Elise's Niece's Café Of Farmingdale Celebrates 3 Years: 'I'm Honored'

FARMINGDALE, NY — Jenna Napolitano says there are days where she feels like she's owned Elise's Niece's Café in Farmingdale for a minute, and there are days where it's been 100 years. It's been three years, but Napolitano and her customers have already banked a lifetimes's worth of happy memories.

The customers and the relationships Napolitano has fostered with them is her favorite part of owning the café, which she founded in memory of her late aunt, Elise, who died of melanoma cancer not long before Napolitano embarked on her culinary journey. Napolitano said she shares a reciprocal relationship of joy with her customers.

"It brings me so much joy having a customer come in and say, 'Everyone loved the cake,'" Napolitano told Patch. "A guy came in [Friday] morning and said, 'You guys have the best rainbow cookies in New York.' I was like, 'Oh my God, what a nice thing to say!' Those are the things that make my day and make me keep chugging along. It’s the customers, building a relationship with them and bringing them joy."

Napolitano and Elise often baked together over the years, collaborating on a holiday dessert or sending photos to one another of treats they had crafted. When Napolitano and her family lost Elise to melanoma cancer, she went to her uncle to ask for Elise's recipes.

Napolitano founded Elise's Niece's Café with the mission of making her late aunt proud.

"It’s always hard when the person isn’t here to hear the words come from them, like what they think and how far we’ve come," Napolitano said. "I think it’s blown any expectation away, for sure. I think she would be more than proud. I think we’ve done so many more things than I ever thought I could."

The café recently began shipping its desserts nationwide while hosting several events, including farmers markets in its outdoor courtyard, food and drink pairings, its trademark Wet Your Whistle Fridays, and more.

"I think I’ve almost blown my own expectations away," Napolitano said. "It’s good, because it sets the bar higher and higher; it pushes you to keep doing more and more."

Napolitano debuted Elise's Niece's Café with a menu featuring cookies, a brownie, her take on Pop Tarts, and other items. She has since added more to her repertoire over the past three years, making it a point to have an experimentation day once a week. She tries new confectionary concoctions she has written down or customers ask her to try.

"Honestly, a lot of it is 90s childhood nostalgia things I like to put my own spin on," she said. "The other day, I tested Zebra Cakes and Twinkies."

Napolitano, who migrated to baking from the fashion industry, said she aims to keep childhood nostalgia alive in a healthier, made-from-scratch method.

"I love bringing joy to people who are like, 'I remember these!' or putting our own taste on it," she said. "It’s definitely one of my favorite things, experimenting. The one thing I miss about my fashion job is the creative aspect. I love that I have creative freedom here to do whatever I want or try something new. I think that’s what I love doing here."

The café also sells vintage candy like Razzles, Fun Dip, Mike & Ike, Pop Rocks, Rocky Road bars, and more.

The most challenging aspect, Napolitano said, is being a boss.

"I hate conflict. I hate critiquing or criticizing, and I have to try to look at it like it’s not criticizing, it’s just teaching," she said. "No one’s gonna know unless I teach them. I’ve come a long way with it. Setting the boundary with the girls here; I’m close with them, but I have to set the boundary so they don’t get too comfortable or things don’t get taken advantage of, but I’m so blessed with my staff here, and I think that makes it even harder to be a boss. You want to show them how much you appreciate them."

Napolitano said she feels she's come a long way in learning how to be a boss, since she never thought it was something she would do.

"I’m growing to love it. I think between that and finding the time for myself; I’m here so much, which I feel every business owner could relate to. I’m trying to take two hours out of the day to go home and have lunch, take a break, reset and come back. I think finding the balance of those show."

Napolitano routinely gives back to the community and beyond in her Aunt Elise's memory. Her shop does a 9/11 fundraiser every year and helps out when the community is stricken by tragedies, including the Farmingdale High School marching band bus crash or helping the family of slain NYPD officer Jonathan Diller. She has also raffled off her baked goods for a cancer charity raffle.

Losing her aunt to cancer gave Napolitano crucial insight into the importance of helping others going through loss.

"I think when you lose somebody who’s so close to you, it really puts perspective into life for you," she said. "It’s such a sad thing because if it doesn’t happen to you, you don’t get it. You don’t want to lose somebody, but when you do, you really understand it. It shows how life is so short, and you’re going to look back on those core memories of the good, joyous give-back moments. Everything else is equally as important."

Customers telling Napolitano that her shop made their day creates core memories for her, she said.

"Sometimes we get customers coming in who are so beyond open with us about their personal lives, telling us what they’re going through, and they’re coming here for a break. The fact that you’re picking this place to come to for a peaceful moment is just so touching that we’ve created a safe community space here for people ... It goes beyond that into just creating a community safe space here, that I love."

Napolitano is looking forward to creating more memories — and sharing those with her own family, down the road.

"I feel like I’ve lived 10 different lifetimes with the jobs I’ve done," she said. "It’s so amazing. It’s an honor. When you own a business, you understand it so much more. You have empathy for it so much more, because you know what goes into it. I’ve met so many other business owners through owning a business and talking to them and appreciating their story. Supporting local. It just makes it so much more important. I’m honored. I hope we can keep it going. I would love to one day have kids and for them to grow up here and it becomes part of our family thing."

Napolitano offers a menu that rotates weekly. She also sells whole cakes for birthdays and other special occasions, including fudge cakes, banana pudding cakes, apple crumb cakes, strawberry shortcakes, cinnamon roll cakes, and various bundts.

Elise's Niece's Café is at 441 Main St., Farmingdale, located in the rear of Back In Time — her parents' vintage home accessories store.