Wednesday, December 28, 2011

Morris Martick, Baltimore’s Iconic Restaurateur Extraordinaire Passes

December 28, 2011

Baltimore’s Iconic Restaurateur Extraordinaire Passes

Kevin E. Dayhoff

http://www.thetentacle.com/ShowArticle.cfm?mydocid=4827

Morris Martick, the son of Polish Jewish immigrants, who ran the delightfully quirky Martick’s Restaurant Francais at 214 West Mulberry Street in Baltimore for almost 40 years, passed away December 16.

The mere mention of Mr. Martick, 88, a Baltimore icon and institution, brought back memories of many wonderful visits over the decades to his zany restaurant until it closed in August 2008.

One of the better descriptions of Mr. Martick, among many, came from Baltimore Sun writer, Rob Hiaasen, in a wonderful article dated May 17, 2006. “Morris Martick … lifelong bachelor, former Sunday pilot, former oyster boat owner, 1966 candidate for the Maryland House of Delegates, art patron, self-taught cook, self-taught self – is eating cornflakes in his own restaurant.”

Mr. Martick’s French restaurant was located in the house where he was born. At the time his parents ran a little neighborhood grocery store out of the building, err, house that is…

According to a tribute written by Jacques Kelly, for The Baltimore Sun on December 16, “His parents, who came to Baltimore from Pennsylvania in 1917, operated a grocery store. When liquor sales became illegal during Prohibition, they ran a speakeasy. Mr. Martick said in a 1973 Sun profile that ‘they hid the liquor in the bathroom.’ After repeal in 1933, they obtained a liquor license and opened the bar.”... http://www.thetentacle.com/ShowArticle.cfm?mydocid=4827

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Baltimore characters are fun… Mr. Martick will be missed… Just saying… Happy New Year everyone. Stay well. http://www.thetentacle.com/ShowArticle.cfm?mydocid=4827

Edited from the piece for word limit… right after: Although I was a “Morning Sun” reader, I often would seek-out a copy of the Evening Sun for the specific purpose of reading Mr. Goodspeed’s column.

And I was quite excited when he came to Westminster for a short stint at the Carroll County Times. “Mr. Goodspeed left The Evening Sun in 1967 and went on to edit the Carroll County Times for a year and the Towson Times for another year,” according to Mr. Kelly.

Mr. Goodspeed, according to Mr. Kelly, “often picked up news tidbits at Martick's bar on Mulberry Street, and quoted Rose, whom he described as ‘the girl bartender.’ ”

And before: So, while roaming the streets of Baltimore very late one night with a gaggle of artist-friends, we were referred to a “quirky French restaurant,” by the name of Martick’s… Recalling Mr. Goodspeed’s column, I jumped at the chance to go to Martick’s for a bite to eat – thinking it was still a bar…

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Now, who remembers Mr. Goodspeed?