'It’s the same stuff': Sully's opens at Hanover Crossing

HANOVER − Brendan Sullivan, third-generation owner of Sullivan's Castle Island restaurants, was applying the address decal to the front door of the chain's latest location Tuesday as people milled about the entrance, eager to get a glimpse of the Southie landmark’s expansion.

He greeted customers as they entered the spacious new site at Hanover Crossing for the restaurant’s soft opening, marking the newest chapter for the business Sullivan's grandfather started 73 years ago.

“It’s the same hamburgers, the same hot dogs, the same clams, the same rolls. It’s the same stuff. Keep it simple,” Sullivan said.

The new location is shaped like a large L, with the familiar quick service counter on one side and a full bar and high-top tables on the other. Unlike the South Boston location, the new Sullivan’s also has a large dining area and a waitstaff. Here and there, touches of nostalgia recall South Boston: pieces of sea coral, a framed photo of the blue elephant at the Castle Island playground, an aerial shot of Fort Independence.

In choosing Hanover for a new location, Sullivan followed his clientele, who moved from South Boston and Dorchester to raise families on the South Shore, he said.

“They moved south,” he said. “No one goes up north. It’s a different country up there.”

Two years ago, when Sullivan began looking for a new location, he first considered a fast-food-style restaurant with a drive-thru window. But when he came across the Hanover Crossing site, he changed his mind. Right next to Showcase Cinemas and across from 110 Grill, he found the right location and the right neighbors, he said.

"You can be in and out in 30 minutes and make that movie on time,” he said.

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While the new restaurant evokes the old, it doesn’t seek to copy it.

“You can never re-create South Boston,” Sullivan said. “It’s an oasis in the middle of the city, and we’re lucky to be there. This (restaurant) will have its own unique aspects.”

David Nourse, of Pembroke, the first customer to eat at the Hanover Crossing location Tuesday, said he'd never been to the original Sullivan’s in Southie. He sat at the bar to enjoy fried clam strips and a Whirlpool Pale Ale from Night Shift Brewing on opening day, one of several local breweries on tap. Nourse gave his first order a thumbs-up, and said he appreciated the restaurant’s interior design and atmosphere.

Behind him, seated at one of the high tops, Kerry Slowe, of Kingston, said she came as much for the nostalgia as for the food. Off from work at Silver Lake Regional High School, she met her daughter Beth, who works as a technician at the Norwell Veterinary Hospital, for a late lunch.

Originally from South Boston, Slowe said she has a lot of memories of Sullivan’s at Castle Island, as does her daughter.

"I used to meet my sister at Castle Island when she was going to UMass-Boston," Beth Slowe said. "We'd go roller blading at the Sugar Bowl."

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While Hanover Crossing is Sullivan’s first full-service expansion − Sully's also has a walk-up window at the TD Garden's Hub Hall − it may not be the last.

“It’s a proof of concept for us,” Sullivan said of the combined quick and full-service restaurant. “In a perfect world, we’ll be looking to expand somewhere else.”

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Reach Peter Blandino at pblandino@patriotledger.com.