Thursday’s restaurant in Galesville gets new owners
Stan Fletcher and Joe McGovern, of Stan and Joe’s Saloon in Annapolis, recently sold their Edgewater location and bought Thursday’s Steak and Crab House on Riverside Drive in Galesville.
Friends of Dave Hysan, who owned the restaurant for 15 years, had been talking with him informally about buying the business. When the opportunity presented itself, Fletcher and McGovern jumped. The changeover happened Nov. 1 with a soft opening and little fanfare.
They don’t mind taking their time adjusting to the new digs, and Hysan has been helping with the transition.
“We are still meeting the neighbors and figuring out where all the light switches are,” McGovern said.
He was only halfjoking. On a recent winter day, he and wife, Tracy, and Fletcher met with management to locate all of the light switches and other important shut-offs. McGovern calls Tracy the “and” of Stan and Joe’s. “She holds us together,” he said.
She is the accountant and bookkeeper for both locations, and banquet manager at the West Street location.
“We want to bring banquet service here, too,” Tracy said. “Wedding rehearsals, parties — this location is great for that.”
A name change is also in the works. Thursday’s will soon be known as S&J’s Riverside. Fletcher and McGovern don’t plan to make major changes. They are working on a smaller menu, with daily blue-plate specials, seasonal menus with locally sourced seafood and produce, and a brunch menu.
“We are both sports guys,” McGovern said. “A TV or two may pop up.”
Where the restaurant now stands used to be a steamboat landing for the
of the Tolchester Steamship line, which brought visitors, livestock, and freight from Baltimore to south county destinations such as Galesville and Shady Side, from the late 1800s to the 1930s.
When roads and automobiles came in, steamboats went out.
The Dixons, a local family, converted the landing to a restaurant in 1932, and it has been a restaurant since, changing hands and changing names over time: Molly and Dave’s, Fisherman’s Wharf, Steamboat Landing, and then Thursday’s.
Fletcher and McGovern have been working with the Galesville Heritage Society to find historic photographs to incorporate into the decor to honor the area’s history.
The partners bring decades of restaurant experience to the business. McGovern bartended in Georgetown, and later in the Annapolis area. Fletcher owned a bar in Rehoboth Beach, Delaware, and bartended in Annapolis. They met through a mutual friend, another bartender, Fletcher said.
“Our business philosophies were similar,” he said. “We wanted to create a place where we would like to hang out, with cold beer, good food, good service, a comfortable atmosphere. Nothing fancy.”
Thirteen years ago, they opened Stan and Joe’s Saloon on West Street. While the two locations share some award-winning recipes, they could not be more different, Fletcher said.
“It’s a tale of two cities,” he said. “The Annapolis location gets a lot of foot traffic, from businesses and state government, and a late night crowd. Not a lot of boaters.
“(Galesville) is a rural setting, a destination. Here, it is six months of locals only. Our busiest time is lunch, right now. It’s much more vibrant in the summer — people come here from D.C. to experience what the bay has to offer.”
In the winter, there is not enough late night business to support it, but there will be live music on the dock in the summer.
Stan and Joe’s Saloon periodically hosts fundraisers for first responders, and the Burn Foundation, a tradition Fletcher and McGovern want to continue in the new location.
“I grew up in Chevy Chase,” McGovern said. “It sounds like the beginning of an Irish joke, but on my block, there were two firefighters, three cops and a priest.”
His father, Joseph McGovern Sr., was a World War II Navy veteran and a psychologist who worked with firefighters.
“My dad used to invite them to dinner — gave them a nice quiet meal, a family meal. Later, they would go off quietly, to talk,” he said.
He was a volunteer firefighter for awhile.
“We haven’t talked to Galesville (Volunteer Fire Company) yet, but we want to continue giving back to the community,” he said.
McGovern says he is adjusting to the new rhythm, enjoying quiet mornings on the waterfront with a cup of coffee, watching ducks, the occasional bald eagle, and a blue heron that frequent the waters of the West River.
“I worked 40 years to get here,” he said. “I’m enjoying it.”