Historic Restaurant To Reopen In New Market
By ED WATERS JR.
The Frederick News-Post
NEW MARKET, Md. (AP) -- A historic restaurant considered the anchor for New Market's Main Street businesses will reopen in April.
Patrick Forest and Lorraina Hull, partners in the resurrection of the restaurant, said they hope to serve their first dinner on Easter Sunday.
It is the first ownership of a restaurant for the partners, though the two have about 30 years of combined experience, including bar service, catering and management.
Local businessman Carl Miller bought the building, which had been closed for about 18 months. Forest and Hull said they settled the agreement to operate the restaurant business last month.
Known as Mealey's Table, the restaurant will use local produce and other farm produce when seasonably available, Forest said.
A market will be open each day about 5:30 a.m. in front of the restaurant, offering pastries, coffee, tea and local products.
"We will have our own pastry chef on staff," Forest said.
The restaurant will be open seven days a week for dinner, and Saturday and Sunday for brunch. Patrons will also be able to come in for carryout sandwiches and other items during the day.
A specialty will be charcuterie -- blending salted meats and cutting them deli style, Hull said.
Forest said the restaurant plans to serve local beers, wines and craft cocktails.
There will be traditional dinner seating, as well as bistro-style seating in the bar and lounge area.
About 80 guests could be seated in the main dining room, Forest said.
"We would like to get patio seating back, too," Forest said.
The partners expect to hire 30 to 40 full- and part-time employees.
"The menu won't change every day," Forest said, "but (it will change) probably two or three times a week."
The interior of the restaurant is undergoing extensive renovations.
"We are freshening up the original structure," Forest said. "We are using a lot of reclaimed lumber from the area."
Reclaimed lumber will be used to create some tables in the restaurant.
An antique water pump in the dining room was chosen as the logo for the new restaurant.
Two business owners on Main Street said the reopening will help revitalize the town.
Thomas Morris, owner of Mom's Pizza, said the closing of Mealey's had hurt many small shops in town.
"I hope it will get more traffic, people walking around," Morris said, which could help the other businesses.
"When Mealey's reopens, people will see New Market is a good place to open a business," said Ben Madrid, owner of Santa Fe Trading Co.
Information from: The Frederick (Md.) News-Post, http://www.fredericknewspost.com
(Copyright 2012 by The Associated Press. All Rights Reserved.)
