Kay’s Kitchen: A labor of love

For the Kilgore family, Kay’s Kitchen is not just a business it’s a tribute.

Now in its first full summer, Kay’s Kitchen was the dream of the co-owner Rita Kilgore's mother-in-law, Kay, who died in a car accident. When the Newark-based family - mother Rita, daughter Katie, son Patrick and father Pat - decided to get a house at the beach in 2012, they also decided to open the restaurant.

“I was just a stay-at-home mom. This is my first full-time job,” Rita joked.

While the menu at Kay’s Kitchen is small and made for takeout, it consists of homemade recipes that originated with Kay. For breakfast, there are cinnamon buns, Belgian waffles, bagels and lox and made to order breakfast sandwiches on an English muffin, bagel, wrap or croissant.

For lunch and dinner, there is Kay’s potato salad – which can be purchased by the pound – as well as the chicken biscuit, a breaded fried chicken cutlet served on a biscuit with hot sauce and homemade honey butter.

Although many of the recipes originated with Kay, the rest of the Kilgore family also contributed to the menu. Rita said the salmon burger was Pat’s idea and Katie does most of the baking.

The menu has been tweaked this year, Rita said, to offer more healthy options and to focus on lunch and dinner. Kay’s Kitchen also offers a 10 percent off the bill every Monday and Make a Difference Day on Tuesday, where for every lunch or dinner sold, the restaurant donates $1 to Habitat for Humanity.

“It’s fun,” Rita said of her restaurant.

And what would Kay, whom the family called Nan, think of the restaurant?

“I think she would be totally shocked,” Rita said.

Kay’s Kitchen, 4 North First St., is open seven days a week from 7:30 a.m. to 7 p.m. For more information, call 226-5400 or visit www.kayskitcheninc.com.