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
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