Lundys Bros.: A Wistful Reminiscing


by Ned Berke on Mar 10th, 2010

Courtesy of More Glib Than Profound

A talented writer running a personal blog named More Glib Than Profound posted a  chronicling of his childhood memories of F.W.I.L. Lundy’s Bros. Restaurant. Living in Sheepshead Bay all my life, I’ve heard so many stories of the massive restaurant that, as legend has it, sold 15,000 meals on Mother’s Day. But Lundy’s was before my time, and the portrait painted in my mind was thinly done. More Glib, however, made me feel like I was there, to the point that in the middle of it I jumped out of my chair on Monday night and strode over to Randazzo’s (the closest equivalent, which he also writes about) to partake in beer and clams at the bar.

What he writes of the restaurant’s history is a little off. But in terms of atmosphere, if you’re too young to remember Lundy’s as it was in the 1960s, read More Glib’s account. Here’s an excerpt:

Lundy’s had NO hostess service. That meant it wasYOUR job to scour the place for a vacant table. During summer weekends or holidays at prime dinner hours, you were left on your own to compete with other families to scout-out this two-level football field-like dining room. It should also be noted that Lundy’s had other smaller, intimate nooks and crannies in the labyrinth of rooms along Ocean Avenue.

In emergencies, we traveled in pairs to hunt down unoccupied tables. If there weren’t any, one of us would stake a claim on a table while the existing party was finishing. Then the other would run to alert the rest of our clan.

…

It was called Spanish Colonial Revival but it was ugly to me. The Lundy boys must have had a love of 4o-watt light bulbs because the place was a cave. The sand-colored stuccoed walls gave the place a mausoleum feel and the black tiled men’s room complete with black stalls didn’t help. The rest of the architecture featured sloping red mission tile roofs, arched entrances, corbel tables, decorative ironwork and leaded glass windows.

Once you were seated, the service was decent except that the all-Caribbean waiter team fought over silverware. Arguments broke-out when one of them was caught looting another man’s horde.

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  • applegreen
    there's a book on this topic, actually published not too long ago, back in 1998 called "lundy's: reminiscences and recipes" by robert cornfield and recipes collected by kathy gunst.
  • brooklynq
    Great book. I have it. And I think, but I haven't had time to check, that the book verifies the claim of Lundy's having no hostesses. You fought for your table.
  • MomHen
    Wait - Ned - you remember Jahn's but you didn't know of Lundy's? It was very much open when I was a teenager. It DID close and then it opened again when I was in college....
  • I worked there around 1994(?), when it reopened. Best Summer of my life at the time, due to the money I made from the tips alone. I heard about the bounced checks though after the management also opened up the gambling yacht.
  • I remember the 1990's incarnation of Lundy's (I even worked there for 2 days before it got around that they were bouncing checks). I don't remember the original version. And I never said I remembered Jahn's - someone else did during the age game.
  • Ray Johnson
    There's something about the personal perspective that tells us so much. I never knew there was no host/hostess/maitre d'. And whatever happened to all the Caribbeans?
  • Ray Johnson
    They're writing for Sheepshead Bites?
  • They retired. A good portion of them were getting up there in years when Lundy's closed in 1977.

    Lundy's was a very tense place. Absolutely crazy at times. I didn't like it too much myself. But I think Irving Lunch reveled in its chaos. He was a very weird, scary man.
  • They moved to Flatbush?
  • Enjoyed this post, as well as the blog.
    FWIW, I enjoyed this spot as a kid and even more recently before they closed down. It's too bad it's gone.
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