By Donald Wittkowski
As its name suggests, the Northend Beach Grill is perched right on the beach, close enough to the ocean for customers sitting on the outdoor deck to hear the waves caressing the shoreline.
However, the quintessentially casual seashore eatery on Beach Road in Ocean City has been closed ever since an electrical fire on July 20 caused major damage to the tiny structure.
Now comes word that the operators of the popular restaurant will not reopen for the remainder of the summer season, after all. Days after the fire, they had not yet ruled out the possibility of repairing the damage and getting the grill back in business before summer was over.
“There was too much damage to reopen this year, sadly,” said Linwood resident Angelo DiBartolo, who operates the grill with business partner Jim Aller, of Bradenton, Fla.
During an interview Tuesday, DiBartolo said the plan now is to reopen the grill for the summer of 2019. Despite the extensive fire damage, the shack-like building can be saved, he noted.
Although the restaurant has been a fixture on the beach for decades, the exact age of the building is not clear. DiBartolo said some people have told him it dates to the 1920s, while others believe it was built shortly after World War II.
Old wires dating to the 1960s or ’70s caused the electrical fire, DiBartolo said. Hidden behind a wall, the wires were a surprise to DiBartolo, Aller and the building’s owner, Vince Hubach, when they were discovered after the fire.
DiBartolo and Aller lease the property from Hubach, who is committed to restoring the building so it can be reopened in 2019.
“We’ll be back. They’ve been outstanding through the whole ordeal,” DiBartolo said of Hubach and his wife, Jeanne.
A chain-link fence has been erected around the property while repairs are made to the building. A handwritten sign near the back entrance off Beach Road says, succinctly, “Closed due to fire.”
DiBartolo, a history teacher at Ocean City High School, said there has been an outpouring of community support following the blaze.
He said other Ocean City restaurants, especially Browns Restaurant and Oves Restaurant, have reached out to him and offered their help. Northend Beach Grill workers who lost their jobs after the fire have since been hired by Browns, Oves and Tony P’s House of Pie pizzeria, DiBartolo said.
DiBartolo credited the quick response from the Ocean City Fire Department for saving the restaurant. He said Mayor Jay Gillian and members of the Police Department are among the city officials who have shown their support.
The beach grill may be a small footprint in the sands, but it has a large following of people who frequented the eatery, DiBartolo said.
Northend Beach Grill is described on its Facebook page as a casual restaurant that features good, simple food at affordable prices while offering stunning views of the beachfront with an island feel.
The restaurant, though, will be losing its unobstructed views of the ocean at some point. In a legal fight over valuable beach property, Ocean City has used its power of eminent domain to acquire an easement in front of the grill to build up the dune line.
The city wanted the easement so that it could fill in a gap in the otherwise continuous barrier of dunes that protects the north end of town. The opening in the dunes is directly in front of the restaurant.
The nearly uninterrupted line of dunes helps to shield the oceanview homes lining Beach Road from coastal storms. Amid the cluster of luxury houses stands the Northend Beach Grill, a low-slung white building located amazingly close to the ocean.
