Issue link: http://southshoremagazine.uberflip.com/i/1547562
A little over a year after moving from the Hingham Shipyard to the Nantasket Beach Resort, Boathouse Bistro Beachfront has settled nicely into its new home in Hull. The ocean view draws guests in from near and far, but owners Steve and Tinka McCauley and Albana Jubani hope it is the warmth of their family restaurant that brings them back. With more room to gather, they can now host everything from casual dinners to wedding celebrations. The restaurant's roots reach back to Boston's North End, where Steve began working at the Florentine Cafe in 1995 and met Tinka, who would become his partner in life and business. After moving to the South Shore to raise their children, they had the idea of bringing a North End-style family restaurant to their new home. They opened Boathouse Bistro in the Hingham Shipyard in 2015, and it quickly developed a loyal following both at the restaurant and with catering functions across the South Shore. After a decade in Hingham, "We had built a great business," Tinka says. Not only were the seats in the restaurant always filled but "We were hustling all over the place, doing functions, doing outside catering, running to yacht clubs." With a strong team and loyal customers behind them, she says, "We were ready to bring this business all under one roof." Moving to Hull gave them space to bring all the pieces together. They tripled in size both in space and staff. The menu still reflects the North End flavors that inspired the original Hingham restaurant. Rollatini, shrimp scampi and seafood pescatore are among a few of the favorite dishes the owners point to, along with the sauces that give them their character: piccata, marsala and red sauce, all made from scratch with local ingredients whenever possible. Pizza has been another point of pride since their early days and they proudly declare it the best pizza on the South Shore. When they first opened, the owners brought in a friend from Italy to help guide the pizza station because, as Albana explains, they wanted to offer something different from the typical pizza places in the area. Their longtime pizza maker, who has been making pies for more than 30 years, made the move to Hull with the rest of the kitchen team. The restaurant has added more seafood dishes to suit its beachfront setting and is preparing a new winter menu, with possible returning favorites and seasonal additions still being finalized at the time of the interview. The move has brought familiar faces along with new ones. "All our regulars are still filling our seats," Tinka says. "We've welcomed so many new people." She describes the support from Hull as 'welcoming them with open arms.' Along with their loyal patrons, the entire kitchen staff from Hingham made the move to Hull, where chef Derek Doyle joined the expanded operation. Longtime employees from front of the house came, too. At Boathouse Bistro Beachfront, a family restaurant has found more room for the celebrations and community connections that shaped it. A PLACE TO GATHER, IN EVERY SEASON 40 S E 2014 S E 2014 S E 2014 Written by Zoe Pirnie, photography by Brian Doherty