April & May 2019
April & May 2019 Color Issue
April & May 2019
Color Issue
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A QUICK CHAT<br />
One year after relaunching the<br />
classic <strong>May</strong>er’s Tavern on the<br />
harbor, Alex Laudeman discusses<br />
restaurant calamities, having a<br />
dad in the business, and those<br />
legendary fried scallops.<br />
interview jack wright<br />
photograph jessica orlowicz<br />
It’s been a year since you opened <strong>May</strong>er’s<br />
Tavern. What’s been the highlight? People!<br />
People are the hardest thing but also the best<br />
thing. It makes me beyond happy when there’s<br />
a restaurant full of happy customers and happy<br />
employees. There’s nothing better.<br />
And go on, tell us about one or two of<br />
the mishaps because we all know they happen<br />
(we had about 143 here at Exit Zero Filling<br />
Station...) Running a restaurant is basically<br />
just hopping from one calamity to the next, but<br />
some really stand out. On the day we were set<br />
to open to the public, our connection to the<br />
sewer main in the street stopped functioning<br />
(unrelated to us). Everything ground to a halt<br />
for a few hours until that got fixed. Thankfully<br />
Lower Township was right on it and it didn’t<br />
delay the opening. But I was a little stressed.<br />
Amazing. We had the exact same problem<br />
the Saturday of St Patrick’s weekend. Never<br />
happens on a Tuesday morning, right. Anything<br />
that has surprised you? How much I honestly<br />
love working with my family. I thought it would<br />
be harder because you hear the horror stories,<br />
but working with my dad [Lobster House owner<br />
Keith Laudeman] has been better than I could<br />
ask for. My mom and sister both started working<br />
at the restaurant later in the season and it’s so<br />
much fun to be with them!<br />
What’s been the general feedback from<br />
the customers? People love the renovation<br />
and we get a lot of good feedback on the food.<br />
I think people understood what we were going<br />
for with the new <strong>May</strong>er’s and they love it.<br />
Any idea about the rough split of new<br />
customers to old faithfuls? I’m not too sure. I<br />
would say more new customers than old, but<br />
we still get a lot of people coming in and reminiscing,<br />
which I love. We also get a lot of local<br />
kids my age who were brought in for lunch as<br />
children with their dads. Now they are coming<br />
in with their kids.<br />
And the fried scallops.... what’s been<br />
the feedback on those? I really did not anticipate<br />
how popular they would be. I’m proud<br />
that they’ve organically become our signature<br />
because it’s a true Cape <strong>May</strong> tradition, caught<br />
on local boats by local people.<br />
Is there anything you would have done<br />
differently? There’s little things you find along<br />
the way that need to be changed, but overall no.<br />
I’m super lucky to have the wisdom of my dad<br />
behind me. He’s been at this a very long time<br />
and helped me avoid a hundred landmines.<br />
Did you get a chance to actually do anything<br />
for fun in Cape <strong>May</strong> while you were<br />
open, or was it pretty much work, sleep,<br />
repeat? It really was work/sleep/repeat which<br />
gets a little brutal on both body and mind. But I<br />
squeezed in pilates classes as much as possible<br />
exit zero 10 april-may<br />
and made it to the beach a couple of times. I<br />
can’t complain because I really do love what I<br />
do, and I get a break in the winter.<br />
What did you get up to during the break?<br />
Go anywhere fun? A lot of time with my husband<br />
and cats in Brooklyn, and a lot of travel.<br />
I’m not going to list everywhere I went because<br />
honestly it’s indulgent, but I hit three continents.<br />
Any plans to tweak anything this year?<br />
Yes, always! Things ran very well last year but<br />
there’s always room for improvement and more<br />
creativity.<br />
Assuming you WILL get some time off this<br />
year, what will be the things you plan on enjoying<br />
in the Cape <strong>May</strong> area this summer? The<br />
beach and wine with my friend Lindsay [owner<br />
of Givens Circle], hopefully at the same time. Is<br />
that illegal? Don’t tell...