Owners Gary and Vaughn Knowles who are also brothersIt all began back in the 1940s, when a character named Whitey opened a little seafood restaurant and for some reason called it Whitey’s.
He tried a couple of locations before settling on a little spot right along one of Guilford’s main streets — and despite featuring al fresco dining and fresh seafood grilled to perfection on an outdoor grill, it was anything but fancy.
There were only ten tables with stumps for seats. (Yes, stumps.) There weren’t any tablecloths. The menu only had five items: roasted clams, steamers, shrimp, lobster, and corn. But Whitey’s was busy every night all season. At least that’s the way Vaughn and Gary Knowles remember things. And they remember it all because the two brothers worked there summers during the ’60s, waiting on customers, cooking, and having the time of their lives.
Well, both went on to become teachers — but they also became hopelessly addicted to that tiny restaurant and its down-to-earth style, friendly atmosphere, and mouthwatering food. So when Whitey decided to hang up his barbeque tongs in 1970, Vaughn and his wife Judy leased the land and took over, opening in 1971. They renamed the restaurant The Place after a framed poster one of Whitey’s customers made for him, which always hung kind of cock-eyed beside his grill. It read: There’s no place, just like this place, anywhere near this place, so this must be the place. It was. And it still is.
Since then, The Place has become the go-to place for a quintessential Shoreline dinner.
Everyone living in Guilford and its neighboring towns knows that. But then, so do all the folks going from here to there, who stopped in for a bite once upon a time and just keep coming back from wherever. Since then, The Place has evolved into half an acre of seating. And when Gary joined the team in 1975, it became a family affair, with Gary, Vaughn, and Judy managing that growth superbly.
Customers still sit on stumps, but now there are chairs available for those who prefer a proper seat. It’s still “dining out” — literally, but now there is a giant, red-striped tent gathered neatly at the entrance that expands to sixty feet for when it’s a little too hot or rainy. The tables are still red, roomy, and round, but now there are dozens more — all tricked out with fresh flowers and big red boxes full of napkins. And the grill still crackles, its flames sending forth incredible aromas, but now it’s a lot bigger and those crackles a lot louder.
If you’re 21 or over, The Place invites BYOB with no corkage fee. Payment must either be cash or check, but now there’s an on-site ATM for everyone’s convenience. Tips are shared by all of The Place’s employees. Plus, they now sell t-shirts, sweatshirts, hats, and Koozies extolling their fresh grilled seafood — and some seriously outstanding turf-without-the-surf.
And speaking of fresh seafood...
No one beats the menu at The Place. Reaching high into the air so everyone can read it, their bright red, hand-wrought menu begins with a reminder that This Must Be The Place — and has been since 1971.
The menu swelled from Whitey’s fabulous five to a list that features clams, steamers, wine and garlic mussels, shrimp, bluefish or catfish, salmon, and lobster, as well as the steak, chicken, and a veggie kebab landlubber foodies appreciate. The awesome roast corn remains impossible to describe. A wide variety of bever- ages quench any thirst, with customers also welcome to bring in their own libations. And they do not disappoint when it comes to dessert, offering everything from cheesecake, carrot cake, hot fudge sundaes, and ice cream to Mississippi Mud Cake, Key Lime Mousse, and Peanut Butter Blitz.
So back their customers come. Every season — and sometimes every week.
After all, The Place is the place where they can be sure of seeing old friends, tasting old favorites, recalling old memories — and making some new ones. Note Vaughn and Gary, “Our regular customers visit us numerous times when we’re open, and there is one couple who comes in every Friday, Saturday, and Sunday night all season long. We have a group from Poughkeepsie, New York, who comes here every summer for their family reunion. People even drive here all the way from Pennsylvania just for dinner.”
Adds Vaughn, “And these days, The Place is the place for all sorts of gatherings, even as we welcome regular customers. We host rehearsal dinners without a deposit, and wine tastings, again without the corkage fee. GreenStage Guilford held their bi-annual function here, taking over three quarters of the tables and bringing in a stage and performers. Yalies stop by all the time. Out of town restaurant owners come here, too — their whole staff in tow. And as Vaughn explains, “Regulars often become our friends. When a grandfather came in a few years back with his young grandson who had never been fishing, Gary took them out on our boat for some angling. Afterwards, the little guy wrote Gary to tell him that going fishing with him was the best day of his life. Now the three go fishing every year.”
Not surprisingly, their staff and suppliers have become friends, too.
“Our staff form friendships that last,” says Gary, “both with us and each other. We have married couples who met when they were working here, while former employees remain close to The Place and our family. Our chef has been with us for 27 years, and some of our other staff started working here in 1976.”
And Gary and Vaughn know their suppliers so well that the fellow who provides their lobsters has given them a key to his lobster pound — just in case an extra busy night finds The Place needing extra lobsters when his shop is closed.
A close-knit family, the Knowles clan has always pitched in at The Place.
One of their nephews, who’s now over 60, still comes in with his wife to work a shift just for fun. Vaughn’s daughters have been handling much of the workload behind the scenes. And recently, his son-in-law joined the business, helping to ensure The Place lives on in good hands. “Gary and I want The Place to continue well beyond our active involvement,” Vaughn explains — and that bodes well for the next generation of customers, too. Adds Gary, “Besides, one or two people can’t run The Place anymore. It’s too popular.”
And that’s the truth. The Place is very well known — everywhere.
Despite never having advertised, The Place has been featured on the Travel Channel, the Cooking Channel, all the Connecticut TV stations, as well as in newspapers and magazines from The New York Times to Time Magazine. They were inducted into the Connecticut Restaurant Hall of Fame, and the State of Connecticut, which used to have a coloring book for tourists, gave The Place its own page. But mostly it’s word of mouth that results in the steady flow of new faces. “I suppose we’re something of a Norman Rockwell painting,” says Gary — though as Vaughn points out, “At the same time, we’re very different. We don’t fit the mold, and we love that!”
