For decades, Mansion Clam House was a storied Saugatuck destination.
It closed in the mid-2010s. Its replacement, Parker Mansion, shut down last year, after a largely forgettable 6-year run.
The vacant property — prime real estate, in one of our town’s most vibrant restaurant destinations — is ready for its next incarnation.
If Doug Pardon’s plans work out, “The Bridge at Saugatuck” will be as beloved as Mansion Clam House, and more a part of the riverfront neighborhood than Parker Mansion ever was.
Doug Pardon
This is the Staples High School Class of 1997 graduate’s first restaurant venture. But after a career on Wall Street, Pardon knows how to research an investment.
The former football, basketball and baseball player (and statewide Scholar-Athlete honoree) has gotten input and feedback from seasoned professionals.
And as someone who grew up in town, then moved back 8 years ago to raise his family, Pardon knows what and where Westporters like to eat.
Food has always been part of his life. His father Edward — a noted financial advisor — loved to cook. He took lessons from Pietro Scotti, and on Sundays prepared memorable meals.
Pardon inherited his father’s passion. (His parents live in the same Guyer Road home they built in 1972, and enjoy babysitting their grandchildren.)
Pardon tried to purchase the Black Duck a few years ago. Despite many conversations with the owner and landlord, the deal was not completed.
This past January, through his friend Chuck Haberstroh’s uncle-in-law, commercial real estate broker Skip Lane, Pardon heard that the Parker Mansion space on the Riverside Avenue/Bridge Street corner was available.
Before it was Parker Mansion …
He and his wife Elizabeth took a look.
“There seemed to be a lot that prior management hadn’t focused on,” Pardon says.
“There’s the main building, with an upstairs and downstairs; a side patio that they built but never developed, and the riverfront, which was also not utilized.”
… the building was, for many years, The Mansion Clam House.
Pardon researched area restaurant rents.
He enlisted his friend, NBC News and MSNBC anchor/journalist Craig Melvin, as a partner. The men met while coaching their sons’ basketball team.
Pardon brought several restaurateurs through the property. (One was Matt Storch, owner of nearby Match Burger Lobster, who just wanted to help.) They thought the kitchen was small, but good. “You could open up tomorrow,” one said.
Not quite. They took their time. After diligent work — on the property, and getting it right — The Bridge will open in late July.
A “Coming Soon” banner is coming soon — Memorial Day weekend — to spread the word to folks passing by.
Coming soon: A “Bridge at Saugatuck Coming Soon” sign.
Pardon is not quitting his day job. He needed the right chef and operating partner.
Stephen Lewandowski was a great find. The Culinary Institute of America graduate opened Townhouse Greenwich (the former Gabriele’s), and Harlan Publick in South Norwalk.
He also served as executive chef at New York’s Tribeca Grill and corporate chef for the Myriad Restaurant Group, working alongside Drew Nieporent.
Pardon convened focus groups with 80 Westporters. He asked what they liked and disliked in 20 local restaurants.
“I know a lot of restaurants fail,” Pardon says. “It’s important to listen to people. You can’t just open up what you want.”
He’s using local talent to create “a nice place the town can be proud of.” They include architect Frederick Hoag, contractor Chris O’Dell of the O’Dell Group, interior designer Elizabeth Murstein, and Dennis Grimaldi of Westport Glass.
The Bridge will feature “upscale tavern American cuisine,” Pardon says. Part of his vision for the interior is the Gramercy Tavern bar — the site of his first date with his future wife.
The downstairs area will include a barroom feel, with high-top tables. There will be more formal dining upstairs. The side patio and waterfront are important elements in the design, perhaps with cabana-type structures.
Pardon also hopes to use the 5 boat slips on the Saugatuck River.
Boat slips and unused waterfront, behind the former Parker Mansion.
Yet as exciting as The Bridge’s location is, what about that other bridge — the one named for William Cribari, whose uncertain future includes the possibility of a much larger span being built just a few yards away?
“People keep asking me that,” Pardon says. “The town cares about Saugatuck. I’m not losing sleep over it.”
Westporters have debated “the Saugatuck bridge” for years. Doug Pardon hopes they’ll soon all agree that “The Bridge at Saugatuck” is a welcome addition to town.
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