Business Profile:Seahorse Sea Shack, Pleasantville
When the Seahorse Sea Shack opened on Aug. 2 at 11 a.m., it did so with little fanfare and without a ribbon-cutting ceremony that has become customary in Pleasantville.
Owner Phil McGrath insisted that the new seafood eatery open with little publicity, and from there he would let customers discover it for themselves. And they certainly did.
On its first day, about 150 people walked into the new restaurant along Wheeler Avenue, and then on the next day, about 200 customers placed an order.
But it should hardly be a surprise for McGrath, who has a proven track record of succeeding in the food business, particularly in Pleasantville and even more specifically on Wheeler Avenue. The Seahorse Sea Shack is the now the third eatery that McGrath has opened on the street, following the Iron Horse Grill and the Pony Express. Now McGrath is once again offering residents in the village and surrounding areas the chance to try a type of cuisine not prevalent in Westchester County.
The menu consists of both grilled and battered fish selections, as well as sandwich and platters with a wide variety of seafood. It also offers fish tacos, shrimp and crabmeat cocktails, and Rhode Island cherrystone chowder.
“I think what happen was I saw this concept saying there’s nothing like this Westchester,” McGrath said. “I don’t get around all of Westchester, but it seems this is the first kind of little New England influence.”
“You roll the dice,” McGrath added. “Or you open the clam shells.”
McGrath, a Pleasantville resident, has rolled the dice thrice, and each time it has landed in his favor. This year, the Iron Horse Grill will be celebrating it 15th anniversary, while Pony Express has become an established favorite.
And that certainly isn’t bad for an owner who started his career in the food business as a dishwasher 40 years ago. He didn’t envision back then he’d be were he is now.
McGrath, who graduated from Fordham University with a philosophy degree, was supposed to go to law school and become an attorney like his father. But McGrath’s passion lied elsewhere.
When colleagues of McGrath’s father asked why his son was going into the food-service industry, his father responded, “We as attorneys deal with the ills of society; he’s going to go on to deal with the pleasures of society.”
Eventually, McGrath went to the Culinary Institute of America and then later started working as a chef, including places in New York City and even in Europe.
And the pressure for a restaurant can be immense. Usually, food establishments only have one chance to impress customers. McGrath said if a customer goes to a clothing store, a tailor has multiple opportunities to fix a certain article of clothing before it finally comes out right. That’s not the case for a restaurant.
He also said if a baseball player gets a hit three out of 10 times — .300 — he’s a Hall of Famer. In his line of work, a restaurant has to almost bat 1.000.
“You can’t have mistakes happen; you can’t have people unhappy, although it happens” McGrath said.
And that’s why McGrath didn’t mind opening without a huge publicity push. It gives the staff time to get accustomed to the work, he said, while each day the business has continued to build up.
And for now the Seahorse Seafood Shack—just a couple weeks old—will continue to build up a customer base, like McGrath has impressively done two times before. And then, in the near future, Chamber of Commerce president Bill Flooks and mayor Peter Scherer will officially welcome the newest business to the village, even if it’s well known by that point.
“We’ll have to get Flooks and Scherer and all these people together but a couple weeks,” McGrath said of the timing. “But the more important thing is people just come in and enjoy it.”
