Linwood Market family to open Elsie’s Northfield in next few weeks
By CRAIG D. SCHENCK/Sentinel staff
NORTHFIELD — “We are a sanctuary for those with dietary restrictions, gluten intolerance, for those who follow the Keto regimen and for those who simply love our signature pickles,” Head Pickle Proprietor Katherine Cohen said.
The salty gal at the head of Elsie’s on the White Horse Pike in Haddon Township said she is excited to bring her proprietary pickle recipe plus her passion and prowess for preparing healthy foods to a second location on Tilton Road in Northfield.
Cohen’s sister Molly and her husband, Mateo Galvez, will be operating the Northfield location while she continues to work at the original site or splits her time between both. The women, along with sister Jamey — who are “all in our 40s and fabulous” — will all be at the eatery throughout the summer, Cohen said.
The location, next to Wendy’s in a former pizza shop, is ideal for people heading to the cities on Absecon Island and not far from Ocean City.
“It’s the Gateway to the Shore — that’s why we chose this location,” she said. “It’s the perfect beach food. Sea gulls don’t like pickles, they like bread.”
The move is a return to roots of sorts for the family. Cohen said her parents — Harry and Theresa Cohen — owned and operated Linwood Market, at Poplar and Wabash avenues, from the 1990s until changing it into Elsie’s café, serving breakfast and lunch. They eventually closed that restaurant, which is now operating as Jessie’s of Linwood.
Their mother still lives in the area and will also be joining the family affair.
“We hope to put a little chair outside for her so she can see some of the familiar faces that she hasn’t seen,” Cohen said.
While operating Linwood Market, their mother was suffering from diabetes and they began making the signature pickles to help with her dietary restrictions. That coincided with the change into a café.
“When we changed to Elsie’s is when we really started making our pickles,” Cohen said, noting that is when they began offering sandwiches on pickles rather than bread.
According to Cohen, Elsie Stuber was the daughter of the original owners and operated the store after their death.
“When we rebranded and started making pickles, we wanted to name the store after her because she was a woman before her time being an entrepreneur,” Cohen said. “We wanted to pay homage to her.”
When Elsie’s closed, Cohen and her husband opened the Haddon Township location in 2019.
On the menu
Cohen called Elsie’s “a sandwich shop with no bread in the house.”
“Everything is served on our signature pickles, pickle rollup or cucumber rollup,” she said, adding that once or twice a week (usually Friday or Friday and Saturday) they offer a “secret menu item,” a gluten-free pretzel bun.
The menu includes items with whimsical names such as Vampire Slayer (lots of garlic in that one), Here Fishy Fishy (tuna) and Firecracker (roast beef topped with spicy red pepper spread), even honoring their father with the Harold (corned beef, swiss and spicy mustard).
But there also are vegan and vegetarian offerings, such as the Taylor (hummus, roasted red peppers and choice of veggies).
“A lot of people get the falafel with hummus, roasted red peppers, lettuce, tomato and onion — it’s a banging sandwich,” Cohen said.
Cohen said customers can order sandwich selections from the menu or build their own.
She said it’s perfect for the beach crowd on their way across the Margate Bridge to stop in and grab a fresh, healthy sandwich on a pickle or cucumber wrap that is both refreshing and helps with hydration.
Elsie’s also offers small batch custom pickle flavor profiles by the quart and house-made brine-based cocktail mixers.
Cohen said pickles are important to those on the Keto regimen because of the salt but also because it replaces the carbs in breads. Those concerned about the sodium may want to choose the cucumber rollups, she said.
“There are so many great things about pickles — they’re great for hydration, great for hangovers,” she said.
All of the brine-based cocktail mixers are available online at PeaceLovePickles.com as well as in the shop.
“Everything is made and bottled in-house to ensure top-quality processes,” Cohen said.
The business has a broad reach on social media, Cohen said. So much so, she said, that people have driven from as far away as Canada, rerouted their air travel and flown in specifically to get one of the sandwiches.
“We’ve had people come in visiting relatives from Egypt, from Paris — they have rerouted flights to come to the Haddon Township shop,” Cohen said. “We had somebody fly from Utah — bought a one-day round-trip ticket — came in for lunch and turned around and went back to the airport and went home.”
Finishing touches
“We are right on target to open the end of April or first week of May,” Cohen said.
Most of the major work has been completed and the trio was working on tiling the floor, painting and other work during a recent interview.
“The only thing that’s left is cosmetic work,” Cohen said.
While there may be a couple of tables outside, inside there will be a bar along the wall where people can stand and eat but service will be primarily grab-and-go, she said.
The décor will feature historic photos of Linwood Market she said she got from the Linwood Historical Society and a window graphic by Philadelphia artist Natalie Hope McDonald.
Cohen said McDonald created one for the Haddon Township shop featuring the Philadelphia skyline and will do this one for the Northfield location specific to area.
Elsie’s Northfield will be hiring as many as seven employees, including “front of the house, back of the house and sandwich artists,” Cohen said. Those interested should email elsiesnorthfieldjobs@gmail.com.
“We can’t wait to serve the shore points community. We are really, really excited to have a homecoming,” Cohen said.
Find out more about Elsie’s online at PeaceLovePickles.com.