Fire takes the smoke out of Ted Peters' snack shack

The snack shack will still serve up sandwiches and memories but not its claim to fame for months.

SOUTH PASADENA - Ted Peters' Famous Smoked Fish is out of its signature product until further notice.

The restaurant's landmark smokehouse at 1350 S Pasadena Ave. is shuttered, a week after much of its interior was destroyed by fire. The restaurant remains open, but co-owner Michael Lathrop said it could be months before regulars can eat smoked mullet, mackerel, mahi-mahi and salmon.

Don Boyles, who stopped for lunch Monday after a fishing expedition to John's Pass, was bummed to hear the news.

"There's no fish?" the hungry Clearwater man asked with a forlorn look.

The fire occurred around 1:20 a.m. Oct. 15, probably after an electrical short, said South Pasadena fire Chief William Naylor.

The outside of the burned building remains intact. Lost on the inside were scales, cash registers, refrigerators, lights and the sheet rock on one wall. Lathrop said the front room, which included a carry-out counter, will be reconstructed in the same way.

The back of the building served as the smokehouse, Lathrop said. The built-in brick smoke ovens weren't damaged in the fire, but the building can't be used.

He had no tally on the damage. Rebuilding could take months, because the 30-year-old structure must be brought up to current building codes and the permitting process is time-consuming, Lathrop said.

In the meantime, he may search for an alternative venue for smoking the fish.

So take the smoke out of Ted Peters and what do you get? The best hamburgers and German potato salad in town, regulars say, plus hot dogs, chicken sandwiches and clam chowder. Lathrop said the restaurant's smoked fish spread will remain available.

Ted Peters started the open-air restaurant more than 50 years ago, and its picnic tables quickly became a regular haunt for tourists and locals. The most recent menu change was 12 years ago, when it added salmon.

Peters was a regular at the restaurant's bar late into his 80s. He died this year at 91, after being hit by a car.

Lathrop, who is Peters' nephew, said many of his customers are out-of-town visitors who grew up in the area or visited as children.

"I'm just amazed at the volume of business that consider themselves regular customers, but they only stop in every 10 or 20 years," Lathrop said. "Probably 40 to 50 percent of what we sell are memories."

He's also amazed by the number of phone calls he has received since the fire. Some callers want to know what they can do to help. Others say they heard that the whole place burned to the ground.

Lathrop wouldn't say how he felt the first day after the fire, when the restaurant opened without the familiar billowing smoke.

"It's something that we've rarely ever seen in 52 years of business," he said.

He expects to lose some business as word spreads that the famous smoked fish is unavailable. He said it's too soon to tell whether any of the 25 employees will have to be laid off.

Bill VandenBrink, 88, has frequented Ted Peters' for 25 years. He said he isn't giving up on the smoked mackerel and mullet that make his mouth water. He'll come back again and again until the fish is back on the menu.

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