Mount Vernon restaurants shuttered

The owners of two landmark North Shore restaurants, Mount Vernon At The Wharf in Revere and Mount Vernon At The Ship in Lynnfield, pulled out of both locations after closing for business on Sunday, leaving a trail of debt and approximately 60 mostly part-time workers out of a job.The Henry Family of Nahant, owners of the popular 78-year-old original Mount Vernon Restaurant in Somerville, purchased The Wharf Restaurant on Route 1A in 2004 and took over The Ship Restaurant on Route 1 South in 2009.”It’s the economy, ya know?” Martin Henry, son of the late Mount Vernon founder John Henry said Wednesday afternoon. “The last three years, since the fall of 2008, people aren’t going out to eat. Things started slowing down.”Henry confirmed both establishments were closed after business on Sunday, a decision he said that “was coming for a while.”The bills weren’t being paid because of the economy and how much can you lose?” he asked, rhetorically. “We’re struggling like all businesses are. Look at Bank of America, laying off 40,000; it’s happening all over the place,” he said, assigning part of the blame on President Obama’s economic policies.”Who else can you blame?” he asked.Henry said the original Mount Vernon Restaurant at 14 Broadway in Somerville remains open for business and that his family is working to help find new jobs for their former employees from the Revere and Lynnfield restaurants.According to The Southern Essex Registry of Deeds, The Ship Restaurant building is owned by Stella Lynnfield Realty Trust. A Hudson, Mass. telephone number for Stella Lynnfield Realty Trust was not in service on Wednesday.Officials at Lynnfield Town Hall said they had not received word that the Mount Vernon At The Ship had closed.The building at 543 North Shore Road (Route 1A) in Revere that housed the Mount Vernon At The Wharf on Wednesday was vacant, dark and with a bright orange cease-and-desist sticker from the Revere Building Inspector on its front door. The property is owned by the Nigro Family Trust and was assessed this year at $357,200.Revere Inspectional Services Director Nick Cantinazzo said a representative of the Nigro Family Trust, whom he identified as Victor Molle, came to his office on Monday and reported that sometime overnight most of the equipment inside the building had been hauled out.”The Mount Vernon people started taking everything out in the middle of the night and disconnected gas stoves – and you can’t do that without a permit,” Cantinazzo said.After Molle had locks to the restaurant changed, Cantinazzo said he and plumbing and building inspectors from his office entered the abandoned building on Tuesday.”It had a real musty smell. There were fruit flies everywhere. The AC had been shut off and there was a real danger because the gas stoves were disconnected. That’s why we issued the cease-and-desist order.”Cantinazzo added, “While we were in there the phone rang four or five times with vendors calling for their money – a uniforms company, a meat company, a fish company; Mr. Molle’s wife was answering the calls and telling them the business had closed down.”Evidently there’s a big water bill owed, too,” he said.Revere’s director of finance, collector and treasurer George M. Anzuoni was not available for comment on Wednesday regarding the amount, if any, of any outstanding water bill for the Mount Vernon At The Wharf.But Cantinazzo said, “The problem here is that the burden for taxes and water bills – not for private vendors – goes back to the property owner.”Also out of luck, Cantinazzo said, are any patrons of the restaurant who hold gift certificates.As for licenses that were held by the Mount Vernon At The Wharf, including its liquor license, Joan Grenga, secretary for the Revere Licensing Board, said any time a business abandons its property its licenses are automatically rendered null and void.Grenga said her office had not yet been formally informed of the restaurant’s closing but, if the Mount Vernon At The