For the Inquiring Minds

 

The Dry Dock opened in 1980, upstairs in the little square building to the left of the present one. It wasn’t originally designed as a restaurant, and had a tiny two burner sauté kitchen and 10 tables. It soon became very popular with locals and boaters alike, serving fresh creative food, and great drinks!

In 2000, when designing a new marina bathhouse, we had the opportunity to incorporate a new, slightly larger Dry Dock on its second floor, and add a porch for outdoor dining. Both the new and the original Dry Dock buildings were designed and built by our talented craftsmen here at Z’s!

The décor remains the same as the original: our antique decoy collection and collection of gifted yacht club burgees was moved to the new location, and the boat up in the rafters, a lighthouse keeper’s sailing peapod c.1800s, which was custom-built by Zahniser’s in l983, was returned to roost. Half-models and pictures of boats built here at Z’s adorn the walls

Over the years, the Dry Dock has hosted many interesting people, among them: Bob Hope, Ben Bradlee and Sally Quinn, author Tom Clancy (who was the boatyard’s insurance agent until he published The Hunt for Red October!), Al Hunt and PBS’s Judy Woodruff, Walter Cronkite, Ted Koppel, Steve Busch and family (Anheuser-Busch) and a very big and charming NFL player, who shall remain nameless! But our most interesting guest is you!

Many thanks for choosing to dine with us!

~ Skip and Ellen Zahniser