BASEMENT WATERPROOFING IN Keansburg

Some things are worth being fat for. This is one of them.

Chef David Burke is at it again.

He's been a busy chef! He just recently opened up a new restaurant called THE GOAT in Union Beach.

But now, Mr. Burke is dedicating all his time and energy into a new, sweeter business adventure.

It is a new bakery and being that Chef Burke is a trained pastry chef and graduated from the prestigious École Lenôtre Pastry School in France, it is only fitting.

It is called the Dixie Lee Bakery and it is located at 303 Main Street in Keansburg.

I love this part: the original owners, Mark Onulak and Allison Loori, will remain as managing partners and all 13 existing employees will be keeping their jobs.

“The old school bakery has a great tradition within the community,” said Chef Burke. “My grandfather took my mother there when she was a little girl to buy pastries. We will continue to honor the bakery’s rich past while making gradual improvements to the bakery.”

More on those "gradual improvements" in a second.

The bakery features traditional pastries, fresh bread and cakes for all occasions.

Dixie Lee Bakery is open Thursday to Saturday from 8:00 AM to 6:00 PM and then on Sunday from 6:00 AM to 6:00 PM.

In addition, Dixie Lee Bakery's goods will be supplied wholesale to other David Burke restaurants throughout New Jersey and New York.

Now for some of David's future plans for the bakery.

According to the press release, "Chef Burke will later add a retail coffee business with counter service, pastries, breakfast and lunch sandwiches, salads and other grab-n-go provisions."

I am always on board for coffee.

There is still more.

How would you like to take a baking class at this new bakery? You would be learning from a professional and Burke is hoping these will be put together soon!

Plus, Chef David Burke is hoping to host business gatherings, birthdays and other social celebrations at this new bakery as it comes along.

And while we are on the topic of sweet:

Chef David Burke may be known for his playful approach to fine dining and penchant for building grand restaurants, but once upon a time, the restaurateur went to pastry school.

The plan was to one day own a bakery, and the time has come. Burke, who in April opened The GOAT by David Burke in Union Beach, is the new owner of the Bayshore's Dixie Lee Bakery on Main Street in Keansburg.

“The bakery is old school and has a great tradition within the community,” Burke said in a news release. “My grandfather took my mother there when she was a little girl to buy pastries."

Previous owners Mark Onulak and Allison Loori will stay on as managing partners, and employees of the bakery, which opened more than 80 years ago, will remain, according to the release.

The Dixie Lee will continue its retail business, and Burke, a Hazlet native who lives in Atlantic Highlands, eventually will use the bakery to supply baked goods to his restaurants in New York and New Jersey.

“We intend to keep selling the bakery’s familiar classics like doughnuts, black and white cookies, eclairs, breakfast pastries, cakes for all occasions, some breads and more," he said.

Within the next year, Burke plans to also add coffee service, breakfast and lunch sandwiches, salads and other grab-n-go options, plus delivery.

“A local bakery offers much more than delicious pastries, doughnuts and breads to the community,” he said. "It offers a place to meet your neighbors, provides jobs and supports the local economy. It helps us connect and celebrate."

From kitchen to garden: Chef Chris Mumford goes back to his roots

Burke's restaurant empire began in New York, but he has turned his focus toward New Jersey in recent years.

"Our time in New York was great, almost four decades, but our focus now is to build a strong New Jersey restaurant company," he told The Asbury Park Press earlier this year, "and I'm always looking for more business opportunities in Monmouth County."

Sarah Griesemer joined the USA TODAY NETWORK New Jersey in 2003 and has been writing all things food since 2014. Send restaurant tips to [email protected], and for more Jersey Shore food news, subscribe to our weekly Jersey Shore Eats newsletter.

Photo courtesy of The Goat by David Burke

Chef David Burke says he got a phone call last fall from a man named Mark Onulak, who told him, “You don’t know me, but I know your restaurants. I own the Dixie Lee Bakery in in Keansburg. I’m 67 and I’m working 80 hours a week. It’s not healthy for me to work this much. I see you’re opening restaurants and are on the move. Let’s talk.”

They did. Burke wound up buying the business, keeping Onulak and his life and business partner Allison Loori on as managing partners of what will now be called David Burke’s Dixie Lee Bakery. The staff of 13 will continue. “In fact, we’ll need more.”

“It wasn’t something I was looking to do,” says Burke, whose restaurant portfolio includes Ventanas in Fort Lee, 1776 in Morristown, Red Horse in Rumson and Drifthouse in Sea Bright, “but I’ve always wanted a pastry shop. I used to work in one. And I grew up in that area.”

In fact, he was familiar with Dixie Lee, and says his parents and grandparents were patrons, enjoying its pastries, cakes, pies and breads. “The owner said, ‘I want to work five or six more years, but I don’t want to keep working 80 hours a week, I want to work 40. So we made a deal, and I’m super excited. It’s a different business for us.

“It’s a big space,” Burke says. “There’s enough room to make a little café. We might want to call it Starburkes, but we’ll see how that goes. Keansburg has a little water park with rides and games, it’s like Asbury Park was 20 years ago.”

The production area is big enough, Burke says, to allow him to produce his signature clothesline bacon—three thick meaty strips pinned on a little tabletop rack—in greater quantity. “We’re thinking we might want to sell it nationally. We can also use the production area to produce sandwiches and other goods to ship to our other restaurants. So there’s a vision coming to fruition here.”

The vision includes making bagels from scratch the old-fashioned way, boiling before baking. “You can order that with cream cheese and smoked salmon. I think they buy and bake bagels there, but we’ll begin making bagels, and you can order that with creamed cheese and smoked salmon.”

Burke’s son, Connor, 34, is getting married Memorial Day Weekend. Burke is not only making the cake, he is officiating at the wedding. “During the pandemic, I got ordained as a minister in the Universal Life Church,” the chef explains. “Three weeks later I’m performing the ceremony for one of my bartenders at 1776. I’ve got two other employees who asked me to marry them. So I’ll get pretty good at it.”

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Above photo is Hazlet native David Burke inside The Goat, his restaurant in Union Beach that opened in 2022. The Goat is Burke's 7th NJ restaurant, and his 3rd restaurant in Monmouth County, where he also owns Red Horse in Rumson and Drifthouse in Sea Bright. The Goat is Burke's 18th Restaurant world-wide.

THE BAYSHORE: New restaurants have opened in recent months in the Bayshore area, and they are popular! Featuring delicious cuisine, and live entertainment, these Half Moon opened at 2 Beachway Avenue, Keansburg, with waterfront views, featuring dining in and 'delivery to the beach' options for customers. Across from Raritan Bay in Keansburg, Half Moon serves up coastal comfort food, handcrafted cocktails and a catalog of locally brewed beers.

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Half Moon opened in spring of 2022, and has just wrapped up a highly successful first summer. Founding partner of Half Moon, Jennifer Lampert, previously opened and operated the award-winning Asbury Festhalle & Biergarten. Lampert commented to TAPinto, "Along with my partners, Diana Grossman and Emiliano Graci, we love the community here, and we wanted to be part of the revitalization of the Bayshore, and Half Moon was born out of that vision. We are all about serving the community and bringing a true Jersey Shore experience to our customers who are really family to us. If you walk into Half Moon you will immediately begin to have a great coastal experience."

Half Moon features live entertainment regulary, featuring this weekend; Celebrating Keansburg's Half Way to St. Patrick's Day. Right across the street will be bouncy houses for the kids, face painters, local craft vendors, a DJ and of course bag pipers. "We will be serving themed specials all day long like Irish Fries, Corned Beef Platter and Potato Pancakes. The Lot (as in their parking lot at Half Moon) also hosts live music with Kimon, 7-10pm. Sun- Happy Hour all day, serving $6 bites, $6 frozen margs/wine/sangria/cocktails and $1 off all draft beers inside Half Moon!." You can check out Half Moon and their ongoing dining and entertainment options at halfmoonkb.com

The former Piero's on Route 36, in Hazlet, is now The Goat, owned by Hazlet native, world renown restaurateur and celebrity chef David Burke. The Goat's menu is American Italian Cuisine and the entertainment is "supper club style" with everything from comedic acts to favorite local entertainers. This past summer Burke, also a trained pastry chef from École Lenôtre Pastry School in Paris France, brought new life to Keansburg's historic Dixie Lee Bakery, keeping their classic favorites and adding his favorite decadent desserts. "Eventually, I’ll supply my restaurants with baked goods from there, but, for now, I will start with minor renovations and keep the current staff onboard while still providing the locals with good baked goods." David Burke's Dixie Lee Bakery is one of the few bakeries locally that takes you back in time to the days of Sunday morning doughnuts, and classic baked goods. Their birthday cakes are a local favorite and their black and white cookies are famous, with generations of loyal fans. Dixie Lee is located at 303 Main Street in Keansburg, NJ.

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Michael Flynn graduated college May 9, but he didn’t quite finish. There is one more thing he’s working on, and it’s significant.

The Keansburg 22-year-old is studying the atmosphere of Mars and coauthoring a research paper that could impact future exploration of the Red Planet.

It's his final project at Embry-Riddle Aeronautical University in Daytona Beach, Florida, from which he graduated with distinction after attending on a full scholarship through Army ROTC (Reserve Officers' Training Corps).

“One of our best students — not only in the classroom but also in his work doing research,” said Embry-Riddle professor John Hughes, chair of the university’s physics department. “To have an undergraduate doing cutting-edge research that’s going to get published, it’s a great thing for the student and something the university can be proud of.”

That’s not all. Later this month Flynn is attending the U.S. Army’s "Air and Space Basic Course" at West Point. He is among the first ROTC cadets ever chosen to attend the exclusive two-week event.

Not bad for a kid who grew up curious about the night sky.

Flynn attended high school at Marine Academy of Science and Technology (MAST) on Sandy Hook. There, as at Embry-Riddle, he made the most of his opportunities.

“He has a combination of talent and work ethic, and that’s a really good combination,” Hughes said. “Almost every time I walked into the lab, he was in there working.”

This past semester Flynn was named was Embry-Riddle’s Outstanding Student in Space Physics, his major. He not only posted the major’s highest grade-point average; his collaboration with physics professor Michael Hickey on the Mars project turned more than a few heads.

Flynn and Hickey are studying the effect the planet’s ferocious sandstorms have on Martian atmosphere. They’re looking at the gravity waves generated when the wind blows across four large mountains, including the gargantuan Olympus Mons. At 72,000 feet high — two-and-a-half times taller than Mount Everest — Olympus Mons is the solar system’s biggest mountain.

They are hoping to publish their findings by summer’s end.

“This is important if we want to travel to Mars, if we want to have satellites over Mars, just understanding the complexities of the atmosphere,” Flynn explained.

Mapping these patters could help scientists anticipate huge fluctuations in temperature, wind speed and atmospheric density. That will be vital for any attempt to send humans to Mars.

Flynn can envision it.

“I would say, from what I’ve studied, that if you had the right shelter it’s possible,” he said. “There are cases of sandstorms with winds at certain locations that can actually become supersonic (above 760 mph) at specific heights. That could be dangerous. But if you had a strong enough shelter, it could be possible.”

Before that, though, Flynn has some business closer to home.

On May 8, Flynn was commissioned as a second lieutenant. He has a job lined up in the Army’s cyber command. Training begins early next year in Georgia. An internship last summer gave him a glimpse of the work.

“It was really eye-opening,” he said. “I can’t talk about the specifics of everything I saw, but I was able to do a project that involved satellite communication systems and the different ways we can control satellite systems.”

That’s where his heart lies.

“I’m really interested in satellite physics and satellite communication systems,” Flynn said.

The ultimate gig? A post with Army Space Operations, which could be crucial to the nation’s future defense. He must attain the rank of captain in order to apply, so that’s a few years off. For now, he’s building a resume and gaining experience. The upcoming course at West Point will add to it all.

“I am really excited about this opportunity where I can apply what I’ve learned to the Army, and take the knowledge the Army is going to give me and apply that for national defense,” Flynn said. “I feel like I’ve been mostly prepared for it.”

As far as Hughes is concerned, you can take the “mostly” out of that sentiment.

“One thing I’m quite sure of?” the professor said. “He’ll be successful no matter where he ends up.”

Jerry Carino is community columnist for the Asbury Park Press, focusing on the Jersey Shore’s interesting people, inspiring stories and pressing issues. Contact him at [email protected].