I adore nothing more than a great local Italian bakery. On a recent trip to the Jersey shore to reconnect with friends and family I discovered the iconic Aversa’s Italian bakery. With three locations on the shore, I visited the Brigantine location close to the water.

Ralph Avera, the founder, came to the US in the early sixties at age 14 to begin his career in the bakery business apprenticing at a local bakery Caica’s in South Philadelphia. Ralph married into the Caica family and moved & opened his own bakery in New Jersey.

After buying a home on the shore in 1997 Ralph opened a bakery in Brigantine in 2002 because he fell in love with the area and the kindness of his neighbors.

Walking into Aversa’s bakery was sensory overload. From the bread, cookies, pastries, biscotti, and prepared foods it was difficult to make a choice. We bought an assortment of hoagies made with fresh baked bread; my favorite was the chicken cutlet with the special marinara sauce. The Italian was delicious as well.

For dessert we had an assortment of fresh made pastries but the house made biscotti was my favorite. The biscotti come in an assortment of favors chocolate, hazelnut, lemon, cranberry, almond and the original.

We bought our items to go to the beach with the sun hitting our shoulders, we sat by the water and savored the delicacies we had purchased. It was nirvana!