By Tim Kelly
There’s always a bit of melancholy in the air around the Clam Bar, AKA Smitty’s, on closing weekend. However on Friday, most in attendance at the Somers Point seafood lovers’ institution were laughing and smiling.
And why shouldn’t they be happy? The weather was perfect, the atmosphere jovial, and the food as always was beyond tasty and reasonably priced. Besides, one fan remarked, “there are still two more nights left after this one.”
Customers jammed the parking areas and side streets and crowded the outdoor clam bar. They lined up to have their names placed on the waiting list (“only 45 minutes? That’s nothing!” one exclaimed) and cracked open bottles of beer and wine. The eclectic mix of locals and visitors, blue collar and white,mingled easily. Singles, couples and families of all shapes and sizes were represented.
Patrice Popovic, who owns the bustling landmark with husband Pete, faced the onslaught with stoicism and a smile.
“It’s always a little bittersweet to say goodbye to the people you see almost every day, and the many friends old and new.” However, Popovic’s smile said volumes as she greeted a customer with a hug.
She had extra reason to be happy this year, she said, because her winter home in Key West, Florida, had been spared significant hurricane damage in the wake of Hurricane Irma.
“I wouldn’t be here (in New Jersey) if there had been damage,” she said. “Thankfully that was not the case.”
Nearby, local resident Erin Long of Egg Harbor Township was at the front of a short line for her take-out order to be filled. Her four young children, waiting quietly and patiently, were in tow.
“We’ve been coming here for a long time,” Long said. “My husband, who is from Ventnor, introduced me and it has become a family tradition.”
Noah Dix, a 15-year-old sophomore at Mainland Regional High School from Linwood, had just finished his meal at the outdoor clam bar and quality time with his father, Michael.
“I wish they would stay open a little longer, but I understand they have to close as most of the tourists have left,” he said. That takes nothing away from the summer fun he enjoyed, Noah said, and a big part of that included meals at Smitty’s.
“Sometimes I take my boat over here from the Seaview Docks in Linwood,” he said. Smitty’s property includes a few boat slips for those who eschew the roads and arrive via the bay.1
For the Wert family of Doylestown, PA, it was a car arrival, but with a purpose. “We planned our whole weekend around coming here,” Bill Wert said. He was with wife Sandy, daughter Laurel and son J.D.
“We weren’t able to be here for the opening weekend,” Sandy said, “so we made darn sure we were going to be here for the closing weekend.”
The last few days of the season are some of the hardest for the staff, Popovic said. Many of the servers are fulltime teachers and now that school is open “(the teachers) really have to scramble to get over here as quickly as they can, but somehow it always seems to come together.”
Stan and Reeda Bockman, of Pitman, said they have been coming to Smittys for 30 years, and every time they come it is a new and special experience. “I was here recently and bumped into my opthamologist from home. You never know who you’ll see here.”
Popovich said the restaurant was wrapping up its 44th season and she was working on some special surprises to celebrate next year’s landmark 45th anniversary.
With all that said, though, the Smitty’s experience really comes back to the eatery’s stock in trade: freshly caught and expertly prepared fish, scallops, steamed clams, fried seafood and signature baked seafood casseroles, just to name a few popular choices. It’s all about the food.
Jim Cramer of Egg Harbor Township summed up Friday’s mood as he waited for a table with wife Donna and friends Rob Barrett and Madonna Sill: “Sure it’s a little bit sad they are closing,” he said, “but now we really have something to look forward to in the spring.”
