Cape May Ferry terminal transforming into destination spot with 3 eateries, fire pits

From a approach station to a vacation spot.

That’s the imaginative and prescient Jack Wright has together with his new undertaking on the Delaware Bay, turning a “glass and steel municipal behemoth” into one thing trendy and enjoyable with a vibe that may entice folks from Delaware to Cape Could County and past.

Exit Zero Hospitality, the place Wright is the proprietor and artistic director, is within the technique of turning the Cape May Ferry Terminal — the place roughly a million folks a yr cross by way of to and from Delaware — into three restaurants and an entertainment venue.

The $2 million attraction can be referred to as Ferry Park and can embody three totally different eating ideas — The Lookout, opening on the finish of March, Boat Drinks and Exit Zero Ferry Station, which can be accomplished by Could. Already open is Cafe’ 64, a seize and go cafe with retail area.

Opening in spring of 2023, within the adjoining park, can be an space for rest, video games and a procuring village.

Throughout a tour of the development, Wright likened the wedding between the Delaware River and Bay Authority and his “scruffy little upstart” to David and Goliath.

“It’s really working very well and it’s our job to make this place heat and enjoyable.”

Jack Wright, proprietor and artistic director of Exit Zero Hospitality, defined the foyer space of Ferry Park, which can characteristic three eating places and an occasion space on the Cape Could Ferry Terminal, Thursday, March 10, 2022. Tim Hawk | NJ Advance Media for NJ.com

Wright is understood in South Jersey because the proprietor of Exit Zero Filling Station in West Cape Could, a restaurant that expands onto the grounds of a former gasoline station the place his use of classic trailers for personal eating stations was a success in the course of the pandemic.

Wright sees his new attraction as a spot the place ferry passengers can arrive early to benefit from the totally different facilities and the place locals could make a day trip of their go to.

“The general vibe of Ferry Park is what I prefer to name enjoyable, trendy and welcoming, the very antithesis of what this constructing seems like at first with all of its steel and all of its glass.”

Attaining the snug, trendy nautical vibe out of a chilly authorities constructing has been a problem, he stated.

Contained in the terminal, behind a makeshift plywood wall with an image of a smiling bearded sailor smoking a pipe, staff had been busy constructing out bars and putting in shiplap paneling that may soften and enliven the as soon as impersonal look of the primary flooring the place a foyer and the informal Ferry Station restaurant can be positioned.

Six colourful non-public cubicles will fill the foyer for passengers to calm down in the place they’ll deliver their very own food and drinks and never must spend any cash.

“We wish them to have an improved atmosphere whereas they’re ready for the ferry,” Wright stated.

Separating the foyer from the Ferry Station restaurant can be glass doorways the place a double-sided gasoline fire, banquette seating, cubicles and picnic tables, with the tops lined with nautical letters, will result in the bar. Home windows line the partitions alongside the docks to permit loads of views of the ferries coming and going all through the day.

The meals menu can be a mixture of Americana with the Asian affect being extra Chinese language.

“We’re a restaurant that celebrates range,” stated Wright, declaring that the menu on the Filling Station in West Cape Could is a mixture of Americana, Indian and Thai.

“All of us grew up pondering a restaurant that claims American Italian Chinese language have to be diabolically dangerous. There’s no approach you are able to do all of that,” he stated. However that’s not the philosophy for Wright and his workforce who stated it really works as a result of it’s the American melting pot and it’s the meals they wish to have fun with their clients.

Above the Ferry Station restaurant is what Wright hopes would be the greatest restaurant within the county with the views to match.

The Lookout can be an roughly 80 seat restaurant that overlooks the canal and Delaware Bay. The menu will characteristic prime meats and coastal delicacies.

As staff from Backyard Bar Man put collectively the mahogany bar, Wright talked about how thrilling the cocktails can be which can be enhanced by the views, particularly the sunsets, the dolphin sightings, and when the ferries journey the canal.

“We’re placing lots into very, very imaginative cocktails.”

The drinks (Don’t Pay)The Ferryman, primarily based on the biblical story, and served with chocolate cash and Songbird, served in a glass chicken, can be only a few of the featured cocktails.

The Lookout’s outside patio can have greater than 40 seats with fireplace pits, an ideal romantic spot because the solar begins to set.

“The play of the sunshine on the water at totally different occasions of the day from dawn to sundown is magical,” stated Patrick Logue, director of operations for Exit Zero Hospitality.

Logue made positive to level out, from private expertise after they had been sampling the drinks on the menu, that sitting dockside or up in The Lookout at night time watching the ferries glide in and not using a sound, fully lit up towards the black sky, is one thing that shouldn’t be missed.

“You simply don’t get uninterested in it,” stated Logue.

Alongside the docks can be Boat Drinks, an out of doors bar and restaurant that may serve native drafts, enjoyable cocktails and frozen drinks. The easy wholesome menu will embody salads, a uncooked bar and soups.

To have fun the ferries coming and going, as a result of it’s all the time an occasion, stated Wright, Boat Drinks can be providing a particular $2 shot for these on the bar.

“You’re going to really feel prefer it’s an attractive island seashore vibe since you’ve acquired an important sundown, you’ve acquired sunshine, you’ve acquired the boats.”

Part two of the undertaking will contain the park the place there can be native retailers, a hammock grove surrounded by timber, bocce ball courts, outside desk tennis and a stage for concert events.

Though the set up of the park gained’t occur till subsequent yr there’ll nonetheless be occasions taking place this summer time that embody a live performance sequence and Monday night time motion pictures. Ferry Park may also be the official residence of the Exit Zero Jazz Festival.

For the youngsters there can be a playground and mini-golf.

Logue stated that one of many components that was by no means capitalized on is the truth that the terminal is a primary waterfront location. And in Cape Could County there are usually not lots of eating places which are on the water.

“This place has simply been this behemoth of a constructing that simply hasn’t actually been warmed up and have life breathed into it,” Logue stated. “In order that’s actually what we’re hoping to attain.”