OCEAN CITY – The Embers Center on 24th Street continues to evolve with the opening of a new restaurant.
Last week, the Taustin family celebrated the grand opening of The Embers Restaurant. Located on the third floor of the new 24th Street Embers Center, CEO Cole Taustin said the restaurant represents the evolution of an iconic resort establishment.
“A lot of this was taking Embers back to its roots to be a more refined dining experience …,” he said. “What we’ve done is, while staying with the times and what Ocean City is, we’ve taken a refined menu and refined plans and brought that to today’s expectations.”
The Embers was founded in the late 1950s by brothers Sam and Irv Taustin. And in the 1980s, under the leadership of Jay Taustin, the restaurant transformed into Ocean City’s first all-you-can-eat prime rib and seafood buffet. Now owned and operated by the third generation of Taustins, The Embers combines brick oven flavors, a relaxed atmosphere and hints of the restaurant’s lounge-style origins.
“The biggest thing that makes this place unique is the fact that we’ve taken painstaking efforts to make sure we combine phenomenal service, phenomenal food and phenomenal atmosphere,” Cole Taustin said.
In 2021, the Taustin family announced plans to redevelop their 24th Street property, where The Embers Restaurant had stood for more than seven decades. The new three-story complex now houses several Taustin Group enterprises, including BLU Crabhouse & Raw Bar, Jay’s Café, Surf’s Up Arcade and the revamped Embers Restaurant, to name a few.
“We knew redevelopment of this property was coming,” Taustin said. “We’ve known it for years, but I feel like the pandemic accelerated the plan because, A, diversification, and, B, because of the end of the buffet … We knew this was the time for evolution.”
Located on the third floor, The Embers is an open-kitchen, rooftop concept, with seating overlooking the bay. Taustin said new menu items include a full charcuterie and cheese selection, a slow-roasted veal osso buco, and fritto misto.
“It’s basically an Italian version of a tempura platter,” he said. “So it’s fried seafood, but it’s mixed options – fried shrimp, fried calamari, etcetera.”
The Embers also features hand-crafted Fiero Forni ovens – which will be used to make the restaurant’s signatures dishes and pizzas – as well as a robust cocktail list. Taustin said menu items include a smoked Manhattan and a full martini selection.
“Our menu is certainly ambitious, but I feel people’s expectations of the restaurant business have elevated,” he said. “The common expectation in the restaurant business isn’t what it used to be. It’s time for Ocean City to meet that need. We simply wanted to be at the beginning stages of meeting that need.”
Taustin said The Embers will open daily at 5 p.m., beginning Memorial Day weekend. For more information, visit embers.com or The Embers Restaurant Facebook page.
“I highly recommend that you don’t draw any conclusions,” he said. “Come and experience it for yourself, even if it’s just for a drink and to see what we’re doing. Very few people have come up here and said, ‘This is exactly what I expected.’ Everyone has been surprised, everyone has been impressed. I’d love to give as many people as possible the opportunity to show them what we’re doing.”
Taustin Group is a family-owned collection of businesses, including BLU Crabhouse & Raw Bar, Pier 23, The Embers Restaurant, Embers Island Miniature Golf, Jay’s Café & Trading Co. and The Other One Brewing Co.
