‘I’ve been cooking my whole life’ said Brookdale’s Culinary Arts Alum and Co-Owner of Hudson Cafe

‘I’ve been cooking my whole life’: How Hudson Café in Atlantic Highlands grew from family

By Brett Kimmins, Special to the Asbury Park Press

Ryan Strubbe, co-owner of The Hudson Café in Atlantic Highlands, started his path to cooking professionally by making meatballs with his grandmother at get-togethers as a young man.

“I’ve been cooking my whole life,” Strubbe said. “I started out hanging around Mom and Grandma in the kitchen, making family dinners during the holidays. I progressed through high school and went through the cooking program there and finished my learning process in culinary school during my college years.”

Strubbe was drawn to the communal feeling he got from cooking for people.

“I didn’t come from a large family, but my grandmother had a big Italian background,” Strubbe said. “She showed me how to cook meatballs first at age 11 and then I graduated to other food and cuisine.

“After graduating from the culinary program at Brookdale (Community College), I went to work in Long Branch for a really talented cook, Joe Romanoski,” Strubbe said. “Joe really guided me along the right path. He and his wife owned Joe and Maggie’s Bistro and I worked there for five years. I was able to sow my oats there and accomplish things for myself.

“I really learned how to functionally work in the kitchen there. He was very thorough, and he instilled a great work ethic in me,” Strubbe said. “I learned to not take shortcuts or sacrifice quality. I learned the importance of doing the right thing by the customer. I also met my now wife there and we started dating and eventually got married.”

Opportunity arises
After Romanoski and his wife decided to retire in 2005, Strubbe moved to Ocean Township where a friend, Brian Gualtieri, owned a place called Piccola Italia.

“I worked for him for about five or six years,” Strubbe said. “I felt like I did well there, and we did some cool stuff together,” Ryan said. “While I was still working for Brian, my sister-in-law, Janine Pillari, was working as a waitress at what is now our current location (in Atlantic Highlands), previously known as Indulgence Cafe. At one point, the owners put it up for sale and my wife, Michelle, and her sister, Janine, jumped on the opportunity to take it over.”

After taking over this space and doing some minor renovations, The Hudson Café opened for business in 2011 offering breakfast, lunch, coffee and baked goods under the ownership of the Strubbes, Pillari and Michelle and Janine’s other sister, Angela Cappadona.

“My wife and her family grew up in Atlantic Highlands and they know the town very well, along with the respective businesses that thrive there,” Ryan said. “They loved the location from the get-go and knew it would be a nice spot for this business. Michelle is one of four sisters, and it was her and her family that discovered this spot and made it into a business. I originally came on board to help as the head chef, and I ended up being one of the owners.”

Everyone plays their part
As co-owners of the business, each of the members of this family business plays their own role.

Janine Pillari takes care of the coffee side of the business, both with the main location in Atlantic Highlands and a separate coffee-only location in Keansburg called Hudson Coffee Company.

“Janine orders the coffee beans from Costa Rica and Colombia,” Strubbe said. “She roasts the beans and makes all the cold brews and flavored coffees. She sells them in the café and at our Keansburg location, which is a walk-up window where customers can order different types of coffee to their heart’s content.”

“Janine orders the coffee beans from Costa Rica and Colombia,” Strubbe said. “She roasts the beans and makes all the cold brews and flavored coffees. She sells them in the café and at our Keansburg location, which is a walk-up window where customers can order different types of coffee to their heart’s content.”

Michelle Strubbe does all the baking for the business.

“She graduated from the French Culinary Institute and worked at a baking business called the Scone Pony in Spring Lake,” Ryan said. “She makes all the scones, muffins, cookies and special baked goods.”

Cappadona helps with handling the money. “She does our books and anything that deals with bills or that aspect of the job,” Strubbe said.

Strubbe acts as head chef.

“I mainly get into making breakfast and lunch,” Strubbe said. “I try and source better ingredients. I make a brioche French toast and a banana French toast, and omelettes are always big. For lunch, I make soups every day, along with burgers and sandwiches. We operate a very diverse café, and we add our own twist to it.

“We have become a big part of the community,” Strubbe said. “We want to keep the machine going. It’s all about feeding people and making them happy.”

The Hudson Café
Location: 25 First Ave., Atlantic Highlands

Phone: 732-872-2300

Website: www.thehudsoncafe.com

Hours: 8 a.m. to 2 p.m. Tuesdays through Fridays; 8 a.m. to 1 p.m. weekends.

Link to the original article in the Asbury Park Press

Photo by Tanya Breen