Marblehead’s Rip Tide Lounge at 116 Pleasant St. has been a well-known community landmark for about 60 years, and it’s now back up and running under John Kaetzer, owner.
Kaetzer emphasized that ensuring his menu has a maximum price point of $10 was important to him, as was bringing back the pool table, jukebox and darts. He added that he also hired experienced bartenders from Marblehead and that he wanted the place to feel “homey.”
“I think that is what everyone expects this place to be and wants it to be. The quality is still there, but the price point has been significantly lowered,” Kaetzer said. “It kind of feels like what people were used to, just a little bit more of a cleaner, modernized facility.”
The typically-$10 dive bar burger and fries are $5 on Tuesdays starting at 5 p.m. when the lounge opens. Earlier this week on Tuesday, there were about 25 people waiting for doors to open, eager to grab a burger and a drink.
“That’s just to give people the opportunity, if they’re not able to really go out with everything that’s going on right now, to kind of still go out, grab something to eat, have a drink and not break the bank — and still get some people in here on a night where it otherwise may not be that busy,” Kaetzer said.
The burger is inspired by an Oklahoma-style onion burger, as caramelized onions sit between the two patties, and it comes with James River sauce and cheddar cheese.
Marblehead residents Susan Randall and Mary Zenda and former Marblehead resident Louise Antonelli all went to the Rip Tide April 1 to get burgers and reminisce on their fond memories of the town landmark over the years.
“When we’d come in the door, the men would get up so that we could sit together, and sometimes they’d walk us out because those steps were pretty… Gnarly is a good word for it, and we were a little unbalanced. But we had the best times, didn’t we?” Randall said.
They all said how happy they were that the Rip Tide was open once again, and Zenda joked she hopes the place “outlives” the three of them, as they’re all 80.
Kaezer said the community support has been “heartwarming.”
“It feels like they’re accepting of me,” he said. “I’m not from Marblehead. It’s a very community-oriented town where people have a lot of pride in what this space and location has been to them in the past, and it just feels good that they at least have the confidence in me to give me a shot and hopefully welcome me into the community and continue with that generational obsession with this location.”
Kaetzer grew up in Bridgewater, but has lived on the North Shore since he went to college at Salem State. He now lives in Nahant.
“It’s just me and my wife. We’re not some big restaurant group. It’s just the two of us, a couple of locals, just trying to get this place off the ground and going,” he continued. “We’re not planning on ditching it like the last (people) did.
“This is my passion, my full-time job, so I plan on being here for a while, and just have been really excited about the support that we’ve gotten so far from the community.”
And there is plenty still on the horizon for the Rip Tide, according to Kaetzer. The most immediate shift is that Rip Tide will be open for brunch starting this Sunday at 11 a.m.
“It’s going to be more of a traditional ‘diner style brunch,’ (which is what) I like to call it. Eggs, hash browns, pancakes, French toast, nothing crazy,” he said. “I won’t have a brioche French toast or some crazy hollandaise sauce with eggs benedict. I’ll leave that to some of the nicer spots. This is going to be more of a simple lineup of food.”
There will soon be Keno games and scratch tickets, and in just a few months, there will be live music also. He added that hours will be extended once the weather warms up, “so people can expect to be able to come here during the day as well.”
