By: | August 23, 2024 | Features | Colts Neck
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By Rebecca King
For most people, making their own birthday cake would be a chore. Not so for Tatum Menake, a Colts Neck resident who, at just 20 years old, is opening a restaurant called Tatum’s Table in Lincroft.
A picture of a 10-year-old Menake shows her proudly pointing to a colorful birthday cake creation, spackled with blue and purple icing and festooned with colorful stars, hearts, flowers, and sprinkles. It’s this longtime love of baking, cooking, and entertaining that led to Menake’s foray into the world of restaurant ownership at an age when many are still figuring out their place in the world.
Filling a Need
Tatum’s Table is located within the Lincroft Grove shopping center and is estimated to be opening in late July. The restaurant, Menake explained, is for folks dining out for breakfast, lunch, and brunch who want something a bit different than your average diner fare.
“I kept going out for breakfast or lunch in the area, and there was nothing that suited what I wanted,” said Menake of what inspired her to open Tatum’s Table. “Either the food would be good, but the coffee would be lacking, or vice versa. Nothing had the whole package.”
Tatum’s Table will offer the basics — eggs, pancakes, breakfast skillets, pastries, and the like – to satisfy the traditionalists in any dining party, Menake said. However, she’s most excited about the elevated, out-of-the-box options — pistachio baklava pancakes, a latke-like take on a waffle made out of potato, sweet and savory crepes, creme brulee coffees.
“We wanted something different from everything else that’s in New Jersey,” she said.
Tatum’s Table will initially be open from 8 a.m. to 3 p.m., though Menake hopes to eventually be open for private parties in the evenings.
The Love Language of Cooking
For many restaurant owners, their love of food and hospitality begins at home — and Menake is no exception. She recalls family Sunday dinners with her Italian and Greek family with plates heaped with home cooking.
“All I do is cook all day. For my dad, my mom, my brother, my boyfriend. It’s my love language,” she said.
Menake partly credits her home-schooling education as the reason she’s been able to take on owning and operating a restaurant so young. While traditional lessons occupied her mornings, she was able to follow her interests, she said, during the rest of her day. This flexible structure inspired an entrepreneurial spirit in her, Menake explained.
Menake is a self-taught chef. She was accepted into culinary school but wound up going to cosmetology school instead. But when she realized her passions lie outside of a hair salon, she turned to the lessons she learned at her grandfather’s apron strings.
Her grandparents ran a restaurant called Sammy’s Steakhouse on Staten Island. She describes her grandpa as the best chef in the family, though her grandmother was always ready to act as sous chef. She was also the baker of the family and instilled a love of pastries and cakes in her granddaughter.
Menake’s brother also owns the Navy St. Cafe at Naval Weapons Station Earle in Colts Neck, and Menake said she learned the basics of managing a restaurant while working with him there.
“I’ve always wanted to own a bakery. That was my dream when I was growing up,” she said. “As I got older and developed a love for cooking, that dream turned into opening a restaurant.”
And it wasn’t just cooking that sparked Menake’s interest. It was the hustle and bustle of hospitality — the hosts seating guests, the servers scribbling orders, the bussers wiping tables clean.
“I just love being in restaurants,” she said. “I always just sit and watch everything and observe how they’re run.”
At her own restaurant, Menake aims for an elegant, modern aesthetic. Most of the restaurant is a clean white with gold and black accents. There’s a flower wall perfect for selfies and pops of color thrown in to brighten up the space.
“Everything has been so exciting,” said Menake. “It’s amazing to see my dream become a reality. I remember being younger, sitting in my lessons, and daydreaming about owning a bakery. And doing it with my family has been really the most rewarding thing.”
Tatum’s Table is located at 650 Newman Springs Road, Lincroft. Go to instagram.com/tatumstablenj/ for more information.
