O'Rourke's of Middletown CT

Poststructural Pub
1

I’m distraught beyond belief.

O’Rourke’s is a landmark diner in Middletown CT that two hours ago my husband and I agreed to go to next week. One hour ago I found out it was gutted by a fire, and no, there was no fire insurance.

Let me try to describe this place – imagine your typical greasy spoon diner, open kitchen, red vinyl stools and booths with (nonfunctional) jukeboxes. Now picture a menu that is so inventive, so lush and exotic, so phenomenally GOOD FOOD that even on cold winter days there is often a line waiting to get inside the joint. Brian O’Rourke wanders through with dishes of cakes and breads to keep you nibbling while the cooks do their thing.

This wonderful man supports Irish music in the area, including hosting a dinner where all proceeds went to the local Irish house concert series (he donated the food and space, the cooks and waitstaff donated their time, and local musicians including Dora Haas on whistle played for the fifty people who crammed in to the booths). It is a real loss to the community in general.

I’m desolate. I need to find some way to give back to him. How do you go about setting up a fund to benefit someone? By all reports he is not giving up the restaurant, but geez, it must be so hard on them.

2

First thing I’d do is talk to my most friendly banker in the area. They usually have a lot of experience in getting such funding accounts off the ground, and will often do a lot of the paperwork and such gratis. Too, the higher ranked employees likely know some high profile person in the area who would be interested in helping.

An idea might be to duplicate the sort of benefit dinner you described, but do it open air, under a tent, lots of music and such, with as many activities as you can set up for some small fee, $1 - $5, where all the proceeds can go to the fund - - have fun with the idea of doing the restaurant thing but without the restaurant.

And good luck… the bread bit sounds great! :slight_smile: