April & May 2019

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