50 Years & Still Cookin’: Carmen’s Seafood Restaurant Marks Milestone
Carmen’s Restaurant started with a shop to sell lobsters.
It’s been 50 years since Carmen’s Restaurant on 43rd Street in Sea Isle City opened its dockside dining room, and for owners Carmen and Ruthy Conti, this golden anniversary represents a celebration of good friends, faithful customers, and strong family ties.
Not only have Carmen and Ruthy, who’ve been married 54 years, raised their family while also running their restaurant and seafood market, but have seen their offspring Carrie and Carmen Jr. grow up to become an important part of its ongoing success. Carrie is a manager of Carmen’s while her brother has continued the Conti tradition of fishing as well as being the kitchen’s head expeditor. And nieces, nephews, cousins, sons and daughters have all helped make Carmen’s a true family affair.
Many employees have become like family members, Ruthy says. One of them, Mary Holroyd, has worked at Carmen’s for nearly the whole 50 years. The restaurant has even provided the setting for a little romance: 10 sets of employees have met while working summer jobs at Carmen’s, fell in love, and gotten married.
Speaking of marriage, the restaurant has also hosted numerous rehearsal dinners, bridal showers, and even some wedding ceremonies and receptions on the dock, as well as private parties for reunions.
“We are very much a family-oriented business,” says Carrie, who has been working at Carmen’s since she was 10. “And we have a lot of very loyal customers who come back here year after year. Some even say they used to come here by boat back in the 1970s, when we were just a seafood market, and now they bring their grandkids. I love this place; this is my life.”
Back when there were few buildings and 43rd Street was a dirt road, the family patriarch, Aniello Conti – who had immigrated to the United States from Italy with his wife Conchetta at the end of World War I – planted the seeds of the business by purchasing a parcel of land for only $250 in 1943. He then built his own fish house so that he could support his growing family by plying the waters around Sea Isle as a commercial fisherman, with son Carmen joining him at age 14 after leaving school.
Upon his father’s death in 1948, Carmen kept the fishing business going, and also used the fish house as a place where he could use his mechanical skills to repair engines and fix just about anything.
“I used to fix kids’ bikes, people’s toasters, anything,” says Carmen, now 91. He explained that someone made a sign for his fix-it business that read “Carmen’s” which eventually was passed on to the seafood market and restaurant.
In 1970, Carmen and Ruthy opened the seafood market selling just lobsters at first, followed a decade later by the restaurant.
The decision to open the restaurant, Carmen says, was made soon after a fancy car pulled up one day, and a well-dressed gentleman approached him.
“I had lobster traps and bait on the dock and I was just building my first lobster tank,” Carmen recalls. “A guy drove up in a limousine, a real expensive car [an Excalibur]. He came over and asked, ‘Do you have lobsters?,’ and I said, ‘Yes.’ He asked if I could cook one, and I said, ‘Yes, I can,’ so I cooked a lobster for him. This was still a fish house, and it wasn’t ready for takeout. He ate the lobster, which at the time was selling for about $1.20 a pound. He handed me a $50 bill for that $7 lobster and said, ‘Keep the change.’ And I thought, ‘Boy, what a business to get into!’ ”
What began with just 15 tables, paper plates, and inexpensive cutlery has now grown to more than 50 tables as Carmen and Ruthy bought property on both sides of the building and expanded the dining and dockside area.
“There were only two picnic tables back here at first; the dock was only a little tiny section,” says Carrie. “People would come to buy seafood, and they’d say, ‘Oh, we wish we could eat here, this is such a nice place for a restaurant.’ ”
Another feature of Carmen’s that has proved to be popular is the sandbox, where young children can play while their parents feast on Carmen’s famous seafood. The sandbox began as a place where Carrie’s son Evan would play as she worked.
“People love it – they can relax and have their dinner,” she says.
Speaking of Carmen’s seafood, the Conti family prides itself on its freshness and the care in preparation of the items on their expansive menu.
“There are many restaurants that use a lot of frozen food,” says Ruthy, “but we prepare our crab cakes fresh, our special Carmen’s spaghetti sauce, chowders … mostly everything on our menu, including the desserts. A lot of our fish and lobsters come from our boats. We fresh-bread all of our seafood and hand-cut our redskin potatoes for breakfast – our menu is huge.”
Holroyd adds: “And even during the pandemic, they did not cut back on their menu.”
Carmen’s serves breakfast, lunch, and dinner every day during the summer from 8am to 10pm, and the house specialty is, of course, crabs. (They even have T-shirts that read, “Carmen has Crabs”). A peek at its menu shows steamed blue claw crabs, Alaskan king crab legs, snow crab legs, Dungeness crab legs, sautéed soft shell crabs, and baked and sautéed crab meat. Whole lobsters and lobster tails are also a specialty at Carmen’s.
On hot summer days, patrons can enjoy the breeze from the bay or pull up to Carmen’s dock in their own boats, while on chilly nights in spring and fall the dining area is enclosed to keep in the warmth of the wood-burning stove.
Many celebrities have eaten at Carmen’s over the years, including the likes of Dr. Oz, Maria Bello, Michael Anthony Hall, and Philadelphia children’s show host Captain Noah.
Sports personalities include Tug McGraw (“He would always sign the kids’ autographs,” says Carmen) and Tim McCarver of the Phillies; John Spagnola and Jeremiah Trotter of the Eagles; Pro Football Hall of Fame quarterback Sonny Jurgensen; former Flyers star Rick Tocchet; and former NBA player and coach Chris Ford, an Atlantic City native (“He used to come in here all the time,” Carrie says).
“In the 1980s, Lou Tilley would bring in players from the Phillies, Flyers, and Eagles all the time,” said Ruthy says. Tilleyis best known for his work as a sportscaster with KYW-TV in Philadelphia.
The restaurant has also overcome many challenges since 1980, including flooding in 2012 from Superstorm Sandy, whose high-water mark is memorialized by a line on the counter; and a fire in 1990 right before Christmas, which fortunately was contained before doing extensive damage. Most recently, the restaurant escaped unscathed after a fire in June 2019 at the Two Chums bait, tackle and boat rental shop, just a few doors down on 43rd Street, which nearly destroyed neighboring structures.
While it takes a lot of time and effort to make sure the restaurant runs smoothly every day, Carrie laughs when asked if her father was now retired.
“My dad and mom don’t believe in the word ‘retirement,’ ” she says. “And the business is seasonal, so they do get a break. But they’re very, very active. They’re here every day and she’s the last one to leave every night.”
“And don’t forget, all this was my idea,” jokes Ruthy, who emphasizes that Carmen’s success through the last 50 years has been through its loyal customers, as well as the hard work and dedication of family and their many employees.
“And don’t forget, all this was my idea,” jokes Ruthy, who emphasizes that Carmen’s success through the last 50 years has been through its loyal customers, as well as the hard work and dedication of family and their many employees.
