Author’s Note: Looking back at over fifty posts in two years, a noticeable pattern emerged. I like to eat – and Cape Cod is a great place to dine. Restaurant reviews, pictures of plates and a recipe or two, dominates HappyCapeCod.com, and a full stomach may help explain my “Happy Cape Cod” experience. While most food-related content features popular or new restaurants pumping out business, a couple articles, dubbed ‘Throwback Thursdays,” were fun stories and short histories of a few favorite restaurants no longer in operation.
I’ve decided to embrace the “throwback” theme, re-launching that series. Now dubbed the “Lost Restaurant Series,” tell tales of favorite lost restaurants of Lower Cape Cod. These establishments, many with a strong local followings in their heyday, were the home to vivid childhood memories; birthday celebrations, secret ice cream stops and special events.
Most of the restaurants that come to mind ended their runs while I was a young, so my recollection of their existence is limited to memories of myself, family and friends, old newspaper articles, and grainy photographs. Initial conversations with my parents have morphed into heated debates about menus, uneven tables, original nautical decor (versus cheap knockoffs found in box stores) and delightful radio jingles. I’ve reached out a former owners or their family members, but have yet to connect.
While most lost restaurants in mind are not historical or ever sniffed a “five star rating,” they lasted longer than most (at least a five year run) and made an impression on my family.
Enjoy a trip down memory lane – the lost restaurant edition.
Sea in the Rough, 1077 Main Street, Chatham (Also formerly known as Marley’s Restaurant, Longshore, and now Knot’s Landing)
The story of Sea in the Rough Restaurant started in 1966, with the Eldridge Family. Mr. Oren Leon Eldridge and his wife, Mrs. Nancy Jane Eldridge, along with their four daughters, opened the small, seasonal take-out only restaurant at the 1077 Main Street Chatham location on weekends during the summer.
The early menu of the restaurant consisted of true summer favorites; hotdogs, hamburgers, seafood plates, fried clams and other short order foods. A patio with picnic tables allowed diners to not just enjoy their food fresh and outside, but also to “come as you are” (i.e., sandy and wet), likely from the beach, boat or golf course. The seasonal restaurant took phone orders, even boasting the use of special wrapping to ensure the food remained hot. But the Eldridge family did not stay in the restaurant business for long.
In 1972, the Eldridge family sold the business to Helen and Frank H. Tobin, who would go on to become long-time owners. The new owners attracted more business by expanding the small, take-out only business into a full service restaurant, with indoor dining, an outdoor patio, take-out and larger menu (“from King Neptune’s Garden”).
Expansion led to people from all over the Cape pronouncing Sea in the Rough as “one of the finest eating places to be found anywhere in the area.” The dining room was decorated with captains tables and chairs with an open, airy, comfortable vibe. The outside patio also had ample seating under yellow umbrellas. The term “Meet me at Sea in the Rough” became commonplace.
Frank was active in the community. He was a member of the Chatham Rotary Club, and hosted the Annual Scallop Fest at Sea in the Rough from 1976-1985. He was also an avid runner, having sponsored and organized the Chatham Harbor Run for decades. For years, race t-shirts for participants were distributed at the restaurant. It probably comes as no surprise to learn Frank closed the restaurant early the night of the Annual Town Meeting so he (and other residents) could attend (participate in local affairs).
In the summer of 1986, Sea in the Rough launched a Sunday Brunch consisting of coffee, danish, fresh fruit bar, juice and one of the following entrees eggs benedict, lobster quiche, prime rib and eggs, seafood crepes, chicken a la king and omelet du jour.
By the late 1980s, it was time for a change and the Tobin’s needed a successor. It did not take long to find one. Tammy DePasquale worked in the restaurant and her husband David, was a regular at the counter. The DePasquale’s assumed the role of new owners. The menu continued to feature freshly caught fish from Chatham fishermen, of the fried, broiled, and baked variety. There was even a 10-ounce strip steak for the carnivores, a children’s menu and head-turning desserts, such as Boston creme pie, key lime pie, and banana splits.
By the mid-1990s, many of the 37 employees not only lived nearby, but started working there at age 14 in the take-out area, later “graduating” to servers in the dining room.
In 1998, Audrey and William Gray, who ran the Bradford Inn & Champlain Restaurant for 23 years, purchased the Sea in the Rough Restaurant and re-opened it as Marley’s Restaurant. The restaurant, named after their family cat literally kept the family friendly atmosphere previously built…their children Rob and daughter Lara were chefs. Marley’s had a 15-year run until it was purchased by Robert and Roz DeLong of Eastham in 2012.
The DeLongs opened Longshore in 2012, which enjoyed a 7-year run. Due the declining health of Robert DeLong, the business was sold to Philip and Sophia Malita of New England Pizza fame.
In 2019, Phil and Sophia opened Knot’s Landing Bar & Grill. With an expiring lease on the pizza restaurant down the road, they decided to merge the pizza business into Knot’s Landing Bar & Grill. The result, an Italian, Greek seafood restaurant, which remains open to the present day (2020).