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When Maria Torres appeared before the Marblehead Select Board in July to license the Driftwood Restaurant under her ownership, Chair Dan Fox brought a question from his daughters. They wanted to know about the fried dough.
"Fried dough is staying," Torres answered.
On Sept. 24, about three months after she took over the 63 Front St. breakfast counter, Torres was honored at the State House during Latino Excellence on the Hill, an annual celebration hosted by the Massachusetts Black and Latino Legislative Caucus to recognize community leaders across the state. State Rep. Jenny Armini of the 8th Essex District nominated her.
Torres, owner of Maria's Gourmet and Fine Foods in Marblehead, was one of three honorees announced by the Lynn legislative delegation, along with Edwin Cabrera and Sarai Zelada, both of Lynn.
"Maria Torres has built more than a successful business—she has created places where people feel welcome and connected," Armini said in a statement.
The award biography describes Torres as a Puerto Rican entrepreneur who draws on the culinary traditions she grew up with in Puerto Rico, serving Puerto Rican, Caribbean and American food through a family-run business known for homemade meals, baked goods and catering.
Six stools and a red counter
The Driftwood was a different kind of undertaking. The small red building on Marblehead Harbor has operated in some form for nearly 60 years, and Colleen Galvin's family ran it for the last 45 of them.
Regulars knew it for red vinyl stools along a red counter, a shark's jaw hanging from the ceiling, low prices and staff who knew their orders by heart. Jan Frost worked there for more than 50 years. After Galvin's final service June 19, she and cook Thomas O'Malley folded the American flag that had hung in the window.
That history gave the sale unusual weight. By August, word of the new owner had spread through town, and many regulars feared the Driftwood would change, The Independent reported.
Torres had tried to head off that worry at the July licensing hearing. She told the board the work would be limited to cleaning, painting, Board of Health code updates and a "couple new things in the kitchen," with her team "pretty much keeping everything the same."
"We don't want to upset anybody in town," she said.
Seating plans filed with the application showed a counter with six stools, booths along one wall and two tables near the door, the arrangement already in place. The board unanimously approved a common victualler license for Maria's Gourmet Cafe Inc., doing business as Driftwood Restaurant, with 35 seats.
From Village Plaza to Front Street
The Driftwood joined an operation that had already grown well beyond one storefront. By August, Torres' business included her Village Plaza shop, catering and food service at the Marblehead Yacht Club and the Swampscott Beach Club, The Independent reported. The award biography adds that she expanded beyond Marblehead by opening Maria's Gourmet Cafe in Swampscott.
Jonathan Morel, Torres' nephew and the Driftwood's manager, said he has worked with his aunt for six years and that a family member represents her at each new location. He said Torres wanted to keep the Driftwood in the hands of a local family.
Inside the restaurant, continuity came from people as much as recipes. Tori Holzwasser, a 13-year employee, stayed on and greeted regulars by name. O'Malley stayed in the kitchen. Dave Reid, who said he has been eating at the Driftwood since 1965, told The Independent the experience was the same, and a table of children declared the chocolate chip pancakes as good as ever.
Recognition on Beacon Hill
The House citation Torres received Sept. 24, signed by Speaker Ronald Mariano and offered by Armini, credits her contributions to the North Shore "through entrepreneurship, cultural pride, and hospitality."
The honor reaches someone who has kept a low public profile through the transition. In August, Morel told The Independent his aunt was not interested in speaking to the press and preferred to run a great business and let it speak for itself.
On Front Street, the menu filed with her license application lists the fried dough at $3.75, served Saturdays, Sundays and holidays.
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