TIVERTON — Back in the day, you’d have to wait for the warm weather for Macray’s signature clam cakes and fried clams, but new owner Mike Napolitano is serving up the SouthCoast favorites every week at the Tiverton restaurant.
Formerly a seasonal operation, Macray’s II restaurant at 115 Stafford Road is now open every week, Fridays through Sundays, and by March, Napolitano plans to expand those hours to Thursdays through Mondays.
Taking over the adjacent space that was formerly occupied by Primrose Bakery, he’s also expanded the inside seating to 36. In November, he obtained a full liquor license and has plans to add a tiki bar inside the restaurant to create a fun, beachy vibe the local spot.
To accompany the summertime favorite Macray’s clam cakes, Napolitano is serving house-made creamy white New England chowder. A couple new additions to the menu include fried jumbo shrimp, made-from-scratch stuffies and shrimp tacos served with a slaw of mango, cabbage, cilantro and lime. After hearing from a lot of couples who said one likes seafood, but the other doesn’t, Napolitano decided to add hamburgers and hot dogs to the menu and now, they’re catching on with customers, he said.
Another new addition to the menu that’s been a hit lately is kale soup, he said, adding his next addition might be fried calamari.
A native of Newport, Napolitano has worked at some well-known Aquidneck Island spots over the years including Christie's and the Atlantic Beach Club. He always wanted to own his own place, but ended up working as a technical writer for a Navy defense contractor for the past 10 years, but even then, he worked for a caterer on the side. “It’s always something I’ve wanted to do. It was like put up or shut up,” he said.
When his father, Jack Napolitano, passed away a couple years ago, he decided it was time to follow his dream. It started by launching Tiki Jack’s Shack, a portable tiki bar rental and catering company. Napolitano sold iced coffee from Tiki Jack’s Shack on South Shore Beach in Little Compton a couple summers ago and then decided he should add Del’s lemonade to the offerings. “That went so well I decided to buy the Del’s franchise for Tiverton and Little Compton,” he said.
After securing the Del’s franchise, Napolitano was in the midst of lining up a site in Tiverton where he would serve the Del’s and house the Tiki Jack’s portable bars for the following summer when the deal fell through late last winter. With summer crunch time on, Napolitano started knocking on doors to see if any Tiverton restaurant owners wanted to sell when he got a ‘yes’ from Macray’s II owner Bob LaFleur.
“I was actually shocked when he said he wanted to sell it,” said Napolitano. “I was thinking about taking this place over and operating Del’s and Tiki Jack’s out of here, but I thought Macray’s has such a great reputation, why give up on it.”
Known to generations of locals as a stop on the way home from the beach or after a night on the rides at the former amusement site Lincoln Park, Macray’s was originally a takeout clam shack on Route 6 in Westport that sold clam cakes, fried clams and French fries. In a 2013 Herald News article, LaFleur said he worked at the original Macray’s from 1973 to 1986. When he opened Macray’s II in Tiverton in 2013, he brought those recipes back for a new generation of seafood fans.
Now that Napolitano has taken on the Macray’s seafood legacy, he’s thinking about ways to make the outdoor seating area in the front of the building even more fun this summer. For now, he’s ready for winter diners in search of a hot bowl of chowder with a side of clam cakes.
Macray’s II at 118 Stafford Road is open Fridays through Sundays from 11 a.m. to 8 p.m. Keep up-to-date on Macray’s II on the Facebook page www.facebook.com/Macrays-Seafood-II.
Email Linda Murphy at lmurphy@heraldnews.com.