Still, the snow on the ground and bitter breeze swirling off Pleasure Bay did little to deter the hundreds of patrons who swear by Sully’s, as it is affectionately known.
“It was a long, cold winter without this place,” said Jeanna Tamas, a South Boston resident who stopped by for the reopening with partner Talen Carvalho. “It’s rejuvenating. Like a breath of fresh air.”
Tamas and Carvalho, like many others in South Boston, have been regulars at Sully’s since moving to the neighborhood. Their go-to Sully’s experience is a stop for food after a walk with their dog, Baxter, who munched happily on a hot dog as his owners finished their meal.
The brimming tables at Sully’s on Saturday represented a snapshot of the New England population that is elsewhere difficult to find. There were the newcomers to the city — many of them college students — waiting in line for their first taste of the famous fried seafood alongside the longtime residents, who, in thick Boston accents reminisced about the restaurant’s original appearance.
“We saw it on the news and decided to come down for a good walk and lunch at Sullivan’s,” said Mike Kelliher, who was sitting on a bench in the sun with his wife, Carol.
“Although I’m pretty sure we just negated the walk,” Carol said.
This year marks the 71st for Sully’s, which was opened in the shadow of Castle Island’s Fort Independence in 1951 advertising “frankfurts” and “hamburgs.”
Today, the restaurant is a local treasure known for its fresh fried seafood, but above all else, revered for its hot dogs.
One man questioned a family member as he ate Saturday afternoon: “You only got one hot dog? Just one? I got six of ‘em!”
Sully’s closes in November or December every year, typically reopening the weekend following school vacation week in February.
Much has changed at Sully’s over the years. The current version is the third building to house the restaurant on the property since its inception. The menu is displayed on flat-screen TVs now. Patrons can order online. And a new location with a reduced menu is open year round in Hub Hall.
This year, not much changed during its hiatus. A new mural depicting the Castle Island landscape was painted beneath the iconic “Sullivan’s” sign inside and a gluten-free ice cream option was added to the menu, said Director of Operations Kizito Paganini.
“We have a very loyal base of customers who have come to love the place,” said Paganini. “We try not to spring too many drastic changes on them. It’s the same food they’ve had for years and the experience of coming here that they love.”
Despite the snow that lingered on the ground Saturday, loyalists held strong to their belief that Sully’s is New England’s Punxsutawney Phil, and that this year, like each year prior, no shadow had been seen. Among the believers was Mayor Michelle Wu, who posted on Twitter a photo of her two young boys gleefully grasping a cardboard box stuffed high with fried food.
What makes Sully’s so special is difficult to put a finger on. For many, it’s the nostalgia.
“I’ve come here millions of times, it feels like,” said Liam Naughton, who came to the Saturday reopening from his home in Weymouth with his girlfriend, Lizzy Tran. “I grew up in Southie coming all the time with my grandpa. There’s something about a meal at Sully’s that makes me feel at home.”
But it was perhaps a man strolling by with a pair of dogs on Saturday who, after gaping at patrons who sat wrapped in coats happily eating their food, expressed the Sully’s phenomenon best: “Only in New England.”
Andrew Brinker can be reached at andrew.brinker@globe.com. Follow him on Twitter at @andrewnbrinker.