SalemNews.com, Salem, MA

Local News

Related Photos

Discussion

Comments from users with registered accounts will post at once. Comments from unregistered accounts will post after being reviewed by a site moderator. Posts that do not meet site standards, which can be found here, will be removed.

comments powered by Disqus
March 3, 2010

Chef envisions former restroom as barbecue stand

By Chris Cassidy

SALEM — The aromas of pulled pork and barbecued spare ribs could soon blend with the scents of fresh popcorn and salt water at Salem Willows.

The deadline for developers to submit plans for an old bathroom at the popular summertime seaside park came and went last week with only one company showing interest.

Endless Summer Grilling of Swampscott envisions a concession stand selling traditional, slow-cooked barbecue entrees, such as chicken, ribs and pulled pork, but with a Caribbean twist, according to owner Patrick DeBoever.

"I think it'd be a unique draw to the Willows," DeBoever said. "I think it could be an attractive place. I like the waterfront feel to it, and I think it definitely fills a void in food options in Salem."

He admits one of the challenges will be conquering the dreaded "bathroom stigma" and persuading longtime Willows regulars to try food prepared inside a building not exactly known as a beacon of cleanliness.

City officials, however, were confident enough to start soliciting plans earlier this year. The men's bathroom building has been vacant since the city renovated the women's bathroom and housed both men's and women's in the same facility.

So the city decided to borrow an idea from Boston officials, who are currently looking for developers to transform a 1920s bathroom on Boston Common. The property could eventually generate money for the city through a lease agreement.

If the new barbecue joint opens, DeBoever said it will be a vastly changed place.

"An enormous transformation has to happen in that building," DeBoever. "It has to be gutted and sandblasted with a soda bleach that sanitizes and sterilizes. It's going to be a skeleton of a building before construction really begins, but it'll maintain its look and feel."

The city's request for proposals allows developers to build about 600 square feet of deck space off the building for seating, and DeBoever said he'd like to add picnic tables there.

He also hopes to add "pier delivery," so boaters could call or radio in their orders and have them delivered directly to their watercrafts.

Endless Summer Grilling sells ribs that can be found at independent grocery stores and has been featured at Shaw's and Roche Brothers, DeBoever said.

DeBoever himself has a résumé with international culinary experience. He's worked as a chef, mostly for large hotel groups, in Singapore, Hawaii, Puerto Rico and Saipan.

He last worked as the executive chef at a French-Vietnamese restaurant in Boston's South End, he said.

DeBoever hesitated to put a time on when the barbecue shack could open, but if the company gets the approvals it needs, it "wouldn't be out of the question" to start doing business sometime this year, he said.

The next step is for the city's Park & Recreation Commission to review the proposal and interview DeBoever at a future meeting, probably sometime in March, according to Doug Bollen, the city's director of park, recreation and community services. A lease agreement would also have to be worked out.

"This has potential to be a huge success at the Willows," Bollen said. "We're missing a barbecue venue at the Willows, and this could be the perfect place."

Staff writer Chris Cassidy can be reached at ccassidy@salem news.com.

Text Only | Photo Reprints
Local News

North Shore News Updates on Twitter
Stories Shared on Facebook
AP Video
Comments Tracker