For eight years, Hannah G's has been the breakfast and lunch spot in Ventnor. Now, Kevin and Donna McCarthy and chef/partner Angel Soto hope their new location, Hannah G's Caf�, will become the place for dinner, too.

Located across the street from each other, both Hannah G's locations specialize in quality food, friendly service and affordable prices. But Hannah G's Caf� is kicking it up a notch with upscale, American cuisine that will wow the tastebuds … even when the sun starts to set.

"Our main approach is to stay reasonable and offer great, quality food," says Donna McCarthy, whose new restaurant is in the former location of Johnny's Caf�.

Opening Hannah G's Caf� is a story where the stars just seemed to finally align correctly.

"We actually wanted to take over the pizza joint across the street from Hannah G's and thought about doing gourmet pizzas, organic pastas, salads and a lot of takeout," said Kevin McCarthy, whose restaurants are named after the McCarthys' daughters, Hannah and Gabrielle. "But it didn't work out. Then we were in negotiations to take over the Flying Cloud at Gardner's Basin in Atlantic City, and we just couldn't come to terms. When Johnny's came available, it just made sense. It was a turnkey operation. (Angel) was ready to partner with us, and it just made sense."

With seating for 48 - plus another 16 outside in the summer - the McCarthys and Soto put together ideas for a new menu.

"We don't want to be considered gourmet," Kevin McCarthy said.

"But we have a bigger kitchen than our other place, and it's a prettier room that we wanted to take advantage of, so we worked together to figure out a menu that would work in the space, which is really beautiful," Donna McCarthy added.

One thing Donna McCarthy insisted on was some healthy options and lots of appetizers.

"I wanted a lot of appetizers because I like to eat small, and people love to sample," she said. "Some might get three appetizers for dinner. And the healthy options were important to me because I had a health issue two years and started to see a nutritionist that put me on a better path to eating. And there are a lot of people who want to eat healthy and organic and not spend a fortune."

So Hannah G's Caf� features health-conscious items like whole-wheat penne ($14.95) with roasted organic vegetables, goat cheese and fresh basil; stir-fried vegetables and brown rice ($13.95); and organic roasted chicken ($21.95) with a mustard-rosemary sauce and roasted mashed-root vegetables.

"You would be amazed how people really want more organic and healthy options," Kevin McCarthy said. "We started some organic items in Hannah G's last year like our Power Pancakes (with whey protein, organic, nonfat cottage cheese, whole wheat and oat flour and organic blueberries), and they sold very well."

Hannah G's Caf�'s menu will "change constantly" as the McCarthys love to shop at Margate's weekly farmer's market that will return in June to take advantage of seasonal ingredients.

"There are things that we can do at the caf� that we can't do at Hannah G's," Kevin McCarthy said.

"We will find a lot of different ingredients - a lot of it organic - and come up with new things all of the time."

Soto is already rolling out four or five interesting specials a night. For example, he recently made chicken cordon bleu with a blueberry-champagne sauce that diners raved about to complement the regular menu's top-selling entrees that include: Tuna Veracruz ($19.95) with steamed vegetables and brown rice; Seafood Farfalle ($19.95) with shrimp, scallops and lump crab in a garlic white or rosa sauce; veal prosciutto ($19.95) with eggplant and mozzarella and a mushroom-garlic white-wine sauce; and a center-cut pork chop ($22.95) with caramelized onion, roasted apples and baked sweet potato with cinnamon-honey butter.

"The thing with us in both places is that if you see salmon on the menu and you want it blacked or barbecued instead of the way we have it, we'll do it as long as we have it in the house," Kevin McCarthy said.

"We're not like a lot of places that say, 'The way it is on the menu is the way it is. And if you don't like it, that's tough.' We accommodate as many people as we can. That's the way we've always done it and we're doing it in the new place, too."

Hannah G's Caf� will expand to offer lunch in the summer and breakfast on weekends in the summer.

"For lunch, it's going to be different at the caf� than Hannah G's because we're going to experiment with different soups and salads that we can't do across the street," Kevin McCarthy said.

"It's not going to be a regular deli kind of operation. We're going to get a little more fancy.

"As for breakfast, in peak summer, we were seeing families that didn't want to wait 20 to 35 minutes to get in for breakfast walk right across the street. So we'll do breakfast on weekends to help ourselves not lose that business and make people happy, too. We don't want to lose the customers."

In fact, it's those valued customers that are making Hannah G's Caf� as successful as their first location.

"I had one customer who came in for breakfast and lunch at Hannah G's and then came into the caf� for dinner on the same day," Kevin McCarthy said. "I have one customer who wants to make reservations every weekend night from Memorial Day to Labor Day.

"We are getting that crossover, and that's really important to us."

Hannah G's Caf�

WHERE: 7303 Ventnor Ave., Ventnor; Hannah G's is located at 7310 Ventnor Ave., Ventnor

WHEN: Open 5 to 9 p.m. Sundays and Thursdays, 5 to 10 p.m. Fridays and Saturdays; hours will expand for summer.

HOW MUCH: Appetizers range from $6.95 to $9.95; soups $5.95 and $6.95; salads $4.50 to $11.95; entrees $13.95 to $28.95.

SERVICES: Major credit cards accepted. Disabled access through front door. No liquor license. BYOB. Kids' menu. Takeout available. Private parties. Catering. Reservations recommended. No smoking.

MORE INFO: Call 609-822-6000 for Hannah G's Caf�, 609-823-1466 for Hannah G's or go to www.hannahgs.com.

BETWEEN YOU AND ME: On May 3, Hannah G's Caf� will start a weekly Sunday brunch. Owners Donna and Kevin McCarthy assure the experience will be different than Hannah G's regular breakfast menu, offering "more interesting" items like frittatas, popovers with fruit butters, specialty omelets and more.