Cool Beans Coffee House Inc   

The intersection of Bay Avenue and County Route 549 is a perplexing chaos of turn ramps jutting in every direction and taking you god knows where. The Ocean County Mall and the Seacourt Pavillion, where Cool Beans is located, are exemplary in their contemporary wall-of-concrete ugliness. Fortunately, Cool Beans is a likable respite from all that suburban malaise -- a spacious, casual place decorated in soothing greens and blues, owned and managed with a personal touch by a large, friendly man named Ed Smith, and staffed by good-natured teenagers who don't scowl or pout. Cool Beans serves its own special batch of coffee worked up by a local boutique roaster, and a full complement of reasonably priced burgers, sandwiches, wraps, and thin-crust pizzas for one. If you can order it with a straight face, ask for the "Yuppie Gourmet" pizza, which comes with roasted red peppers, artichoke hearts, and sun-dried tomatoes.