At 7 p.m. Saturday, there wasn’t an empty seat around the crowded bar. The restaurant was full.
It was, by winter weekend standards, business as usual at Bobby’s Restaurant & Lounge, the popular Ocean Drive eatery that is as much a Vero Beach landmark as Dodgertown.
“Everybody knows Bobby’s,” said Marge Terry, the restaurant’s longtime hostess. “It’s like Vero Beach’s version of ‘Cheers,’ the friendliest bar in town. We get newcomers, yet whenever you come in, everybody seems to know everybody.”
For the past few weeks, though, “everybody” has noticed someone missing: Bobby McCarthy, the restaurant’s affable owner, is recovering from injuries he sustained in mid-December, when he suffered a frightening seizure while sitting at the bar and fell awkwardly to the floor.
Reached by phone at the HealthSouth Treasure Coast Rehabilitation Hospital on 37th Street, McCarthy said last weekend he felt no after-effects from the seizure and that a cracked rib had healed.
He said he had spent two weeks doing physical therapy on a “severely bruised knee” – the injury did not require surgery – and expected to be released earlier this week.
“I can’t wait to get out of here,” said McCarthy, who entered the rehab hospital after a three-week stay at Indian River Medical Center, where he underwent a series of tests and recuperated from the seizure.
“I’m far from being able to run a 100-yard dash, but I’m doing a lot better than I was,” he added. “I’m still using a walker, but I’m ready to start doing things at home. Being in the hospital all this time hasn’t been any fun, believe me.”
As for what happened . . .
McCarthy, 67, said he doesn’t remember much about it, other than “feeling dizzy” before blacking out. He has no memory of falling to the floor.
As far as he knows, he said, the seizure was his first and he doesn’t know what brought it on.
“It comes with age, I guess,” he said. “It’s a scary thing, but, other than the knee, there’s no real damage.”
While McCarthy said spending more than a month in hospitals and going through rehab on his knee was a “pain in the butt,” he couldn’t help but be touched by the outpouring of affection, concern and support he received during his recovery.
As word of his seizure and injuries spread among his many friends and restaurant regulars, McCarthy’s room was often filled with large groups of visitors – usually at least 10, sometimes as many as 30.
“Bobby is so well-liked by everybody that, once people heard what happened, they got worried and wanted to be there for him,” said Ron Perranoski, the retired Los Angeles Dodgers pitcher and pitching coach who lives in Vero Beach and has been a Bobby’s regular for years.
“The guy has so many friends in this town, he could run for mayor,” he added. “He has friends all over the world, and I’m sure he’s heard from a lot of them. I know everybody here misses him.”
In fact, bartender Joey Bishop said customers began asking about McCarthy the day after the seizure and added that they continue to do so.
Said Terry: “Everybody wants to know when he’ll be back.”
McCarthy, who said he appreciates “everybody caring so much,” hopes to return to work early next month. In the meantime, his stepdaughter Mallory will continue overseeing restaurant operations.
The place, though, almost seems to run itself.
On what appeared to be a typical, weekend night at one of Vero Beach’s most popular gathering spots – Bobby’s opened in 1981 and quickly became the Dodgers’ favorite spring-training haunt – drinks were served, meals were prepared and customers kept pouring through the door.
“This is like a well-oiled machine,” said hostess Terry, who has worked at the restaurant for 25-plus years. “A lot of us have been here a long time and we know what needs to be done, so nothing has changed in terms of service or quality or the people.
“Bobby’s is still Bobby’s and everybody still enjoys coming here,” she added. “It’s business as usual from a day-to-day business standpoint. But for those of us who know him and love him – and that includes most of our customers – it’s not the same without him.”