Stephen’s Restaurant Is Coming to Wildwood

This off-season will see a change in many restaurants and shops throughout the Wildwoods.

One of those changes is Nan and Pop’s Kitchen.

This past October it was announced that Nan and Pop’s Kitchen, located at 401 E Wildwood Avenue in Wildwood, had decided to close its doors.

They made the announcement via Facebook which said;

“Thanks for all of your support in our first two years of business. Nan and Pops have decided to close at our Ocean and Wildwood Ave corner location. Stay tuned for pop-up locations, events, and more for 2023.”

This meant this building would be empty leaving some to wonder what would be filling its shoes.

For this, we turn to someone who has already been filling our stomachs with amazing dishes on the island, Chef Stephen Quici.

Quici has a long history of cooking in the Wildwoods. A culinary graduate of the Academy of Culinary Arts in Mays Landing, Quici first started working in the food business in 1982 when he was hired as the pasta maker at Vincenzo’s restaurant.

In his 42 years of cooking, Quici has worked all over the Tri-State including Popi’s in Philadelphia, and was the head Chef at Duffinetti’s here in the Wildwoods.

After leaving Duffinetti’s in 2021 he opened up the Villa Nova Cafe in the Crest. This location meant that he would only be doing breakfast which had people longing for him to start cooking dinners again.

This year, he and his wife are taking the ultimate step and opening up Stephen’s Restaurant to fulfill visitors’ wishes.

Stephen’s Restaurant is nestled between two iconic establishments on the island, Laura’s Fudge and Douglas Fudge.

The restaurant will serve breakfast from 8:00-12:00 and dinner from 4:00-10:00. The official opening will take place in late March, with a soft opening on weekends starting the first week of March.

Stephen’s will have a BYOB policy and will partner with Terra Nonna winery as their local wine vendor.

They will be open Thursday-Sunday during April and will be open seven days a week starting Memorial Day through September, going back to weekends in October and November.

The restaurant plans to close just before Christmas and reopen in mid-March giving us almost a year-round spot to eat at, which doesn’t exist that close to the Boardwalk.

Stephen’s menu will feature a full-service breakfast with unique items and dinner will have a strong focus on seafood, with some Italian-inspired dishes such as homemade Gnocchi. Since the restaurant location was previously the Lobster Shack, they plan to offer a surf and turf special as a throwback to the Shack.

Stephen’s will be one of the few places on the island that has Vegetarian and gluten-free options integrated throughout the menu.

We wish Stephen the best of luck with their new place!

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