Lewinsky's on Clinton in Delaware City pouring last drink Sunday
Patricia TaloricoA Delaware City restaurant with a name customers either loved or hated will be pouring its last drink Sunday.
Lewinsky's on Clinton is closing its doors after a run of more than four years.
The announcement that the casual American restaurant at 92 Clinton St. was shuttering was made in a Sept. 14 Facebook post.
Owners thanked loyal customers for their support. No reason for the closing was given.
Messages left Thursday for owner John Buchheit III were not immediately returned.
"Don't Cry Because It's Over ... Smile Because It Happened" reads a message on the restaurant's Facebook page along with a photo of former President Bill Clinton, wife Hillary and daughter Chelsea waving goodbye.
Owners referred to Lewinsky's on Clinton as a "gastropub meets artisanal deli." The 140-seat restaurant in the historic canal town opened in July 2014 after a major renovation of what used to be a local bar.
Lewinsky's features "lunch and dinner classics with contemporary twists" such as house-corned beef, pierogis and pommes frites and a rotating list of craft brews. It also had karaoke on Thursday nights and offered live music at its Sunday blues brunch.
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The eatery's wry name initially was one of its chief attention-getters. It was a play off President Clinton's peccadillos with White House intern Monica Lewinsky and the Oval Office sex scandal that led to Clinton's impeachment in 1998.
Buchheit, one of the restaurant's owners, came up with the name. He also owns the nearby Crabby Dick's, a popular seafood restaurant featuring menu item names with double-entendres such as crab balls with seaman sauce and a dish called Seymour Dicks Chickie Chopped Salad.
As a marketing gimmick, Lewinsky's on Clinton once held Blue Dress Night Thursdays in reference to an infamous dress Lewinsky wore and saved as a souvenir of a sexual encounter with Clinton.
While some Delaware City visitors laughed and took photos of the Lewinsky's on Clinton sign, not everyone was amused.
In 2014, shortly after the restaurant opened, Carol A. Stewart wrote a letter to the editor printed in The News Journal expressing her dismay over the name.
"I grew up in Delaware City, raised my children here, and have had a great life here. This town is family-oriented, and I want the world to know that there are many mature, respectable citizens here who are embarrassed by the choice of such names for our local restaurants," Stewart wrote.
"We feel it demeans all of us, and gives our community a tarnished reputation in spite of all the many good things that have happened here recently. We resent this happening and look forward to regaining our respectable reputation in the near future."
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Since the closing was announced, more than 375 people have commented on the Lewinsky's on Clinton Facebook page.
"This bums me out beyond belief!!!!" Sue Maebert Young wrote.
"This is really sad news! I guess my original hoodie will be worth a fortune now!" Janyce Colmery said.
Contact Patricia Talorico at (302) 324-2861 or ptalorico@delawareonline.com and on Twitter @pattytalorico
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