A Chocolate Day on Long Beach Island, NJ

By Sandra Scott

When John and I think of beach destinations New Jersey seldom comes to mind. Then we discovered Long Beach Island. Fondly referred to as LBI by those who live and visit there, it is a barrier island off the coast of Jersey’s Ocean County, connected to the mainland by the Manahawkin Bay Bridge. Approximately 20 miles in length and only a half-mile wide at the widest point, it a beach-lovers dream. But it is more than beaches, it is New Jersey at its very best. And to make our visit even more memorable, one day we spent there recently was a chocolate delight.

In the morning we visited Lucille’s Candies. They have a sign that spans the length of the roof -
“Oh Fudge.” Lucille’s makes a variety of candies but fudge is their specialty. Each production day Katherine Da Silva makes 900 lbs. of fudge by hand. It is an amazing process starting with corn syrup, 12 quarts of light cream, and three pounds of butter, which is heated until it liquefies. Then 40 pounds of sugar are added and heated to 246 degrees. The mixture is allowed to cool for a few minutes before the chocolate liquor, fudge bob, salt and vanilla are added. Then comes the hard part. With a large wooden paddle Da Silva stirs and stirs and stirs until it is exactly the correct consistency. She pours it into a molds lined with wax paper, at which time other goodies can be added, such as nuts, caramels, and marshmallows. The fudge is allowed to set before it is cut into yummy bite-size pieces. The result was the most divine fudge.

With our bag of fudge, we wandered along the beach for a while. “John, we don’t want it to melt in the sun, so I guess we will just have to eat it all!” And we did.

Mid afternoon our chocolate day continued when we stopped at Show Place Ice Cream Parlour. At Show Place they sing, they dance and they serve ice cream. It was Broadway comes to the ice cream parlour. I thought the Man of La Mancha Dreamer, “reach your impossible dream with chocolate chip, vanilla fudge, and chocolate ice cream” and a slew of toppings sounded wonderful. But, we had just had a great lunch at the Green House Café, so I asked for a Gypsy Rose Lee Stripper (not a thing on). Thinking better of my decision I rushed up and asked our waiter, “Could I have some hot fudge on my Gypsy Rose Lee Stripper?” At which point he broke into song saying I could have it, “My Way.” nce everyone was served the waiters broke into a medley of Broadway show tunes. They got a standing ovation!

We ended the day with dinner at The Plantation. The restaurant was built in the 1940s to resemble a plantation home and has a Four Diamond rating. John enjoyed the Maryland Style Crab Cakes with Sherry Mustard. He was going to pass on dessert but then Stacy, the waitress, presented the Chocolate Dream, a white chocolate nougat center surrounded by chocolate mousse on a chocolate cake foundation drizzled with white chocolate sauce, and his resolve melted!

What could be better than enjoying the beach, eating fudge, eating ice cream accompanied by Broadway music, doing a little shopping followed by a Four Diamond dinner that ends with The Chocolate Dream? Not much!

Visit www.discoversouthernocean.org, www.visitnj.org, www.lucillescandies.com, www.surflight.org, and www.plantationrestaurant.com.

Sandra Scott is a frequent contributor to travel publications and to Copley News Service and has co-authored two books on local history. She lives in Mexico, NY.
Images by Sandra and J. J. Scott

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