Saying Goodbye to Bogey’s

By James Lomuscio

Bogey’s Grille and Tap room owner Jim Stablein says the confluence of hurricane floodwaters and no flood insurance, a tough economy and new restaurants poised to dilute his customer base led him to shut down his 17-year Westport restaurant institution.

James Stablein: “time to move on.” File photo

The restaurant at 323 Main St. and the corner of Canal Street officially shut its doors Aug. 28, the day Hurricane Irene slammed the town, overflowing streams that poured into Bogey’s basement. (See WestportNow Aug. 31, 2011)

“The floodwaters crested in the parking lot and went right into the basement, and we lost a tremendous amount of food, equipment, refrigerators and ice makers,” Stablein said.

“Typically, restaurants, unless they’re near the shoreline, don’t have flood insurance,” he added, noting that he did not. “I haven’t taken on water in 17 years here.”

With no coverage for the damage on which he has yet to get an assessment, Stablein said he is certain it will be too expensive “to put money back into the restaurant in these economic times.”

“I think it was a message sent that it was time to move on and look elsewhere,” he said, noting that he would still like to open another restaurant at a different location, “maybe another Bogey’s.”

Stablein said that for the past three years since the economic crisis hit, his restaurant has been struggling. That struggle, he said, was exacerbated by a new Planning and Zoning Commission amendment that removed the 1,500-foot setback for restaurants that serve alcohol.

“It didn’t affect me in that location because I was insulated in a residential neighborhood,” he said. “Nobody was going to open up across the street.

“But that fact that they’re opening up more restaurants would dilute the customer base,” he added.

With a pub-like atmosphere of green walls and golf decor, Bogey’s evoked a sense of Edinburgh, Scotland on its first floor. In golf parlance to bogey means a score of one over par on a single hole.

Its upstairs available for private parties was dedicated to another Bogey, actor Humphrey Bogart whose black and white pictures adorned the walls.

During its heyday during the late 1990s and early 2000s, Bogey’s had been a gathering place weekends for Westport locals, particularly writers, journalists, photographers, artists and cartoonists.

At a time before smoking bans when cigar and cigarette smoke would rise with laughter and bon mots at the tables alongside the bar, the late photographer Alan Fontaine would call that section of the restaurant “our own Algonquin Roundtable.” 

Stablein and his wife Kelly, Westport residents, gave back to the community each year during the first week of August, sponsoring the Bogey’s Golf Classic, a fund-raiser for for CLASP Homes, Inc.

“We raised over a quarter-of-a-million dollars for CLASP Homes over 12 years,” said Stablein.

The golf tournament stopped four years ago when the recession took hold, he said.

“Half of the players were from Wall Street and the other half were locals, and when times get hard, it’s tough to get people,” he said. “We decided to put it on hold.”

Bogey’s has had the longest run at the building, which is owned by Westport’s Santella family.

Prior to Stablein opening the restaurant in 1994, the building had housed Stone’s Throw for six years, and before that Doolittle’s for only six months. During the 1980s, the building was home to Oliver’s, a bar and nightclub, and prior to that it was Crossroads from the 1970s through early 1980s.