It was a determinedly Philadelphian fixture, a rotating menu of daily fish soups (attracting a rotating cast of local businessmen), broiled bluefish, stewed tomatoes, and corn-flour-fried oysters with chicken salad, a combo dating to the 19th century.
It also had a notable pedigree: It was founded in 1976 by David Mink, whose father, Sam, had opened the family's first oyster house, Kelly's on Mole Street, back in 1947, the year that David was born.
David was a senior at Cornell University when his father died in 1969, and he balked at taking over the business. It wouldn't be until seven years later, coincidentally the year his own son, Sam, was born, that Mink opened the place of his own - this time on Sansom Street.
To know a little of that history is to understand just how deeply the oyster house - or oyster houses - have been a part of the Mink family saga.
So it was somewhat startling seven years ago that David Mink, at age 53, announced he was stepping away, semi-retiring to spend time with his wife, Judi, and to hike the Appalachian Trail. He'd ski, he said, spend a few weeks in Paris. Head up to Westfield, Vt., where he helped with the goats at Lazy Lady Farm, whose cheeses he'd carried at the restaurant.
His own son, Sam, was teaching in San Francisco and - like his father initially before him - wasn't itching to get in the oyster business.
So David sold Sansom Street (while still owning the building and the note) to Cary Neff, who had run a cafe nearby and cooked at the oyster house for a couple of years.
Mink mentored him, almost as a son. Still, he said, "you have to make it your own."
It was part business advice, part paternal blessing.
But for whatever reason, the Sansom Street Oyster House never seemed to quite fit Cary Neff. Regulars were irked that he didn't remember their names. He went through several chefs. Even the snapper soup - so reliable for so long - seemed to have off days.
