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Fredric Belfus has spent some 30 years in the food business, including stints as executive chef in some of the region's most prestigious restaurants. But it's only in the last four years that Belfus has had his own place.

As chef/owner of Fresh Restaurant, Deli & Catering in Millville, Belfus stretches his wings to offer everything from giant omelets at breakfast to grilled prosciutto-wrapped shrimp at dinner.

"We're a step above a diner, and a little below gourmet," is how Belfus describes his homey eatery in Millville. "The restaurant is doing well. People around here are really nice."

Belfus says going out to breakfast has always been one of his favorite things to do. But he never gets the kind of omelet he wanted.

"They were always flat, rolled up things," he says. "I make a five-egg omelet that is big and fluffy. And I put a lot of stuff in it. If I said it weighs over a pound, it's no exaggeration."

Omelets start at $4.50 and come with pretty much whatever you want in them - from asparagus to scrapple. Belfus says he has even had a customer ask for a sauerkraut. There are 10 varieties on the menu.

Berry French toast - thick slices of baguette bread dipped in eggs and grilled, topped with strawberries, blueberries and raspberries, liquor, and lots of powdered sugar ($6.95 full order, $3.95 for half) - is another specialty.

Weekends, you can get cream chipped beef and sausage gravy ($3.95 half order, $6.95 full order). Breakfast is served until 10:45 a.m. weekdays; until 11:45 a.m. Saturdays and all day Sunday.

Lunch has salads, burgers and steak sandwiches, hot and cold sandwiches and, of course, hoagies. Belfus says the most popular lunch items are the jumbo lump crabcake sandwich served with French fries ($10.95) and house roasted turkey ($7.95), served with roasted peppers, provolone cheese, asparagus, and pesto herb mayonnaise on semolina bread.

For dinner each week, Belfus develops a menu of eight dinner specials, two salads and three appetizers. Crab cakes (two for $24.95), a recipe Belfus brought with him from the old Waterford Inn in Mays Landing, are always on the menu.

"They're all lump, no filler and pan saut�ed," Belfus says.

Also among the chef's weekly specials typically are a salmon or tilapia dish; chicken; pork; beef; and pasta, so diners have lots to choose from.

To help diners afford to eat out during financially tough times, Belfus has developed a "Fresh For Less" menu.

For $8.95 to $14.95, they'll find some Italian options, meatloaf and mashed potatoes, chicken and shrimp fra Diablo, chicken and sausage cacciatore, flounder parmesan, roast beef and roast turkey.

"This allows people to still afford to go out, and they can get a better meal than they'd get at, say, McDonald's or Applebees, for not much more," Belfus says.

Perhaps most popular of all is Wednesday Night Pasta, when diners can choose from eight different pastas with any of 12 choices of sauce.

Cost starts at $12.95 for penne, cappelini, linguini or fettuccini, $1.50 more for filled pastas, cheese ravioli, tortellini, cavatelli and gnocchi.

Then add a sauce - marinara, Alfredo, pesto cream are some favorites - and pick a topping such as grilled chicken, lump crabmeat, roasted peppers and more for an additional cost of 75 cents to $5.

"You could go crazy, put as much stuff on your pasta as you can think of," Belfus says.

Each table gets a family-style salad and nice loaf of bread, making for a comforting meal at Fresh.

Fresh Restaurant, Deli & Catering

WHERE: 1405 Mays Landing Road, Millville

WHEN: 7 a.m. to 2 p.m. Tuesday and Sunday; 7 a.m. to 8 p.m. Wednesday through Saturday; closed Monday

HOW MUCH: Breakfast ranges from $2.45 to $10; lunch most items $6.95; Fresh For Less dinners $8.95 to $14.95; chef's specials $15.95 to $24.95; pasta Wednesdays starts at $12.95.

SERVICES: Eat-in, takeout, catering. BYOB. All major credit cards. Gift certificates. Wheelchair accessible.

MORE INFO: (856) 327-3435; fax 856-327-3436

BETWEEN YOU AND ME: Fresh Restaurant, located on the route between the N.J. Motorsports Park, Mays Landing and Atlantic City, sees some traffic from racing fans. A banner out front encourages them to stop in.

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