Baked stuffed lobster to go; long-time owners of Sandy Point Restaurant to retire at end of season

ALTON — After 30-plus years of serving up baked stuffed lobster, prime rib and other favorites, Jeanne and Walter Damon have decided to retire from the restaurant business.

Come this Columbus Day weekend the Alton couple will bring down the curtain on their operation of the Sandy Point Restaurant in Alton Bay.

It's been a long ride and good one, say the Damons. But after more than three decades of the hectic pace of running a restaurant, they have decided it's time to take things just a little bit slower. Walter will continue to teach math at Coe-Brown Academy in Northwood and he has no immediate plans to retire from the classroom. "Teaching is my true passion," he says, but quickly adds that being the restaurant's head chef has had its rewards, too.

Actually, Walter Damon, who like his wife grew up in nearby New Durham, began working at the Sandy Point Restaurant long before he started teaching. He began as a dish washer while in high school, he recalled, and later moved up to greater responsibilities in the kitchen. In the early 1980s the Damons took the reins of the Sandy Point Restaurant, first managing the establishment for the Ouellette family, the owners of the Sandy Point Beach Resort, and then, in 1984, acquiring the restaurant business and operating it under a lease agreement. The Damons are confident that the Ouellettes will find the right person to operate the restaurant when it reopens for the 2013 season on Mother's Day weekend.

The Damons say they have worked diligently to strengthen the restaurant's reputation for generous portions of high-quality meals. Not surprisingly, the baked stuffed lobster (including a 2 1/4 pound portion), and the prime rib of beef (with the largest cut being 28 ounces), are Sandy Point's signature dishes. "We have customers that come from Maine who tell us the lobster here is better than back where they're from," Jeanne Damon said.

But while some things have stayed the same during the years the Damons have run Sand Point, there have also been changes — both in the menu and customer habits.

"The area has changed and tourism has changed," said Walter Damon. Back in the 1980s most of the restaurant's customers were vacationers who were staying in one of the area's motels or cottage colonies. "There was a lot of (customer) turnover," he said. Today the restaurant's patrons are more likely to be people who have a second home or condominium in the area or rent a motel room or cottage for a week or two, or longer. Also, the fact that there are now fewer nighttime amusements in Alton Bay means few people want to eat after 8 o'clock.

The menu has changed with the times, too, "We have more baked seafood now," said Jeanne. "Before most of our seafood we served was fried."

Over the years, the Sandy Point has had its share of celebrity diners. There have been a number of NASCAR drivers, Jeanne said. And Walter, being a sports fan, particularly remembers when Red Sox legend Ted Williams, onetime Sox pitcher Luis Tiant, longtime Bruins' defenseman Ray Bourque, and the late NHL coach Pat Burns stopped for a meal. "Ted Williams sat right there," Walter said pointing to one of the booths in the 200-seat restaurant.

Sadly there are no photographs, autographs or other memorabilia to commemorate those notable patrons. Walter says he regrets that. The other thing he regrets is not having pictures taken every year of entire restaurant staff which typically numbers more than 60, including servers, bartenders, dish washers, and cooks.

Operating a restaurant in a resort area during the summer tourist season is busy enough. But juggling that job with teaching is especially demanding now that Water Damon, who is 63, is back in the classroom at Coe-Brown. He's up at 5 a.m. in order to get to Northwood in time for the start of classes and then as soon as school lets out he heads directly to the restaurant to make sure everything is ready for the dinner crowd. He will keep up that pace through Labor Day. After that and until Columbus Day weekend the restaurant will be open only on weekends.

With only a few weeks left before the Damons serve their last meal at Sandy Point, they say will miss their customers, some of whom have come to Sandy Point year after year to celebrate a birthday or anniversary. And the Damons say they are also especially grateful to three generations of the Ouellette family which gave them the opportunity to operate the restaurant.

"I'm sure the decision to retire from the restaurant will hit me next April," Water Damon said with a smile. That's when he and his wife would start planning for the coming season.