Jamie Cornacchini, left, has worked at Charlie’s for 16 ½ years while Larry Corea has worked there for 40 years. (Item photo by Owen O’Rourke)
By Gayla Cawley
LYNN — Charlie’s Seafood, a restaurant staple on Essex Street, recently turned 55 with little celebration, other than an expression of joy from the owner that people still come in and enjoy the food.
“We’re still doing business so the food must be good,” said Susan Panagakis, owner of the eatery opened by her late husband, Charlie, in 1961. “We’ve maintained the same flavor, quality and quantity, and that’s what keeps people coming back.”
Panagakis said the restaurant, which offers seafood favorites such as clams, shrimp and scallops, does everything the old-fashioned way. She said the batter, tartar sauce and coleslaw are homemade. Everything is battered fresh, and baked with bread crumbs, she said, and nothing is salted.
Charlie’s celebrated its 55th anniversary on Aug. 30, but Panagakis remembers the first time she walked in. She was a 16-year-old living a few houses down on Essex Street. She and a friend saw two men working inside and decided to go in, splitting a small french fry between themselves to scope the pair out.
As soon as she walked in, Panagakis said, she knew that she was going to marry Charlie. Her friend ended up marrying the man who was with Charlie inside the restaurant all of those years ago. After their marriage when she turned 18, the couple ran the restaurant together until Charlie’s death at 61 in 1999.
But before Charlie opened up his seafood place, he was on a different career path. He served as a weatherman in the Air Force, before being discharged in 1961. He came to Logan Airport, looking to continue his career, but couldn’t find a job anywhere as a weatherman except for the Thule Air Base in Greenland.
This led Charlie Jr. to follow in the footsteps of his father, Charlie Sr., who had owned Charlie and Bob’s, a former seafood place on Lynnfield Street. He had worked there for his father in the past.
Charlie and Susan Panagakis owned two other restaurants besides Charlie’s Seafood at one point, managing a roast beef place in Lynn and another clam shop in Peabody. But eventually, they ended up just keeping their Essex Street location.
“He (Charlie) had visions of moving this business elsewhere, but this store has always been good to us,” Susan Panagakis said.
Charlie’s continued a tradition of 100 years of Lynn business in the Panagakis family. Charlie Jr. and his father had their seafood restaurants, one of his grandfathers had a sweets parlor on Union Street and his other grandfather owned a grocery store on Western Avenue. Panagakis said her two sons, Randy and Mark, worked at the restaurant when they were kids and still help out, but each has their own business, in Marblehead and Wakefield respectively. She said her sons own their own businesses, rather than sharing ownership at Charlie’s, because as her husband used to say, “there’s only room for one boss.”
Another factor to the restaurant’s success, Panagakis said, is a close-knit staff. Larry Corea, the manager, has been there for 40 years, and as is the nephew of former Boston Red Sox player Johnny Pesky. The late ballplayer was a frequent diner, she added. Kids of former staffers are typical hires.
After more than a half century of business, Panagakis keeps the restaurant going because of her late husband.
“We had a wonderful life and I take care of this store because of Charlie,” she said.
Gayla Cawley can be reached at [email protected]. Follow her on Twitter @GaylaCawley.
