New Haven Independent

Posted by: Hood Rebel | December 19, 2008 7:50 PM

Melissa,
What does it take to become a member of Mory's eating club?

What is the membership fee?

How does one get in to have some eats?

Posted by: Larry London | December 20, 2008 11:09 AM

Membership is open to anyone affiliated with Yale. Students pay about $40 per year, most alumni about $100. I think alumni who live in New England pay more than twice that.

Posted by: TrueBlueCT | December 20, 2008 5:10 PM

Salvaging Mory's should be easy.

1). Bring in an owner/operator on a multi-year concession. A good chef with a profit motive could redeem Mory's in a heartbeat. (and what chef wouldn't want to operate Mory's on sweetheart terms?)

2). Open Mory's up to not just Yalies, but friends of Yale, (meaning visitors and members of the New Haven community).

3). Give priority via reservations to Yale-affiliated,dues-paying members. (or consider doing away with the dues system altogether.)

4). Get rid of the cumbersome process of sending out bills. This is the credit card era.

Given the charm of Mory's, its historic atmosphere, the fact the real estate should be paid for, etc. -- it's hard to imagine that Mory's in the hands of an experienced restaurateur would be anything but wildly successful.

Plus Mory's has a built-in clientele in the tens of thousands of people who visit Yale annually. What trip to New Haven would be complete without lunch at Mory's?

Here's hoping....

Posted by: Bob | December 22, 2008 12:20 PM

Oh the poor, poor Yalies. Where can they go to discriminate now. Adios Mory's and your loser members.

Posted by: eddie | December 22, 2008 1:15 PM

Wouldn't it be better if they just opened up to the public?

Posted by: Ellis Copleland | December 23, 2008 5:36 AM

truebluect has it right. Management by an outside concession is needed. The main problems with Mory's are that the food is not that good, it is grossly overpriced (even for Yalies), and the service is atrocious.

Posted by: Chris Gray | December 23, 2008 2:14 PM

I'm recovering, in a Branford nursing home, from a broken hip suffered a couple of Thursdays ago which prevented my niece and nephew (Kelly & Nick, not Crodad) from taking my family for their first meal at Mory's. So, this story is no surprise to a guy who often misspells his own name Chirs.

I've stood sentinel day and night in the alley way outside Mory's for years before Toad's Place opened, while on break from working at Hungry Charlie's or just listening to the music that was way too loud for me inside. Besides, in those days I had the sense to avoid the drinking I later indulged in far too liberally.
I've inadvertently started a riot from the front stoop of the aged institution on a particularly bad night at Toad's. I once briefly dated a waitress working there, so as to get inside the place, literally, to present her excuses for booking off and, metaphorically, as she schooled me in the arcane Yalie lore and the arcane relationships among the staff of the '90s.

The worst tale is when poor Jim (forgive me, old fellow, I've lost your last name in my faulty memory banks) who was retiring after 49 years at the Yale Co-op. (I was 49 in 1999.) His party was well deservedly scheduled for a Friday night at Mory's, but I was on vacation that week and Peggy Pogonis (I have a better memory for the names of the villains of a piece) moved the party to the Holiday Inn! I showed up, all dressed up but with nowhere to go.

Don't worry. That property is too valuable and has too long a history to burn, as Yale allowed the Davies Mansion to do.

Posted by: Andy | December 29, 2008 7:44 PM

I've been a member of Mory's for over 50 years. It's a Yale tradition that is now out of touch with today's culture at Yale and in our country. Exclusive clubs, snobbery, elitism is no longer tolerated in today'society. Mory's represents another era at Yale when Wasps and their man servants ruled the world. Mory's, if it is to survive, must change from this bastion of the elite to a more open, accessible and affordable gathering place to Yale students and the community. It can be turned into a destination eatery, with the same charm and appeal as Louie's Hamburger place. Open the doors, offer affordable lunch menus, extend the hours to acomodate the real life timetable of students. You dont have to be a Yalie to enjoy a Monday night with the Whiffenpoofs. Save Mory's!

Posted by: robn | December 30, 2008 9:00 AM

Try following the model of the Union Oyster House in Boston. Its just a bit older than Morys; its traditional, public, dignified, very pleasant, and very popular.

http://www.unionoysterhouse.com/Pages/history.html