Best Of Food And Service At Kydd’s

It is not a very difficult task to venture into the restaurant business but to establish a diner with a slogan, the "best of food and service" which Is familiar to every one that dines at Kydd’s and to stand by it for two years until your patrons exceed your seating capacity—You must enlarge your quarters. And that is just what David "Bert" Kydd of Kydd’s Diner on Chelmsford Street is doing.

A new addition of 30 booths which is separate from the diner is almost complete. Its booths etc is the latest in restaurant equipment and it is practically all electric. This new addition will now seat 130 and will be open for special parties and occasions at tho earlier part of next week. You can obtain the best of steaks, chickens, sea foods, sandwiches of all kinds, anything from a "full course dinner to a hot dog", at Kydd’s.

David Kydd is the son of Mr and Mrs John Kydd and was born on July 15, 1908 on Chestnut Street, Lowell, Mass. Before stepping into the restaurant business, at the age of 15 he went into the milk business with his father and brother Douglas, better known as J Kydd & Sons, and was in it for 18 years. He then moved to Chelmsford and opened an ice cream stand which is now in its 6th year. In February, 1939 he opened Kydd’s Diner.

You can purchase any of 42 flavors as well as sodas, milk shakes, orange, buttermilk, milk, cream and decorated cakes for any occasion at Kydd’s ice cream stand located next to the diner and new addition.

David Kydd lives on Warren Avenue in Chelmsford where he has lived for the last four years with his wife and two boys Malcom and David who attends the McFarlin school in Chelmsford. As a hobby, Mr Kydd has turned to golf at times, as well as ice fishing, hunting and bowling. He is a member of the South Chelmsford Gunner and Rod Club. His greatest hazard in golf was the 19th hole.

Mr Kydd has 50 people on his payroll including the diner, milk routes, ice cream stand and the new addition. Frank Chase is the night chef and George Mulusia is the day chef. Other capable assistants are Frank O’Maliy, Olive Collins, Dorothy Russell, Myran McArdle, Danial O’Connor and Raymond Richard.

Kydds is famous for its frequent visits of celebrities [such] as: movie stars Cab Callaway, Rudy Vallee, who stopped in on his way to Maine, Bruce Cabot, Kitty Carlisle and her secretary, Jimmy Walsh and many other movie stars who pass through Chelmsford in the summer, dine at Kydd’s where the food and service is the "Best.”

The management of Skip's takes pride in announcing in added service to the residents of Chelmsford and the surrounding area. We have now installed an Air Condition system which will make it more comfortable for you as you partake of our food of which we are so proud. We realize that even though we prepare the best possible food that isn't enough, because a person must be comfortable in order to enjoy a meal no matter how good it may be. Our quality of food is guaranteed whether it be a sandwich, light lunch, or a dinner. Above everything else we insist that service rendered be of top quality, we wish at this time to express our appreciation to you all for your patronage in the past and we promise that we will continue the same service, food and comfort to you in the future.

Newsweekly, November 19, 1959

• 1954 - Drive-up window service was added on the right side of the new brick building.

Skip’s Restaurant remains unchanged. New owners: rumors of Burger King are untrue

By Ann Britton, Assistant Editor

Contrary to rumors, Skip’s Restaurant, a longstanding Chelmsford Street landmark, will not be turned into a fastfood franchise, according to the attorney for the new owners.

Principals of Integrity Foods, Ltd, the new [lessees] of Skips, at least for now have no plans to change the restaurant into a Burger King, attorney Joseph B Shanahan Jr told Selectmen Monday.

His statement was made in response to Selectman Bradford O Emerson's Inquiry of rumors circulating about the fate of the landmark, which was sold to Integrity December 1st. Skip's present menu and restaurant personnel will "stay pretty much the same," Shanahan said during a public hearing for transferral of the liquor license, "My clients have a great deal of respect for the clientele."

DiTillio, 36, of 25 Surrey Lane, Dracut, worked for Burger King while attending high school. He entered the company’s Management Training Program and worked his way through the management ranks from assistant manager to area manager for all Burger King restaurants in New England, New York and Pennsylvania, according to his resume. He purchased the Bridge Street restaurant in 1983, and opened the Merrimack Street Burger King on May 6, 1987.

Skip's Restaurant

A Chelmsford tradition for over 40 years, Skip's is now open under new ownership and management. Jack DiTillio and the entire team at Skip's would like to welcome you back for a family dining experience. We have all of your favorites as well as some new items. Skip's is the perfect place for your next party, meeting or function and our entire menu is available for take-out. Restaurant & Lounge now open 7 days 'till midnight.

Skip’s calls it a day

After health board shutdown, 40-year diner landmark closes

By Rick Lombardi, Staff Writer

Teary-eyed employees of Skip's Restaurant sat quietly as they watched the Board of Health eliminate their jobs. The board actually upheld an order to keep Skip's closed until necessary work was done to correct health violations. But owner John DiTillio said that work would not be done, thus ending a 40-year tradition in Chelmsford.

But there is a glimmer of hope for the 40 full- and part-time workers. DiTillio says he is finalizing a deal with a major New England restaurant chain which could reopen Skip's and pump in about $400,000 in renovations.

Skip's was closed April 19 for various health violations ranging from failure to enclose a grease pit outside the building to fixing seals around refrigeration units. None of the violations involved the quality or preparation of food ...

At Tuesday night's meeting, which was requested by Skip's, Day explained how he had visited the restaurant in February at the request of the board. At that time, Day outlined several violations including ill-working refrigeration systems, unclean work and storage areas, leaks in the roof, walls and floor in disrepair, and a broken temperature gauge on the dishwasher.

Day said he gave DiTillio 60 days to fix the problems. Last week Day said he closed the restaurant because the owner had only achieved one of three steps — which was to give the restaurant a good cleaning. Repair of the refrigeration and of the walls, ceiling and floors was not done ...

Board member Dr Paul Canniff said he was “flabbergasted" that the restaurant had waited until the deadline to begin fixing some of the work.

"Without drastic action, nothing was going to be done about the violations," he said. Board member Mark Gauthier said there was a "pattern of inactivity to repair blatant violations. Only when we turned the heat up pretty high, everybody got busy all of the sudden."

The board also reminded DiTillio that he had been ordered a year ago to tie into the new sewer line on Chelmsford Street and gave him until April 30 to do so. No work has been done on the line, the board said.

DiTillio said he would need $30,000 to $40,000 to bring the restaurant up to the board's standards, but "that money is just not there to do it."

The hearing was packed by now-former Skip’s employees, some of whom wept after realizing that their Jobs were eliminated. Peter Hanscom of North Chelmsford, a 17-year employee, said he’ll "play golf" for a while and wait to see what happens.

Reopened Skip’s to keep it in family

By Sandi Copeland, Staff Writer

Perhaps it is out of a sense of nostalgia, or maybe blood does run thicker than water. No matter how you call it, the situation at Skip's Diner is definitely a family affair. Last week. S O N S Enterprises, Inc, the newly-formed corporation of George Burliss and Fred Gefteas Jr, filed restaurant and liquor applications to reopen their forefathers' establishment on Chelmsford Street, according to their attorney, Joseph Shanahan. A public hearing for the restaurant permit is scheduled for September 16 ... "Their hope is to open up [in October] and give the same good food and the same good service their family did for 40 years," he said.

They plan to keep the establishment a traditional, family restaurant with a pot roast and mashed potato menu. Patrons will be able to enjoy breakfast, lunch or dinner at the old fountain counter, as they have for nearly half a century. Both men remained in the food service business when they left Skip's Diner. Burless, 39, of Dunstable, was working as a food service manager for Corporate Chefs in Haverhill. Gefteas, 41, of Sudbury was employed by J P Food Service in Everett.

They are leasing the building from Skips, Inc, which owns the land, restaurant, equipment and the ice cream parlor next door. Enterprise Bank & Trust is helping to finance the renovations, Shanahan said. “I think its going to be good for the town. They have had the business in town for almost half a century. Anytime you have a business coming in to hire people and pay taxes, it has to be good," he said ...

Skip’s cooks up same menu for reopening

By Independent Staff

Selectmen gave the green light Monday night to a proposal to reopen Skip’s restaurant on Chelmsford Street.

The restaurant's two managers applied to the board for four different items: a common victualer's license, an alcoholic beverage license, a weekday and Sunday entertainment license, and permission to use stock in their company, S O N S, Inc, as collateral in borrowing money.

Selectmen voted unanimously to grant all four requests. Selectman William Logan, who is general manager of the Courthouse, which includes restaurant and bar, left the room during the hearing and abstained from the vote ...

Since 1989, the restaurant had been leased to Jack DiTillio of Integrity Foods. It was under DiTillio's management that the Board of Health closed Skip's last spring for numerous health violations, said Shanahan. Health Director Richard Day said the violations ranged from leaky ceilings, holes in the floor, stained walls, and run-down and barely functional freezers, refrigerators and food preparation equipment.

After evicting DiTillio, Shanahan said his clients spent $50,000 on "very visible" renovations at the restaurant, including a new roof, new refrigeration units, a new floor, and carpentry and finish work on the walls. Shanahan pointed out that the Burliss and Gefteas families had never been cited by the Board of Health while they ran the restaurant.

Before Skip's can open, it must pass a health inspection to receive food service permits and a certificate of occupancy ...

Selectmen said they usually delay giving a liquor license to a new restaurant but made an exception in Skip's case. "A track record of 45 years with the same family, I certainly think, is a lot different than a new applicant coming before us," said Selectman Rhodes Johnson.

Shanahan said Skip's will serve the "traditional family fare" from the old menu, and will also have the same floor plan. The restaurant and lounge, "The Embers" have a total of 300 seats, with 50 in the dining room. The entertainment license is only for a television at the bar and prerecorded music in the dining room. Live entertainment is not anticipated. The restaurant and lounge will cater to a "generally mature crowd," said Shanahan ...

DINING OUT - Skip’s is the place to go for American dining at its best

PETER HUXLEY

There really should be a plaque on the door of Skip's in Chelmsford. Restaurant Americanus, it would read; a designation clear enough for all to get the message that here is an eatery in the classic tradition of the American diner combined with the warmth of the long-established downtown restaurant.

I had despaired of finding another as authentic as the legendary Jad's of Brattleboro, Vermont, yet here it was, just a few yards from Route 495, in our own neighborhood. It has been around since 1947 and, for most of that time, under the ownership of the Burliss and Gefteas families, who demonstrate that longevity may be a good teacher ...

The dining room menu seemed to contain one of everything as well. From sandwiches to a vegetarian plate on the lower end of the price list to filet mignon and a fisherman's platter at the upper end, the menu offered a full spectrum of popular recipes for beef, seafood, chicken and the rest.

Worthy of special note, however, is the added printout of daily specials. It is likely to be filled with examples of comfort food certain to bring back memories of the American Monday night supper — those too often forgotten taste treats made with the leftovers from Sunday dinner. At prices as low as a gnat's knee we found old fashioned beef stew, chicken livers and bacon, baked meatloaf, turkey loaf, escalloped hamburg with macaroni and braised lamb egg noodles.

Excellent start

Our dinner began with two excellent soups. My bubbling crock of French onion soup had been prepared in the classic manner: a thin crouton and melted mozzarella over a rich stock complete with plenty of cooked-down onions. Sharon’s choice, a tomato macaroni soup, was less familiar but equally tasty. It featured a thicker puree of tomato, enlivened with herbs in subtle balance and complimented by the chewy softness of macaroni. Very good, indeed.

Salad was served, in generous measure, in a deep glass bowl. Fresh and crispy, it held a broad assortment of vegetables enjoyed with a very presentable Thousand Island dressing — one of a number offered.

Entrees a success

Chunks and slices of white meat filled Sharon's entree choice of turkey pie. A down-home turkey gravy provided plenty of moisture and the lot was covered with a thick and golden pastry lid. Mashed potatoes, fluffy and light, were well suited to the dish.

I, on the other hand, enjoyed a different sort of American classic: prime rib au Jus. The large, thick untrimmed slice was fork tender and could hardly have been more flavorful sitting atop its pool of Juices. A good quality steamed rice was Just right as a side dish ...

Krista, our super-competent server, looked puzzled when I asked for a wine list. She quickly recovered and offered to have the bartender write down the names of available wines. Obviously Skip's does not pretend to be a fern bar with a leather-bound wine list. Nevertheless, we did enjoy quaffing glasses of the house burgandy and blush wines ...

Our just desserts

Sharon devoured a huge slice of banana cream pie and I an equally humungus slice of chocolate cream. Each slice brought back memories of the fifties, before calories had been invented, and had us smacking our lips over each bite.

Still, we could not exit without packing a bag with a chewy hermit, huge sugar cookie and an innocent soft pastry round, sugar sprinkled, hiding a thin inner layer of fig filling. A flavor to die for and one to consign the traditional fig newton to a museum.

Thus does this simple and straight-forward restaurant qualify to be re-named (with apologies to “Cassablanca") Skip's Cafe Amerlcalne, for it is the epitome of what most Americans wish their home town restaurant could become.

Tobacco regulations draw mixed reactions from local restaurants

By Brenda Donoghue, Staff Writer

Some local restaurant owners and managers are worried Chelmsford’s new tobacco regulations will encourage smoking customers to dine in other towns, while others feel the rules are no threat to business. “I’m afraid the tobacco regulations will put a serious financial damper on us and other small restaurants," said Steven Kittredge, general manager of Town Meeting Restaurant on Chelmsford Street.

Kittredge was more concerned with a 1991 tobacco regulation than with the new rules. That regulation, still in effect, requires restaurants to reserve at least 75 percent of their seats, including lounge seats, as non-smoking areas. “Right now our lounge seats make up the 25 percent smoking area." Kittredge said. "We get a lot of smoking customers and some have complained about dining in the lounge."

Fred G Gefteas, co-owner of Skip’s Restaurant on Chelmsford Street, said some of his customers have also complained about the smoking section. "Personally speaking, I don’t think anyone should smoke in a public place or while eating because it’s annoying," Gefteas said. "But we’re in a business to please our customers — smokers and non-smokers alike." “We have a tremendous weekend breakfast business and must open the bar for dining since it's most of our smoking section." Gefteas said. "Some people don't want to eat in the bar." Gefteas said he would feel belter if the tobacco regulations were applied statewide so local businesses would not be competing with other towns that have less restrictive regulations.

Augusto Gabriel, restaurant manager for the Radisson Heritage Hotel on Independence Drive, did not know about the new regulations until a Chelmsford Independent interview and said if the hotel cannot afford proper ventilation, owners may eliminate the four-table smoking section. That may turn customers away, he said.

Below, Fred G Gefteas, coowner of Skip's Restaurant on Chelmsford Street, is shown inside the eatery. He said he understands the need for more stringent smoking regulations but wishes they were being applied statewide.

However, Kiki Kalogerakos, owner of Exxon Restaurant on Parkhurst Road, said she has never seen a customer get upset about restricted smoking space and has no problem with the tobacco regulation. Bertucci's Restaurant on Littleton Road became smoke-free last year, along with the rest of the restaurant chain. "I don’t think it’s hurt business here at all." said general manager Mary Ann Eastman. A lot of customers want to eat in a smoke-free restaurant, she added, and waiters are happy with the arrangement because they don’t have to inhale secondhand smoke.

"I don’t think the tobacco regulations will harm restaurant business," said Mark Boldt, assistant director of the Westford-Chelmsford Tobacco Control Program. Boldt drafted the regulations and presented them to the Board of Health for approval. "Smokers are becoming more and more conditioned to the fact that there are places where they can't smoke." Boldt said. "I think if they're regulars at local restaurants, they won't be inclined to stop going because of these regulations."

End of an era

Helen Braider, who worked at Skip’s for 15 years, serves Judy Comeau and her granddaughter, Hanna, 11, last Friday.

After more than 60 years, landmark shuts its doors

By Kevin Zimmerman, Staff Writer

It took two deeply personal losses for Annie Peterson to find a home. In a short time, Peterson’s husband died and the factory where she had worked for more than two decades was shuttered. With few options available, she returned to the Chelmsford Street diner where she had spent time waiting tables in her youth.

Below, The sign was lit one last time Wednesday afternoon during Skip’s last day.

Last Wednesday, and 30 years alter her first return, Peterson came back to Skip’s Restaurant for one last lunch during the landmark’s final day of business. This past spring, owners George Burliss and Fred Gefteas announced they planned to close the diner and sell the land to a developer. “It’s very, very sad because I’m losing my home like the rest of them," said Peterson. “It really was like a home. The people were pleasant; they were like family.”

“You get to know the waitresses like family," said Bruce Foucar. “They know what I want before I do." And while Skip’s was a place to avoid his own self-proclaimed lousy cooking, the eatery soon became a place where he caught up on current events, Red Sox games and even a little work for the self employed electrician. “People would call here looking for you," said Foucar. He said it was Skip's unique zigzagging counter — which allowed diners to face each other across open spaces — that helped spark conversations between strangers.

Historical Society postcard 2021.10.2032

One of those regulars he kept running into at the counter, Diane Gibbons, eventually became his girlfriend. “A lot of couples met here," said Foucar. “You come in sit down at the counter, see each other on a regular basis and it just grows.”

Below, Keizc Pires, who worked at Skip’s for three years, gives Ralph Simpson a hug on her last day of work Wednesday, the restaurant’s final day.

The counter was also a big draw for customer Bill Gerber. “It is a real gathering place for people and for regulars,” Gerber said. “You would know people on both sides of the counter. It was an ad hoc family." Gerber, who said he’s been coming into Skip’s a couple times a week for the last 30 years, said the community is going to miss the place. “This town needs this caliber of restaurant.” he said. “The food is fairly good and at reasonable prices. You can afford to eat out regularly.”

Albert and Bernice Gregory from Littleton made sure they stopped in for one last meal. They’ve been coming to Skip’s for about 20 years. It was sort of a regular date night with a movie first then a slice of pie and cup of coffee at Skip’s. “It’s just a nice place to come to,” said Bernice. “It’s friendly and comfortable.” It’s closing is unfortunately a sign of the times, said Albert. “All good things are disappearing," said Albert. "It’s the fast food pace of life.”

Barbara Renison, who drops in with her husband Ralph Hickey, hangs onto a menu after ordering so she can get Gefteas and Burliss to autograph it for her. The pair, like a lot of Skip’s regulars made the restaurant part of her weekly routine. They would come in after Mass on Sundays and usually once during the week for lunch. “It’s convenient and has a friendly atmosphere,” said Hickey.

Below, Owner George Burliss posts a sign thanking customers after Skip’s closed for good Wednesday.

As if on cue, the couple’s friends Linda and Tom Fall walk through the front door and make their way over to the booth. Although the Falls both grew up in Billerica, as children they would come to Skip's with their families. Tom was even there on November 9, 1965, the evening the entire Northeastern U S was plunged into darkness during a massive blackout.

Their waitress was just coming out of the kitchen loaded down with plates when things went dark. “As soon as the last plate hit the table, the lights went out.” said Fall. “Ours was the last meal served before the power went out.”

Below, Chris Boogaard, left, and Jeff Lang prepare food during Skip’s last day in business.

Back inside the darkened bar known as the Embers Lounge, bartender Dee Cymbura was busy writing a note on the back of a paper placemat. The bar’s been hopping most of the day so she hasn't really thought about yelling, “Last Call" for the final round. Cymbura admits most of staff stayed on even after the closing was announced because most held out hope that the deal would fall through. Barring that, many assumed the general manager was going to take over running the show.

But on Wednesday, as current and former employees continue to pour into the lounge for an after-hours closing party. Cymbura realizes she's losing more than just a job. “The people are so great. It’s like one family,” she said wiping tears away “We would hang out with each other after work.

Goodbye Skip's

As a demolition crew tears down Skip’s Restaurant Thursday, people gathered to watch and reminisce about the Chelmsford landmark. Pictured from left are Tracy Cole, George Burliss, Lynn Marcella and Helen Brasier.