Like the lengthening of the days and the return of the Red Sox to Fenway Park, the opening of Lobsta Land in Gloucester can only mean one thing: Summer is right around the corner.
Lobsta Land, starting its 20th season, is owned and operated by Gloucester native Corey Grammas, who should know the restaurant business; he's been around it all his life.
"It's a lifestyle," said Grammas, 37, whose father, George, founded the Gull at the Cape Anne Marina then bought what was then Freddie's Lobsta Land just as Corey was preparing to study entrepreneurial studies and economics at Babson College.
"I wasn't 100 percent sure I would go into the restaurant business. But I came to fall in love with Lobsta Land," Grammas said. "There are special people (here). That's what makes it fun for me."
Originally an eat-in-the-rough joint, Grammas knew Lobsta Land could be more and decided to move things in "an eclectic as well as traditional dinning experience." The location — and bustle of activity now that it reopened last weekend — also makes it a sign of changing seasons along Gloucester's primary "gateway" — on Causeway Street, but just over the bridge and clearly off Route 128.
"It's very difficult to categorize Lobsta Land in one particular genre," Grammas said. "It's diverse. Can you come with the family? Yeah. Can you come with the wife for a fine dinning experience? Yeah. Be yourself. That's my philosophy."
Although Lobsta Land may have gone a bit more upscale from its humble beginnings, Grammas has never forgotten what made it a Gloucester institution in the first place.
"Our attitude was to be a locals' restaurant," he said. "Our focus has always been on trying to be involved with the regional clientele and trying to go after them to be repeat guests. To have loyalty with the local community."
The sense of community continues behind the scenes where Grammas is joined by his wife, Elizabeth, his mother, Trudi, who Grammas credits as his "single greatest example of work ethic," his brother Grier, the two oldest of his five sons, Daniel and Andrew, as well as a kitchen and wait staff that have been with him for years.
"For a seasonal restaurant, the rate of retention is exceptional. You're not just an employer, you're a friend."
With the season's opening drawing visitors in all the way from Maine, Grammas and company expect to be keeping people happy for breakfast, lunch and dinner from now until early December.
"We're off to a great start," Grammas said.
