2020
Silver's Restaurant is Permanently Closed.

Silver's Restaurant Is Going To Stay In The Family After All

Oct 2, 2018 Publication: The Southampton Press

At 31, Ryan Wellins is going to take the helm of his family's restaurant at Silver's in Southampton Village. JD ALLEN"

 UPDATED: Oct 2, 2018 12:42 PM By JD Allen

It looks like Silver’s in Southampton Village won’t be going anywhere anytime soon after all.

The restaurant, and the 1905 two-story building housing it, was on the market for a month after Garrett Wellins, the third generation owner of the luncheonette on Main Street, announced in September that he wanted to retire.

But now, Silver’s is not for sale—and his son, Ryan Wellins, will be at the helm in coming months. 

“After you make a big move and decision, like I did, to put the restaurant on the market, the family starts talking,” said the elder Mr. Wellins. “My son Ryan had expressed great interest in continuing the business. Out of respect and deference to his long dedication and help, I officially took it off the market—and I am going to groom him to do this thing here. 

“It stays. We stay,” he continued. 

Silver’s has been on Main Street in one way, shape or form since 1923. The original location was next door, where the Village Cheese Shop stands today, as a cigar shop run by Max and Mollie Silver. Their daughter Bess Silver married the son of a Southampton tailor, Daniel Wellins. 

Garrett Wellins spent much of his childhood helping out around his grandparents’ shop, which had eventually branched out into a general store of sorts—complete with candy, newspapers, paperback novels and magazines, Pringle of Scotland sweaters, British woolens, military surplus fatigues, pea coats, Levi’s, electronics and smoking accouterments.

As a father, Mr. Wellins kept his son largely out of the family business—encouraging him to make his own future. Circumstances changed while he was a student at Southampton High School. To help his son make some money—and keep him out of trouble, too—Mr. Wellins had his son help close Silver’s every day. 

After high school, the younger Mr. Wellins studied for two years at Suffolk County Community College, but remained working in the restaurant, picking up new skills. He didn’t take any formal culinary classes, but he said he can now prepare everything on the menu. 

“I have become proficient in the kitchen, in running the kitchen,” the 31-year-old said. 

So when his father, who is nearing 65 years old, announced last month that he wanted to retire, the younger Mr. Wellins started thinking about how much the restaurant meant to him.

“After my Dad indicated his desire to retire and put the property on Main Street for sale, I had time to think, and I convinced my Dad to continue the restaurant operation with the intent of taking over operations from my Dad once he has prepared me for the transition,” he said.

Day-in and day-out, the father-son duo has run Silver’s as a team for the last few years. The younger Mr. Wellins goes to Schmidt’s Market & Produce in North Sea most mornings with a shopping list, and then his father prepares the stocks and the vegetables at the restaurant. One will work the hot foods and the other the cold foods during the lunch service.

“There are no secret ingredients, just high-quality ingredients,” the younger Mr. Wellins said. “That’s what makes everything taste so good. And I have a good eye for picking out fresh ingredients. … I don’t know if I will change anything, but I will try to do the best of my ability to do what we do right.”

After 95 Years, Silver's Restaurant May Be Changing Out Of Family Hands

 August, 2018 12:42 PM
By JD Allen

Garrett Wellins started working at the family business in Southampton Village in 1962, when he was 8 years old. 

Silver’s on Main Street wasn’t always the lunch-only destination it is today. It was originally Silver’s Cigar Store, and it was run by his grandparents Max and Mollie Silver. 

Now, as Mr. Wellins approaches 65, he has put Silver’s restaurant, and the 1905 two-story building housing it, on the market.

“I am going to be here until it changes hands,” Mr. Wellins said. “I will be open six days a week in September. I’ll cut back in October, November and as we approach the holidays. But I’ll be here—until I am not. 

“I have stewarded the care of this place for many years, and I would like to think I have done a good job at maintaining it and giving it the love that it deserves, because it has given me so much and my family.”

When Silver’s opened in 1923, Max and Mollie Silver had just moved to town after operating a cigar store in New Jersey. The original location of the cigar shop was next door, where the Village Cheese Shop stands today. 

Children would come into the shop to ask Max Silver for help with their mathematics homework—Mr. Silver moonlighted as an engineer at Agawam Aircraft, making components for the Grumman Navy fighter planes during World War II. 

The Wellins family were tailors in Southampton, and soon enough their daughter Bess Silver and Daniel Wellins were married and made a family of their own.

As a child, Garrett Wellins did menial jobs, like sweeping the floor and taking out the trash. All around was the hustle and bustle of a stationery and cigar store—complete with all of the candy, newspapers, paperback novels and magazines, as well as all of the accoutrements of smoking.

He does not remember ever stealing sweets from behind the counter. “My father had a keen eye on me—and, frankly, I never had to take anything,” Mr. Wellins said. 

What he remembers clear as day: Sitting on his grandfather’s lap as Max fed him cookies.

The first time Mr. Wellins was brought to the family store, he was 5 years old. The village, in many ways, had a different character to it than the crowd it attracts now, he recalled. Southampton Village was enjoying somewhat of a renaissance. Many of the restaurants in the area began catering to a dining-out experience, especially at the Post House and Herb McCarthy’s Bowden Square. Boutique shops were on the rise, but Saks Fifth Avenue was still the shop of choice. Celebrities were seen walking up and down Main Street.

“A lot of interesting people—the summer colony was sure full of characters. The local people were very Runyonesque. My grandmother came from Russia, and at that time we had a lot of Polish gardeners come in to get their newspaper, and it would be fascinating for me to hear them converse in Russian and Polish,” he recalled. “The hustle and bustle of the business transaction, and the activity level of people coming in on a regular basis and seeing the same faces—it was just fascinating.

“I said to myself at that time, ‘I like this.’ Also, I got to see Gary Cooper buy a pack of cigarettes. That was kind of neat.”

Hard times forced the Wellinses to re-brand the cigar shop to generate business, including selling Pringle of Scotland sweaters, British woolens, military surplus fatigues, pea coats, Levi’s and, later, electronics. 

Silver’s didn’t enter the restaurant business until 1966—and, as Mr. Wellins puts it, he “loved contributing to the family farm.” It soon moved into its current space, where Landon’s had been, in the 1970s. 

He worked alongside his father, who taught him “all of the marvelous lessons of life, the value of work and to be well-studied.” After high school, he went to Southampton College to study medicine, but chemistry “just wasn’t his thing.” 

And, truly, he didn’t want to leave Silver’s.

“A lot of the kids I went to school with would come in here for lunch,” Mr. Wellins said. “So, every day was like a party. It was a wonderful social event.”

Although Silver’s has kept its old-timey charm—with high ceilings and stained glass, skylights and transom windows—Mr. Wellins has aged. The days start feeling longer. Waking up early in the morning to get to the market to pick out fresh vegetables, fruit and meats, the seasoned chef enters the restaurant with his arms full. 

Then he begins cleaning and preparing the produce, cooking and holding down the restaurant during the lunch-hour rush. Serving up European and American cuisine, including $60 lobster salad, to seating 48 inside and 32 outside doesn’t happen on its own.

“I am not a young man anymore. I am on the precipice of 65, and this is really a tough job. And I like it—I thrive in it. I have my oldest son, Ryan, working with me, and I couldn’t have stayed in it this long if it wasn’t for his help. My other son, Patrick, was a key figure here, too.”

He contacted Brown Harris Stevens to put the restaurant and the 3,884-square-foot building on the market, asking $5.8 million. The second floor houses office space for three tenants, though it’s unclear what will happen to that space in the transition. 

Mr. Wellins said he expects to run Silver’s at least through the end of the year. It could be longer, but Silver’s will eventually be out of the family’s hands.

“I brought my son Ryan into this when he was 17 years old, because he was in high school, and high school kids do silly things,” Mr. Wellins said. “It was my way of keeping a tab on him and giving him a skill and a way to make money. I don’t think he really wants it, as he has expressed. There is a 95-year history over three generations not including my sons’ help. … It’s time to move on.”

At 31, Ryan Wellins said the thought of Silver’s selling is making him figure out what the next step is. “I feel like I might miss it,” he said. “It will be one of those things I look back on and remember how much it mattered.”

After the restaurant is sold, and with a heavy heart, Mr. Wellins and his son have been toying with the idea of branding some of Silver’s products and distributing them on the side.

“Ideally, I would like to spend more time with my wife, Anna Marie, without being on schedule or having to grind it out,” Mr. Wellins said. “I have had people come up to me distraught that we are leaving. It is very humbling and nice to know you’ll be missed, but I haven’t gone anywhere yet. I am not gone, until I am gone.”

He added, “The life of this—the life of anything—is a very big book. We haven’t got to the last chapter yet.”

SILVER'S--BEST PLACE TO BRUNCH IN SOUTHAMPTON VILLAGE, NEW YORK!

BY PAULA HATHAWAY
May 13, 2013

SILVER'S--BEST PLACE TO BRUNCH IN SOUTHAMPTON VILLAGE, NEW YORK!...

When the Wellins family bought Silver's, the soda shop, cigar, and news stand on Main Street in Southampton Village, New York in 1923 there was a real opportunity to take advantage of the void of good places to go for a great bowl of soup, a good magazine and a good cigar!

There were the days in the '70s when the magazine racks were full of newspapers, Life, Time, Newsweek, Vogue, Seventeen and many, many more not so well known magazines of the day. The proprietor, Mr. Wellins would stand guard over the news paper stand as he tapped his cane on the floor and ordered: "Are you going to buy that?" when someone reached for and opened one of the magazines. In other words he did not want the person to stand there, read it and then put it back...He was a character; one who was irascible and "mean" and downright overly protective of his magazines and cigars. But it made for an adventure when one went there for their famous Russian Borscht!

Old Mr. Wellins is no longer alive--he passed away about 20 years ago and his Grandson, Garrett Wellins has been running the little shop since. He transformed it into a Bistro--threw out the cigars and the magazines and expanded the seating area for brunch and lunch as he trained to become a chef of the first order.

Now, the brilliance of the decision to open the shop in the 20's can only be topped by the talent that Garrett has shown in his taking over this little shop. He transformed it from a mediocre magazine store to a top notch cafe; one that is now THE place to go for the most delicious brunch or lunch in Southampton Village, New York.

SILVER'S REMAINS AS IT WAS IN THE 20'S

The front of Silver's remains as it was from the very beginning; the original leaded windows still stand out from all the other storefronts in the Village. You can read the menu, written in chalk on the window panes for all to see...Then step inside to step back in time and enjoy the best Bistro fare on the Eastern End of Long Island!

A real treat is to meet your friends there for a delicious brunch at 12:00 and be at the beach by 1:30 to relax the day away in the white sands of Little Plains Beach or drive to Cooper's Beach on Meadow Lane--rated the number one beach in America! 

You may even pick up a half dozen of Silvers best, out-of-this-world lobster rolls wrapped in waxed paper; take a bottle of a crisp white wine or rose' and enjoy the most wonderful picnic brunch while at the beach!!! 

MY PERSONAL PICK OF THE BEST THINGS ON THE MENU:

• Silver's Borscht: The original family recipe of Russian Cabbage Borscht, a soup that is unforgettable in it's color of a very deep red-orange, and swimming with the tasty beets, cabbage, carrots, tomatoes and dill in chicken broth.....Served with the BEST grilled, Tuscan bread that is surrounded by a thick and chewy crust, dribbled with an extra-virgin olive oil and sprinkled lightly with an array of herbs and a crunch of sea salt. My mouth is watering just thinking about it! 
• Silver's Roman Sandwich: A thick sliced, crusty Tuscan sandwich, filled with prosciutto, sliced tomatoes, basil and fresh mozzarella and saturated with balsamic vinaigrette that makes you only want more!
• Silvers BLT: A grilled tuscan bread sandwich with bacon lettuce, tomato and light mayo that is so thick you need two people to eat the whole thing.
• Silvers Lobster Roll: Lots of sweet, succulent lobster with just a little mayo and celery on a soft, crusty baguette
• Silver's charcoal grilled sirloin burger served on a soft and crusty brioche roll with fresh sliced tomatos, baby lettuce and onion.
• Other specialty items include a good selection of caviar served on toast points and served with Champagne.

If you do decide to go to Silver's for brunch on a weekend sojourn, please say "Hi" to Garrett; he is always there!