BUSCH’S
Young Logan sits on daddy’s lap, humming along while a salesman pitches goods to Al Schettig in the cramped business office in the back of Busch’s restaurant.
Logan shuffles papers, picks up and drops a pen repetitiously, and squirms around in dad’s lap. Al, on the other hand, is all business with the salesman while his wife Kim sits with her back to the conversation while laminating promotional items at another desk.
“I want something different from you. I don’t want what everyone else has,” Al says matter of factly.
Kim nods: “Wherever we go we see the same stuff. We want something different, something better.”
“And we’ll pay to be better,” adds Al.
The salesman promises to work with the fifth generation of Busches, while the sixth generation munches on an ice cream sandwich.
“What do you want to be when you grow up?” Logan is asked.
His lips widen in a cookie-crumb covered smile. “A chef,” he sheepishly replies.
He has no choice but to carry on the legacy he has been dealt. It’s the same one that Al and Kim carry on today, 120 years after George and Anna Busch founded Busch’s as a hotel on 39th and Pleasure in Sea Isle in 1882. (George’s brother, by the way, was Adolphus Busch, as in Anheuser-Busch.)
George Jr. and his wife, another Anna, established Busch’s Seafood in 1912, and in 1936, the third generation, Anna and her husband, Philip Phillips, took over. (Anna Phillips is the name of the street on which Busch’s now sits, near the south end of the island.)
The fourth generation, George Phillips and wife, Linda, took the reigns and then handed them over to the current owners Al and Kim, with Kim being the local, a Sea Isle native and Ocean City High School graduate. The original owner is Kim’s great-great-great-grandfather. Their sons, Tyler, 9, and Logan, 5, are the sixth generation, and Al and Kim say they’ll have the business in their name by 2030.
“You can’t help it. Once you reach a point—what, 80 years, 100 years, now it’s 120 years?—you have to carry on the tradition. You don’t have a choice, it’s your legacy,” said Al.
Kim and Al met in Rhode Island, where Kim was earning a master’s degree in hotel and restaurant management from Johnson & Wales. She was asked why she would go to college to earn a degree when she basically grew up in the classroom, and she said it was the offseason, so instead of sitting around collecting welfare and being bored, she decided to further her education and to get out of the area for a while.
They’re now preparing for their first weekend of the season, starting this Friday, and while things are much different at the restaurant in terms of kitchen equipment and upgrades, the menu and the decor remains largely the same as it has for years, much to the chagrin of some critics who say the interior needs to be remodeled from what is very much the classic seashore dining room of the ’70s and ’80s. The walls are covered with a virtual mish
mash of offerings, from a shark’s jaws to “gone fishin’ ” signs and other paintings.
“We hear it all the time from some people. ‘Upgarade the interior, gut it, put in some oak and get rid of the naugahyde; maybe some track lighting, maybe some art deco designs.’ But this is how our customers want it. They tell us every year, ‘Thank you for keeping it the same, this is the way we want it.’ ”
For now, the Schettigs don’t want any part of the advice. Oh they listen, you’d be crazy not to, especially when some of your customers are coming from cities where they’re paying $42 for a tuna steak that’s the size of a hockey puck, but it does have some demi glaze dressing splurped all over the plate, and the meat is topped with a wasabi dollop or some other eye candy that looks beautiful and leaves you calling the pizza guy or Chinese delivery an hour later.
Busch’s serves food, lots of food.
Too much food is what they say.
“Everyone leaves here with a doggy bag,” Kim says.
“As much as prices have to go up because of inflation or supply or for whatever reason, we’d never cut the portion size. That’s what people have come to expect of us, and we can’t let them down,” adds Al. “We have a loyalty to our customers, who in turn have been loyal to us. We have a high code of ethics here. Our focus is on increasing the quality of our product, and if by doing so we have to increase the price, we’ll do it. We’re not going to cut the portion size or use a second-rate ingredient and try to hide it with some culinary trickery. That’s not what we do here.”
Everything on the menu is made from scratch, and neighbors of the restaurant have been treated this week to the scents being created by Restaurant School of Philadelphia graduate Joe Marszelak, who along with Al has been preparing the stocks for snapper and onion soups. Al shows off the spoon that has been used since the ’70s to hold the spices for the she-crab soup. “It takes me three days to make enough soup for two days,” he said.
While the usual favorites remain on the menu year after year, Marszelak has added flair to the specials menu, and customers will occasionally find seafood-stuffed crepes, grilled mahi-mahi or swordfish, stuffed veal chops, or a Mediterranean rice dish infused with shellfish.
“We try to please everyone,” Al says. “We want families to be comfortable, that’s why we have such a nice Kid’s Menu, and why we added the kid’s eat free special on Wednesdays. That was a huge success last year that we’ll continue this year. We want people to find everything they want here in a Jersey Shore restaurant.
“When you’ve been in business for 120 years and it’s been run by one family,” he adds, “you have something to live up to, something to uphold, and we’re doing that at Busch’s.”
Right, Logan?
Rob Seitzinger can be e-mailed at
seitz(at)catamaranmedia.com
or you can
comment on this story by calling 624-8900, ext. 250.
BUSCH’S
8700 Anna Phillips Lane
Sea Isle City
263-8626
www.BuschsSeafood.com
ON THE MENU
Hours: Open Mother’s
Day weekend, 4 p.m. (2 p.m. on Mother’s Day) until about 10 p.m. A
complimentary gift will be given to all mothers on Mother’s Day. Open
weekends only until June 18.
Capacity: 425.
Chef’s Favorite Dishes: She-crab soup (Tuesdays and Sundays only) is a must ($5.25/$7); all crab-based items, especially sautéed jumbo lump crabmeat en casserole ($26), crab imperial en casserole ($26), and jumbo lump crabmeat au gratin en casserole ($24.75); and platters called The Jersey Shore (baked deviled crab, baked deviled clam, fried scallops, fried shrimp, fried flounder and 5-ounce lobster tail, $28.75) and The Eastern Shore (baked deviled crab, fried soft shell crab, and crab au gratin, $28.25), and the 16-ounce prime rib ($22.25, steaks topped with crab, add $8).
Children’s Menu: For 12 and under, platters include potato, applesauce, chocolate parfait and a drink. Selections include hot dog ($5.50), macaroni and cheese ($6), burger ($6), chicken fingers ($7), baked ham steak ($7), filet mignon ($12.50), fried fish (shrimp, $10; flounder, $9), deviled crab ($7.75), and lobster tail ($13).
Take-out: Entire menu available for takeout.
What else: There is a lounge at the north end of the lot where
live entertainment will play this summer, and a package goods store
where cold beer and wine is sold, along with liquor and mixers. There is
a “Dine Early” menu with smaller portions for adjusted prices from 4
until 5:30 p.m. Smoking is allowed in the bar-area dining room. The
other dining rooms are smoke-free.
Parking: Small lot and street parking.
Reservations:
For parties of eight or more.
Credit
Cards: All major cards accepted.
1 family, 120
years of quality at Busch’s
Rob Seitzinger can be e-mailed
at seitz[at]catamaranmedia.com or you can comment on this story by
calling 624-8900, ext. 250.
Check out his Cape Cuisine food blog