Lowe & Behold: Iconic Salem Lowe Restaurant Reopens At Willows
SALEM, MA — The chop suey sandwich — along with some new takes on old favorites — is back at the Salem Lowe as the Salem Willows staple that appeared to close for good late last summer reopens under new ownership.
Ryan Harriman and Kathleen Rodgers, who also own the two Spitfire Tacos locations in Salem and Marblehead, remodeled the venerable location with new plumbing and equipment over the past several months before opening the doors to some new customers and many grateful old ones who were happy to be back at a place they thought they may have lost forever.
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“The reaction has been really good,” Harriman told Patch on Monday. “People have been awesome. They have been super, super welcoming and giving us a lot of history of why it’s
important to them.
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“We’ve been getting a ton of people saying the have been coming for 50 or 60 years and are really happy they can still come there.”
The opening was a little behind schedule — “It took longer than expected but that’s to be expected,” he said. — but the Salem Lowe was able to open in time for Memorial Day weekend with a bit of a different look while maintaining the same familiar feel.
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“We wanted to give it new energy, new life,” Harriman said. “We’re hoping it can last another 50 to 60 years.”
Founding owner David Yee said last summer would be his last before retirement after 50 years running the business. Harriman said the landlord who bought the building then approached he and Rodgers about possibly giving the space a second life.
They agreed and worked with the Yee family to get the original recipes for items on the menu.
“It really worked out organically,” he said. “I’ve always loved that place. I have been going there since I moved up here 15 years ago.”
He said the goal was to try to perfect the classics such as the fried rice, lo mein and, of course, the chop suey sandwich, while adding their own touch to some of the other menu items much the same way they did with traditional Mexican dishes at Spitfire.
“I think they are getting pretty close to what they were,” he said. “It’s a work-in-progress. Every kitchen is like that. It doesn’t start off on day one like it’s going to be forever.
“The chop suey sandwich, to me, is a sacred thing. We don’t want that to change. That’s the best part about recipes that are passed down through the generations is they bring you back to a place you once knew.”
Salem Lowe will start the summer open Wednesdays through Sundays at the 147 Fort Avenue location from noon to 7 p.m. with the likelihood of adding Tuesdays in the near future.
Harriman said he and Rodgers will split time between the new spot and the two Spitfire locations.
“We are both chefs and both know how to manage restaurants together,” he said. “We work phenomenally well as a team.
“There is no one else I could imagine doing it with. We have a real synergy together. We really complement each other’s strengths and weaknesses.”
(Scott Souza is a Patch field editor covering Beverly, Danvers, Marblehead, Peabody, Salem and Swampscott. He can be reached at [email protected]. Twitter: @Scott_Souza.)
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