🥑 $18 avocado toast, $16 omelets, $13 hot dogs | Down the Shore

One Friday afternoon recently, I was in Wildwood on deadline for a story. Famished, with three dollar bills in my pocket, I went over to the Snow White restaurant on the boardwalk and asked for french fries. Alas, it was cash-only, and $3 was not going to get me french fries. But I was offered their $1 hotdog, complete with mustard and sauerkraut. It is a nostalgia-fueled menu item, they said, befitting a family-owned joint that opened in the 1940s. I left a $2 tip.

So look, it’s possible to eat cheap at the Jersey Shore.

It’s also possible to go a little nuts. Rory Tees, a faithful reader, urged me to go to the new Lighthouse Kitchen and Cafe on Pacific Avenue in Wildwood, where he said he’d ordered a $16 omelet and then was charged a la carte for home fries and toast, making the total for two people close to $60. But that seems to have been an opening week glitch because when I went, my $16 Greek omelet included potatoes (thin discs that looked like potato chips but were soft inside) and toast. The menu does say the omelets come with toast and home fries. The cup of coffee, which the server explained came from hand-harvested and hand-roasted beans sourced from the owner’s mother’s farm in Chiapas, Mexico, was $4 — and I’d argue worth every penny. They refilled my cup for free. There are cheaper spots in Wildwood, but it was a delicious meal and a classy (bougie?) treat right there on resurgent Pacific Avenue. I wish them well.

Anyway, I let Rory know he might be entitled to a refund on his a la carte potatoes and toast, but there is still some truth to his experience in Wildwood and elsewhere down the Shore. “I hate that the Wildwoods are becoming unaffordable with the influx of new money,” Rory wrote.

My colleague Michaelle Bond writes this week that starter homes in these 10 Jersey Shore towns average $1 million and up: Avalon, Stone Harbor, Strathmere, Cape May Point, and five of Long Beach Island’s six towns: Harvey Cedars, Barnegat Light, Long Beach Township, Surf City, and Beach Haven.

Meanwhile, I leveled up and had a hot dog in Margate for $13 this week, albeit one topped with mustard, relish, peppers, onions, pickle, celery salt, and tomato. It’s at the new Dock’s Dogs, run by Hillary Bor, the former owner of Philly’s acclaimed but now-closed Pumpkin BYOB. Bor is now a year-round Shore resident and she and her boyfriend, Tim Nedzwecky, have brought a casual sunset vibe to the bay, complete with music jams on Wednesdays and a spectacular view. There’s a crab cake version of a hot dog ($22), and non-dog chicken and egg salad options. Look for my story on the Bor’s new Shore venture.

📮 Are you a $1 or $13 hot dog person? Any hidden gems or other ways to eat cheaply at the Jersey Shore? Send tips here, and I’ll include some responses in a future newsletter. Have ideas or news tips about the Shore or this newsletter? Send them to me here.

🌤️ Weekend looks mostly lovely, with a bit of a cooling trend.

— Amy S. Rosenberg (Follow me @amysrosenberg or on Instagram at @amysrosenberg. 📧 Email me here.)

If someone forwarded you this email, sign up for free here.

🦪 Dylan Dreyer and Al Roker of NBC’s Today Show were visiting Atlantic City this week for a feature set to air , June 23, in the third hour, including a visit to Dock’s Oyster House. They also wound up at Lucy the Elephant.

💔 Cape May’s Sincere Rhea, a former track and field hurdler standout, is still in the thick of the drama on Peacock’s Love Island USA. His mother has thoughts.

📱 Neighbors are upset about a proposed 125-foot cell tower in the 3300 block of Bay Avenue in Ocean City.

🚧 Bart Blatstein has big plans for A.C.’s Garden Pier, portions of which he has leveled.

🇭🇹 Les Grenadiers, the World Cup team from Haiti that is based in Atlantic City, are looking for the big upset against Brazil in Philadelphia on Friday.

🪼 Researchers are cautioning about clinging jellyfish at the Shore.

🏈 June 24 begins the Kelce takeover in Sea Isle in service of the Eagles Autism Foundation.

🎤 Meek Mill is performing Saturday at Boardwalk Hall.

🙌🏿 The African American Heritage Museum of Southern New Jersey has a full Juneteenth lineup of speakers, tributes, music, food, vendors, and story telling. Ubunto the Community is hosting a Juneteenth cookout in Oscar McClinton Park in the inlet in Atlantic City.

👣 The Barefoot Country Music festival comes to Wildwood this weekend. Headliners include Post Malone, Miranda Lambert, Shaboozey, Eric Church, and Kelsea Ballerini.

🏖️ Caesars’ new oceanfront Beach Club is opening on Friday.

🛝 Beach Haven’s new all-inclusive playground at Nelson Avenue Park is open.

Two New Jersey beaches made an Island.com list of the nine cleanest beaches in America. One was Point Pleasant Beach in Ocean County. The other was a beach from Cape May County.

Was it:

A. Stone Harbor

B. Wildwood Crest

C. Cape May

D. Avalon

If you think you know the answer, click on this story to find out.

We asked our Shore Line group chat whether it’s OK to reserve spots early on the beach by setting up chairs and a canopy. The results are in! (Join our chat here.)

The majority of people responding were fine with it, while 15% wanted to see some consideration on how much space was taken up. But 30% of you thought it was a breach of etiquette.

Here’s a sampling:

Yes, good for them for motivating early in the day!

I hate when people do that. And 9 times out of 10 when they do it, they are obnoxiously large reservations. Putting up multiple beach cabanas, etc.

It depends on how long they’ve been gone. If they don’t show up for an hour, you could just fold their stuff up in a nice little pile. I’d be okay with that.

No problem with that at all. But those people can’t get upset if another group sets up close to them in their absence.

Have your own thought on this topic? Other etiquette questions you’d like us to tackle? Let us know here.

Ernie Russom, of Highland Park, Pa., and Wildwood Crest, texted us this memory:

Around 1991 or 1992, we would bring our now soon-to-be 38-year-old son to the beach at the end of our street in Wildwood Crest. The beach was expansive. Nearly as wide as they are today. We wanted a way for him to know where we were on the beach. I sectioned and used a 12-foot pvc pipe as a flag pole. Back then, we were the only flag flying in our immediate area. Our flag was for his safety.

Today, our 12-foot pole is dwarfed by the 15-to-20-foot telescoping aluminum flag poles. The large number of flags flying resemble tailgating outside of a college football game. We now have a telescoping pole with a unique flag of the day. Our flag is a marker that tells us how far up or down beach the ocean currents have taken us while we are enjoying the surf. It also is the maker of today’s “home base” at the beach.

Send us your Shore memory! In 200 words, tell us how the Shore taps into something deep for you, and we will publish them in this space during the summer.

By submitting your written, visual, and/or audio contributions, you agree to The Inquirer’s Terms of Use, including the grant of rights in Section 10.