Exclusive: Lundy's, an iconic seafood restaurant, returns to Brooklyn after 17 years

Once upon a time, in a not-so-distant era of Brooklyn, there was a palatial seafood restaurant right on the water in Sheepshead Bay.

Known as Lundy’s, the Lundy Brothers Restaurant was renowned for serving piles of biscuits and clams daily. The restaurant was so popular that on a typical Sunday in its prime, it served 10,000 people — and up to a million meals annually through the early 1970s.

Lundy’s was housed in a building so large that, for a time, it ranked among the nation’s largest restaurants. But in 2007, after some openings and closings, Lundy’s shut for good, much to the devastation of the neighborhood.

Now, hospitality industry veteran and first-time restaurateur Sandra Snyder is bringing it back “with the same menu and the same concept on a different waterfront,” she said.

Snyder said Lundy’s was “a very nostalgic place” for her husband Mark, a Brooklynite who owns the Red Hook Winery. Lundy’s was one of their first dates in 2002.

“Since then we’ve just discussed the abandonment of hospitality and old-school dining in Brooklyn and places like Lundy’s, where you could count on an amazing experience and you dreamt about the biscuits,” she said.

In 2023, Snyder happened to mourn the end of Lundy’s while in the company of Frank Cretella, a businessman and restaurant group operator who revived Lundy’s and acquired its name rights in the late ‘90s.

Cretella told her, “That’s funny, because I was part of the project, and I’m happy to see it live on if you’re interested in continuing it,” Snyder recalled. “So he sort of handed things over and wished us well.”

Snyder’s incarnation of the beloved clam palace is set to open later this month in Red Hook, across the borough from Sheepshead Bay.

Its new home is a nearly 150-year-old Italianate-style building at 44 Beard St. Though hardly as grand as the old Emmons Avenue structure, it will again have multiple spaces — three entrances, a bar area, a main dining area, a small stage for live music and, eventually, a patio — with a 100-person capacity. (In its heyday, Lundy’s capacity was 2,800.)

There'll also be classic cocktails, an old wood bar, biscuits, clams (of course) and, Snyder hopes, a feeling of local camaraderie.

Bringing back Lundy's is "a great idea,” said Gary Miller, 80, who grew up across a footbridge from the original location. He fondly recalled being introduced to lobster and dining with his family there on more occasions than he can count.

He was doubtful, though, that the Lundy’s of his childhood could ever truly be revived.

“That restaurant really meant so much more to the neighborhood and Brooklyn in general,” Miller said. “It was famous and it was iconic and it anchored a whole community. That type of thing will never be recreated."

Still, next time he’s up from Florida, he said he'd consider stopping by with his son.