BRIGANTINE — Kathy Le, 40, is brimming with ideas, and right now, they’re all pouring out into her lovely new Sunday Teahouse, a bubble tea shop on West Brigantine Avenue.
The teahouse, serving boba teas, Vietnamese iced coffees, and Vietnamese street food, such as BBQ pork Vietnamese hoagies, dumplings, edamame, waffle pops, mochi ice cream, and doughnuts, has proven to be a popular addition to the central business strip of the Jersey Shore town Le grew up in.
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A resident now of Egg Harbor Township, Le hopes to move back to Brigantine one day. For now, she wants to spend as much time as possible on the island.
She can’t say enough good things about Brigantine, the one-way-on, one-way-off Shore town just north of Atlantic City. “I love Brigantine,” she said. “My heart is in Brigantine.”
Her back was stiffening from 20-plus years in her family’s nail salons, though she says she loved working in the salons, and misses her mani-pedi clients. But she had other ideas.
She envisioned a “modern Asian kitchen” with the relaxed vibe of Sundays spent at home with her family. She saw a survey that rated the bánh mì, which she is calling a “Vietnamese Hoagie” on the Teahouse menu, as the best sandwich in the world.
Now she and her husband, Nha Nguyen, a craps dealer at the Borgata, have found success at 1018 W. Brigantine Ave., and Le is already thinking about expanding to other Shore towns.
Born in Vietnam, Le and her family moved to California when she was 6, and then, when she was in fifth grade, to Brigantine, close to Atlantic City where her grandmother had a nail salon called Perfect Nails, near the old Trump Taj Mahal on Virginia Avenue.
“I really wanted to introduce Vietnamese coffee and Vietnamese street food,” said Le, who graduated from Atlantic City High School. “So we snatched this location.”
She’s across the street from Soul Berri and a block from Teal Tail Boutique, where “Love Her Madly” by the Doors was wafting out one recent afternoon. The boutique’s owner goes live on Instagram every Tuesday to sell the latest merchandise.
At the Teahouse, Le is striving for that Sunday family day feeling, she said.
“I am a family woman,” she said. “I love my weekends with my kids and my husband. When I hear ‘Sunday,’ you just hear relaxing. You hear family, you hear chill day. I want that vibe. We have three coffee places on the island. I figured [mine should be a] teahouse.”
She had worked in her family’s nail salons since she was 16 and the timing seemed right for her new venture. “After COVID, Brigantine just bloomed. New York people came here and bought a bunch of properties.”
She’s using the word “hoagie” to describe the bánh mì, because “I feel like Brigantine doesn’t know what that means and they won’t come in to try it.”
But once they do, they’re coming back for more, she said. The boba teas are popular with the teenagers, and she’s stocking the store with other merchandise aimed at the younger demographic, like mini-bubble tea covers for their Stanley Cup straws.
Her Vietnamese coffee is made with a base of Cafe Du Monde chicory coffee and condensed milk, and is available in several varieties, including a sea salt foam-topped black coffee. She offers eight varieties of boba milk tea, and seven varieties of fruit tea.
“People love our Vietnamese coffee,” she says. “We try to introduce the most authentic Vietnamese coffee. It’s strong, but you don’t taste the bitterness of the bean. We use something else to calm down that bitterness.” What that is, she wouldn’t say.
She loves being in business.
“I love working,” she said. “In my head, I’m always thinking about how to make things, sell them, how to make money.”
She says while it was time to give it up, she misses the salon life.
“If you build up your own clientele, you have your ladies. It’s like a friendship. I miss doing nails, I really do.”
And now a few rapid-fire questions for Le, slam book style:
Favorite beach: We go down right down to 11th street in Brigantine. It’s so close to our place. We have our bathroom here. Parking. It’s so clean in that area.
Favorite summer breakfast: I have to say Pirates Den. I get the lox Benedict. And I have to throw in Velo Cafe in Ventnor, where I get the Orale Benedict, with roasted sweet potato.
Perfect beach day: My Vietnamese hoagie for lunch with our coffee. The girls will bring their strawberry refreshment. I honestly go around like 2, 3:00 o’clock when the sun is not as strong. Clean up here and head out like 4-ish. Sit there until like 8, 8:30 p.m.
Perfect night at the Shore: I think La Scala’s beach house. We’ve been hanging out there. Never leave Brigantine. I’m telling you, it’s perfect. We’ll leave our beach stuff and walk over to the restaurant. Walk right back to our setup at the beach.
Best Shore sandwich: The Vietnamese BBQ pork hoagie at Sunday Teahouse. At Sandy Jack’s, the veggie delight.
When summer approaches, I feel … Excited. It’s alive. The whole vibe is so happy. It’s like a happy time. The kids are out of school. Everyone is just happy, not grumpy.
It wouldn’t be the Jersey Shore without … the boardwalk, the shops, and food. Funnel cake maybe.
Best thing for kids to do at the shore: Beach and then ice cream.
Surfing or fishing? Surfing.
Sunrise or sunset? Sunset.
Shore pet peeves? I don’t. I’m just happy that I’m healthy, my family is healthy. I can’t complain.I do have one. The driving. It’s so dangerous for the kids. They need to calm down. You’re on vacation. Where are you going? It’s very nerve wracking.
The Shore could be improved if … everyone would just slow down and just be happy. Take in the beautiful weather and the beach. You’re on vacation, just calm down. There’s no rush.
The Sunday Teahouse is at 1018 W. Brigantine Ave. in Brigantine and is open 9 a.m. to 6 p.m. daily.
