Richard Sullivan
Newburyport’s Own
Grumpy Doyle’s
Nocturnal Mad Martha’s
The Sea’s Carl Panall
by, Muggsy Barnacle
Richard Sullivan was our Mayor for eight years…for most, that would be a lifetime accomplishment…but such barely tells of his influence and accomplishments of modern day Newburyport…Maudslay State Park, Inn Street, elderly housing, and The Waterfront Park each shout his imprint and visions…this column is not going to pretend to be able to list all of Mr. Sullivan’s amazing accomplishments…what we do know is that he was most instrumental in saving an old sad crumbling downtown rescuing it from ruin to one of the most historically stunningly beautiful cities in America… we should name the Waterfront Park after him…how respected and beloved was Mr. Sullivan…the line outside the funeral hall on Green Street was three deep beyond the post office and took for most up to three hours to pay respect…a nice note is that reportedly one Frank Cousins took former Mayor George Lawler through a side door at the funeral home to make sure that Mr. Lawler, the Mayor who courageously started the Newburyport redevelopment movement, was sure to be in the front of the line…a nice touch…to give a prospective of how Mayor Sullivan was regarded, Ruth Sullivan (no relation) bravely waited 1&1/2-hour in line…in age, she is more than a senior citizen…she is one our town’s most beloved personalities manning the pay station at Fowle’s News …every morning Dick Sullivan would journey downtown to see his “Ruthie” to buy a paper or two…but mostly to exchange local information and perhaps a tidbit of gossip or two…The Mayor may have been a high-powered politician, but we suspect he was the happiest being a Common Man…the mass at church is said to have held more than 900 friends…The Sullivan Family’s post-services get-together gathering at the Starboard Galley (with some ex-Mayors, political brethren, and close friends) virtually filled the entire restaurant…something also filled our hearts, the celebration of Richard Sullivan’s Life, a man who we all owe a great debt…a man whose name is synonymous with Newburyport…Our Fair Port would never have become a world-class mecca if we never had a Richard Sullivan…we are blessed that we did have him…very blessed.
…Grumpy Doyle’s is a neighborhood Reading, MA sports bar restaurant and pub with a 40- seat outdoor patio focusing on food and beverages, and all sports which opened in September 2010, following the success of sister restaurant The Port Tavern in Newburyport… now we are hearing that yet another sister venture is locating in Methuen…gosh, we knew Our Fair Town hosted a mini-nation of Irish residents, but we had our doubts that the Port in the Port would survive its first year…we were wrong…it has done magnificently and then some.
…What a seaport…we have a Portuguese high end dining destination, a Mexican bistro, a southern cooking showcase, an aforementioned Irish pub, a sports bar, an upscale steak house located in a church, a couple of famed seafood landmarks, several breakfast options, many pizza choices, and a bagel treasure to name but a few.
…Mad Martha’s Mania: The Big News on Plum Island these days is starting December 15th the funky and treasured new Mad Martha’s will be starting dinner once a week on Thursdays…the Dynamic Duo is still working out exactly how they want to do it…it will be either reservations-only with two seatings or open to the public with reservations strongly suggested…the game plan is that the Duo will be preparing meals for a “Family” style dining experience as they both love the idea of “community eating” in the café …the menu will be inexpensive comfort foods… “Nothing fancy, just great comfort food”…a BYOB option will be offered so that one can pair out a favorite wine with the fare…on another note, the Island ladies are also doing “Bloody Mary buckets”… how the bloody bucket works is their guests bring the their own liquor and the café provides the rest…. each bucket contains everything you need to make a great Bloody Mary…there is everything from horseradish to banana peppers to crushed red peppers…the MM Girls provide the bloody mix with a celery garnish…the bucket is a mere $5…and the good news keeps flowing…they have booked a bunch of Christmas parties for the upcoming month-both on- premise and off and will be doing a huge catering job in December in downtown for a marketing firm…600 appetizers plus 200 desserts – impressive -…they are both very excited to start doing more than breakfast…to host a party at the cafe they do not charge a room fee or a corking fee…they have been designing each party menu specifically to what the client is looking for… already they have made prime rib, sesame seed soy salmon, and caprese stuffed chicken breasts topped with a balsamic vinaigrette reduction to name a few…. reportedly all have been a hit.
…Our seaport city has too early lost a waterfront historian and a young Old Salt, Carl Panall…after college he ended up in our port for young and old salts…he sailed on a long-line swordfish boat, an offshore tuna boat, and draggers and gill-netters…an interesting career choices for a landlocked mathematics UMASS/Amherst major…a hip problem basically ended his seafaring days at a young juncture in his life allowing him to become a master carpenter and a waterfront historian…for some at first impression he was a bit gruff with exact opinions…for the rest of us upon a first meet he was super intelligent, passionate about the heritage of our waters, and a most generous gentleman especially when it came to family and friends…years ago, he was instrumental in restoring a house we lived in the South End…we needed a couple of floor lamps for our dining room…he simply stated not to worry as he could help us…the next day we returned to our house only to discover a grand chandelier over our dining room table…a gift from him…he was a Newburyport treasure…sail on, sail on Carl Panall.
…a recent Boston Sunday Globe Globe North had a review on the 40-year-old Ten Center Street landmark restaurant…the review started off catching the vibe of it “having a hip new menu with cool new prices that as advertised on its website and echoed on its parking lot sign. Sounds as if it came straight from an ad agency.”…we agree…no need to Madison Avenue TCS…with its charming ambience and inventive/imaginative menu it can proudly stand on its own merits…the review by CoCo McCabe and Doug Steward had raves for the pan-fried crab cakes app, the lobster shitake risotto with pan-roasted scallops, shaved asparagus, and Parmesan with generous chunks of lobster meat…almost all of the menu’s attractions earned high praise with little criticism…we agree that #10 deserved all the lavish praise…now to lose that ad agency hype…
