back “on line”. Many of you might remember the old blog. It seemed like ages between posts. (In fact, my last post was over a year ago!) And I didn’t want that to happen with this new one.  So I’ve spent quite some time trying to figure out what the problem was.

For those of you who have stayed at the Angel, you know I have no problem talking. I love sharing the Angel’s history and I love talking about Cape May - where to eat, what to do. So what was my problem?

It dawned on me that I kept trying to make everything I blogged about pertinent to the Angel, something that our guests would find interesting or useful. But not everyone who comes to town stays at the Angel. (We only have 27 rooms, after all.) And I’m sure, or at least I hope, that people other than just our guests will read this blog.

So I thought, why not make this blog a real resource.  After all, I live here year round. I can give readers the inside scoop, so to speak, on practically everything that’s going on around town. And I’ll make it fun and interesting, hopefully. And if I don’t have anything to blog about, I can always talk about myself. Just kidding.

So again, welcome to The Angel Insider.