The owners of a ramshackle building on State Route 24 just south of the Harpswell-Brunswick line have good news for lovers of locally harvested fried clams.
The building previously housed Fat Pat’s Take Out, a clam shack that served its family-recipe fried clams for many years before closing decades ago. A faded sign on the building’s facade still bears the name.
While there is still much left to do, Russell Coffin, the new proprietor of a wholesale shellfish-buying operation at the site, said he and property owners Jeff Janvrin and Jen Brown plan to reopen the clam shack in the spring or summer of 2026.
According to Coffin, the business was originally opened many decades ago by the late Darrell Moody and his wife, Patricia, who was the original “Fat Pat.” It was later sold to the late Lionel Levasseur, of Brunswick.
Lionel Levasseur was also married to a Patricia, so they kept the Fat Pat’s name. Coffin said Pat Levasseur didn’t mind inheriting the nickname, because the business was a “gold mine.”
Coffin said it was Pat Levasseur’s signature batter, combined with the delicate texture and sweetness of fresh, locally harvested clams, that continued to make the clam shack a popular destination.
He said the Harpswell area provides a muddy, well-flushed habitat for clams that makes them sweet, tender and less gritty than clams grown in sandy areas.
Coffin said people still stop by the property regularly to reminisce about the time they had fried clams from Fat Pat’s on their honeymoon or vacation.
“Back in July, this couple came in and took pictures of each other in front of the old restaurant,” he said. “They saw me and came over to explain what they were doing, thinking it might be a little strange. I said, ‘No, it’s not. We get it all the time.'”
Janvrin’s family bought the property from Lionel Levasseur in 1989, Coffin said. They ultimately closed the clam shack but continued to operate the wholesale side of the business until about five years ago.
Now, they’re bringing it back as part of a larger operation called Fat Pat’s Shellfish LLC, which recently reopened a wholesale shellfish-buying business at the site. They plan to add a processing operation this winter.
In July, the Harpswell Planning Board approved the wholesale operation’s reopening. Janvrin told the board he planned to resume buying and cutting soft-shell clams in an existing barn-type structure on the property.
A similar business had operated previously at the site, but the town had no record of it ever receiving a site plan review, according to Planning Board documents. Janvrin’s original proposal involved no construction or changes to the property.
Abutters raised concerns about traffic flow, parking layout and sight lines during the board’s July 16 meeting. In response, Janvrin agreed to revise the site plan, remove one parking space and post a 5-mph on-site speed limit.
The board approved a one-way traffic pattern with entry from Route 24 and exit onto First Road and Echoes Shore Drive. A Maine Department of Transportation letter confirmed that the existing driveway may serve both the business and an adjacent home on the site, as long as it isn’t widened.
The site accommodates parking for the owner, two employees and three harvesters. Some harvesters are expected to arrive towing boats, but the board determined the lot can accommodate larger vehicles.
Coffin said the added visits by harvesters are helping to reduce traffic speeds on that stretch of Route 24, which have long been a concern for local property owners.
He and Janvrin have yet to procure all needed permissions from the town to open the clam shack. They’ve already spoken to the Department of Transportation and were told they need to move the shack an additional 10 feet from the road, which they plan to do.
Planning Board Chair Amy Haible said in an email that she wasn’t aware of plans to reopen the clam shack. She said doing so would require a review by the town’s Code Enforcement Office “at the very least.”
As for Fat Pat’s signature batter, Coffin said he doesn’t know exactly what’s in it, adding that the recipe has been a well-guarded secret. But he knows enough to approximate it with a bit of trial and error.
“It’s either Bisquick or Aunt Jemima (now Pearl Milling Co.) pancake mix, with a few more ingredients added,” Coffin said. “We’ve got that much figured out.”
Correction: An earlier version of this story contained an error about Fat Pat’s history. A wholesale shellfish-buying operation at the site closed down five years ago. The clam shack had closed over two decades earlier. The Anchor regrets the error.
