A taste for ice changes the Wildwood restaurant scene forever

Jon Paxton likes crushed ice in his soda. It’s how he got to know Al the Steak King in the 1980s. They had an old-style crushed icemaker and Jon would go out of his way to stop there for his glass of pop.

In many ways a typical Wildwood eatery, Al the Steak King had its heyday in the 1970s under its founder, the boxer Al Martino. By the late 80s, the luster had faded, the owners were ready to retire and the children were uninterested.

Jon ran into Al’s wife in the convenience store parking lot and they started chatting about the place. She was somewhat despondent, having resigned to throwing in the towel with nobody to hand the restaurant down to. She confided in Jon that they were getting ready to shut it down and auction off the equipment.

Jon recommended she sell it to him, instead, as a business. It did not take long to strike a deal. The owners were thrilled to see the business they had built continue. And Jon was thrilled to keep his crushed ice connection.

And that’s how the builder, property manager and entrepreneur landed in the restaurant business. Since then, Jon rebuilt Al the Steak King into a Wildwood landmark with three locations at one time; built Juan Pablo’s Margarita Bar, Wildwood’s the first gourmet tequila-Margarita bar and authentic Mexican restaurant; created a unique fine dining experience worthy of any major city in JP Prime Steakhouse; and converted the original Al the Steak King to Café Jon Paul, Wildwood’s first “green” bistro.

The quintessential bundle of energy, uncomfortable sitting still, Jon’s business panache was evident before his 20th birthday. As a high school senior, he ran one of the island’s biggest landscaping companies (often playing hookie to pay attention to his business.) Success earned him a solid credit rating and in his senior year of high school, he bought his first apartment building, which launched his career as a builder and property manager. He has not looked back, bucking old trends, setting new ones and pushing himself to bigger and better things, year after year.

No matter what he involves himself in, he throws himself at it with everything he’s got. In the process he has moved mountains in the local economy, created hundreds of jobs, changed the face of the restaurant business and become one of the Jersey Shore’s most talked-about.

Most recently, he has created establishments quite unlike the status quo in Wildwood. From décor to service, kitchen to bar, his restaurants surprise, tantalize and entertain. Juan Pablo’s feels more like a brightly decorated, happening party place on Bourbon Street in New Orleans than a Wildwood bar. JP Prime strikes a pose of elegance and style worthy of New York, Philly or Vegas. And Café Jon Paul is unlike anything else in the Wildwoods, a colorful, comfortable place for healthy, satisfying and delicious light fare, fast.

In all of his ventures, his commitment to quality is unwavering. Be it bricks, wallboard, wine or Kobe beef, he hires the best, buys the best, creates the best – and becomes the best.

He doesn’t know how to do it any other way.