Sweet Jenny's Sweet Return

Ever since a devastating December fire reduced Sweet Jenny's restaurant on Route 9 in Barnegat to ruins, owner Marty Sprinzen and manager Joe Dringus have vowed to bring the beloved eatery back.

They had an eye on reopening in town from the start, planning to tear down the log cabin's charred shell and build again.

But the months ticked by and no insurance settlement came. Dringus was ready to start over. Sprinzen was weary and heartsick from the loss of the restaurant and the priceless treasures it housed – a lifetime's worth of his own antiques and collectibles.

Ultimately, they decided Sweet Jenny’s needed a fresh start, and Dringus was the one to make it happen. Sprinzen gave his manager and friend for nearly a decade his blessing to use the Sweet Jenny’s name to open a new restaurant. But rebuilding onsite was going to take too long, Dringus said.

"I decided that to put out that that kind of money without regular employment for a year and a half would be very difficult," he said. Rather than wait for the clearance, Dringus started looking for new location.

This spring, renovations began in the downtown building that was home to the old Hurricane House – a long-shuttered restaurant with its own legacy in town.

After months of remodeling and repainting, the space has been transformed into a modern take on a cozy, turn-of-the-century soda shop-style eatery, with the familiar high-backed booths lining walls decorated with historical photos and shelves of Hurricane House antiques – old seltzer bottles, milkshake machines.

Opening day for the restaurant lovingly dubbed "Sweet Jenny's, The Sequal" is Friday, July 1, and on Monday evening, Dringus got to watch his new storefront fill up for the first time during a pre-opening party for family and friends.

“A lot of people have said they’re going to miss the log cabin,” Dringus said. But after watching the building burn down that cold December night, he said he wasn’t sure he could try to recreate a restaurant with the same variety of woodsy charm. Instead, he's taken cues from the Hurricane House's history and added ideas of his own.

“Everyone knew that’s not what made it Sweet Jenny’s,” he said of the cabin. “Sweet Jenny’s is comprised of family.”

And his family has been beside him every step of the way. His mother Joanne, herself a fixture at the old restaurant, is on board, and Dringus’ new business partner is his uncle, Gary Latvala.

Joanne said running a restaurant with Dringus was a dream long held by Latvala and his late wife, Joanne’s sister Maggie, who recently passed away of cancer.

“This was their dream,” she said, and Maggie’s death motivated her son to give the dream shape. Dringus said his aunt lives on in the restaurant’s back garden, which is filled with tables and chairs for outdoor dining and ringed with the flowers she loved.

Many other members of the crew they think of as the Sweet Jenny’s family have signed on, too. Dringus’ wife Rose said 14 servers from the restaurant’s close-knit staff will be working at the restaurant.

Barnegat resident Pat Checchia said she and her family have long been Sweet Jenny’s patrons, and her daughter, Rebecca Hutter, was happy to be one of the returning wait staff.

“She was devastated when the old place burned down,” Checchia said. “Today, she’s smiling ear to ear.”

As he chatted with old friends outside the new restaurant, Sprinzen said that until a few months ago, trying to write Sweet Jenny’s next chapter had been difficult. Everywhere he and his wife Angela went, people would ask them when the restaurant was reopening. He’s happy Dringus can give them an answer now.

“Without getting too dramatic about it, we’re passing the torch,” said Sprinzen.“It’s all Joe. The new Sweet Jenny’s will live on with him.”