Flemings Restaurant, 2175 Main Street, South Chatham (also formerly Chatham Seafood House; Meservey’s Family Restaurant)
“The place many wish they had found sooner.”
In 1961, the Fleming family decided to open a restaurant. Indeed, it was a family operation with father owner and general manager, son chef; and wife and daughter filling in where needed. Of all the members of the family, son Gene had more experience in the business having worked at both the Port Fortune Restaurant and the Wayside Inn in Chatham.
Flemings Restaurant was a seasonal establishment, as father Harold also worked in the real estate business. During a typical season, the 80-seat restaurant (later 120 seats) was opened every day of the week from June to Labor Day with long hours of 8:00 a.m. to 11:00 p.m. The restaurant employed twenty-six people, mostly college students earning money before returning to school in the fall.
The menu consisted of house specialties, fresh native seafoods, either broiled or fried, and purchased in Chatham “as they come off the boats.” Broiled steaks were another specialty, with guests selecting tenderloin, sirloin or a “special” steak. Lovers of Cape Cod Clam Chowder found a tasty and delicious native “stew.” Perhaps most memorable was the homemade cranberry nut bread, sourced locally.
In 1982, Herb and Dot Bremser of Chatham purchased the restaurant and renamed it Chatham Seafood House. Though, the name Flemings remained on the restaurant’s large sign adjacent to Route 28. The restaurant business was new to the Bremsers. Herb Bremser spent 38 years working on jet engines at Pratt and Whitney Aircraft in East Hartford, Connecticut, before retiring to Cape Cod. The restaurant was a second career as he ended up operating Flemings Chatham Seafood House, for over 25 years.
Perhaps the most noticeable change to the restaurant was the “Isobar,” a full liquor lounge featuring weather-related charts on the wall, barometers and flags, and of course, the weather channel on the bar’s television. Indeed, isobar – the lines of equal barometric pressure seen on weather maps – was not just a pun. The weather theme was incorporated into the updated menu with dishes like Chicken Thunder, Gale Warning Sole, Shore Break Crab Cakes, and others.
In 2007, Doug Meservey (and wife Dawn) purchased the restaurant. The Meserveys spent decades in the racing world and promptly re-named the restaurant’s bar with a NASCAR-theme; the Pit Stop. The bar decor featured vintage photographs of Chatham’s former race track that once featured dune buggy races in the 1960s and 1970s. During the summer season, the restaurant hosted car shows with the Cape Cod Cruisers Thursday nights from 6:00-8:00 p.m.
In 2013, the 1.36-acre property was purchased by the Town of Chatham for open space with Community Preservation Act funds. The land is designated Cockle Cove Creek Headwaters Reforestation Project, which creates a continuous green corridor along this stretch of Main Street, while restoring wildlife habitat and protecting water quality by stabilizing soils and absorbing excess nutrients.
