For us Northern Hemisphereans, thereโs no denying summer is over. Sunset, once a yummy mummy hand-rolling pizza dough to be garnished with her gardenโs heirloom tomatoes and self-pestled cashew cheese, has returned to harried mother mode. Darkness falls quicker each day. Do you smell the Ellioโs in the microwave?
Well, somewhere you can postpone your autumnal equinox anxieties is Cafe Volan, one of the scant Third Wave coffee shops in New Jersey and one where warmth is merely a state of mind. This is a surfersโ hangout. No shoes, no shirt? All service.
Plus, it is in Asbury Park, that small seaside town romanticized forever on the eponymous album by Bruce Springsteen, who often played at rock venue The Stone Pony, a 10-minute walk from Cafe Volan. And while June through August at the Jersey Shore may hold allure for vacationers (and MTV producers), Asbury Park offers laid-back livability and summer-vibes contentment year-round.
โThe waves are so much better in the wintertime. Itโs cold, but itโs better,โ says cafe co-owner Paul Cali.
He and business partner Doug Parent, both Jersey surfers since childhood, find their 7 a.m. opening time ideal. Itโs late enough to give themselves โan extra hour to surf, or sleepโ and early enough to cater to their morning regulars, from fellow surfers on dawn patrol to commuters bound for New York City (60 miles away) and Philadelphia (80 miles away).
The timing of their establishment was key, too, agree Cali and Parent. Cafe Volan opened in 2011, at the height of an urban revitalization so significant it compels many a New Jerseyan to proclaim โAsbury is back.โ
โIt was a resort town that got affected by race riots in the โ60s, that was struggling. And then when the bad economy hit in the โ80s, it just fell,โ explains Cali, who, save for a stint in Rhode Island, has always lived within a 20-mile radius. โPeople started moving here in the early 2000s, but the businesses werenโt here. The businesses couldnโt be here. Asburyโs got a pretty bad elementโweโve got the quintessential other-side-of-the-tracks.โ
The reference is to the townโs western half, still troubled by poverty and violence. It presents an uneasy contrast to the east-lying waterfront, which in the last decade has bloomed with small businessesโboutiques, farm-to-tableย pizzeriasโrun by young, artisan-minded entrepreneurs.
Entering Cafe Volan, visitors see a collection of upright surfboards. Thatโs not an attempt at authentic dรฉcorโโfor me, thatโs lazy,โ laughs Parent, describing how equipment at the cafe is usually betwixt a loan and a borrow, awaiting pickup. The wood floor looks genuinely weathered, from the sand and beach tools and toys dragged back and forth. Alongside the tables, steel-blue flowers climb on a wallpaper thatโs more granny than gnarly yet fitting to the local antiques industry.
Most of Cafe Volanโs beans are supplied by Counter Culture; Fast Forward is the house coffee and Hologram is used for cold brew, while guest roasters include Bay City, Michigan’s ownย Populace. A two-group La Marzocco GB5, a FETCO extractor, and grinders by Mazzer and BUNNย are on standby. Vanilla-flavored almond milk lattes and scones from Seed to Sprout in nearby Avon-by-the-Sea keep vegan clients happy. Pro-butter patrons get pastries from Balthazar, the NYC brasserie that delivers wholesale from its bakery in Englewood, NJ. Daily toast specials come sweet (e.g. raspberry-mascarpone-pepper) and savory (e.g. tomato achaar-arugula-olive oil).
Before all this, Cali managed a since-closed โโ90s Seattle-style cafe,โ known for โGirl Scout cookie-type thingsโ in nearby Red Bank, the town filmmaker Kevin Smith put on the pop culture map. The 34-year-old is soft-spoken and soft-treading. He walks and bikes barefoot, swearing off shoes until Novemberโexcept when behind the bar, to appease the health department. Black ‘X’ tattoos on his middle and ring fingers commemorate two decades of being straightedge.
Parent, 33, also defies stereotypes of Jersey excess. He pulls shots wearing perforated foam clogs and sports a gray-streaked bob with tresses so well-loved by the elements they could advertise a hair product called Sea-Breeze Head. Parent met Cali after returning from a trip to Sydney, where he discovered โinspiringโ waves, ocean-wise and coffee-wise. Prior to travelling, he only had time to admire the skills of Gorilla Coffee baristas en route to his job in Manhattanโs Financial District. Parent doesnโt seem to miss the era. Of a recent surf, he remarks: โWe were able to get out nice and early, and whenever anybody else wouldโve been sitting at their desks, we were enjoying the morning.โ
So what about this season coming to a close, at least as dictated by the Gregorian calendar and the heaviness that fills the hearts of schoolchildren, their teachers, and the sentimental daylight savers among us?
Cafe Volan is relaxed as ever. Says Cali: โWe have what everyone around here calls โlocal summer,โ so itโs not that sad when summer winds down. Thatโs when we get to enjoy the beach a little bit more. Before the weather turns, people are here less, and we get to take advantage of that.โ
Karina Hof is a freelance journalist based in Amsterdam. Read more Karina Hof on Sprudge.ย
Photographs by Liz Clayton.