The New Owners Have Spruced up The Ritz’s Menu and Atmosphere while Retaining its Local-Friendly Feel
by Anna Frost
Since it first opened in 1944, The Ritz has been many things – in recent years, it was known as the seedy bar on Oak Bluff’s Circuit Avenue. However, in the last year, new owners Jackie and Larkin Stalling have turned the little dive bar around and sent it in a new direction, one with vivacious, accommodating bartenders and food you won’t believe came from a bar.
Though the Stallings bought The Ritz a year ago, they have been a part of the Martha’s Vineyard community off-and-on for 10 years since they bought a vacation home on the island. They visited from Houston, Texas, where Larkin owns several bars. It wasn’t until their son decided to attend Berklee College of Music and subsequently began playing gigs at The Ritz that they became familiar with the bar.
“The first time he played in here, it was 2011, I was in the corner over there,” Jackie said, pointing over to the far end of the bar near a front window, “And I was terrified: ‘Where is my son playing?!’”
Though as Jackie looked around, she noticed the people: locals; these are the real islanders. The people who populate Martha’s Vineyard year-round, working hard and serving the tourist population when summer comes, and then braving the harsh winter as the visitors go back to the mainland. Four years later, as an owner of The Ritz, Jackie is proud to serve the locals and is adamant that the local aspect of the bar lives on under her and her husband’s watch.
A quick scan of the establishment shows that she is in earnest. Though the place has its share of boat shoes and polo shirts during the season, the crowd is still a mixed one. Older clientele enjoy a few drinks in the early evening, and their rapport with the bartenders makes it clear that they are regulars. Some stay longer, even as the younger crowd fills up the bar, but the atmosphere is still relaxed. The Ritz is about simply enjoying the music, food and drinks. Even the walls on one side of the bar are decorated with photos that Jackie took of local musicians Johnny Hoy, Mike Benjamin, Willie Mason and others who played at The Ritz when the Stallings first opened it.
The prices may be one reason why the bar attracts so many locals, another intentional move by the Stallings. Though the fully stocked bar boasts craft beers, quality wines and well-made cocktails, having a few drinks won’t break the budget for an average blue collar worker or college-kid working multiple jobs to make rent. Drink specials, from bottled beers to house cocktails, offered frequently, also provide options for those looking to spend less than a chunk of their paycheck on a night out. Jackie said that she and Larkin planned the food menu with this mentality as well.
“There’s such a limited amount available year-round for the locals, and it’s not even economical. If you are a family and you want to do a night of burgers, if you go to most of the restaurants around here, it’s crazy…So I really felt it was important to keep it reasonably priced, just have something available all the time.”
The kitchen, run by The Ritz’s chef George, serves up inexpensively priced, high quality meals from 4 p.m. until closing, allowing people to eat all night long – another rarity on the island.
Though The Ritz did not serve food before they purchased it, the Stallings felt that it was important to make meals available to people all evening. Though they would like to serve lunch as well, the housing shortage on the island has made it difficult to find and keep a second chef, Jackie said.
The food cooked up by George, who previously worked at The Red Cat in Oak Bluffs, is no ordinary bar food. From chicken ranchera tacos and quesadillas, based off of Jackie’s grandmother’s recipe and tweaked to perfection by George, to freshly ground burgers, tender pulled pork sandwiches, and housemade beer queso and chips, the fare at The Ritz makes the experience. Even the kale salads, an addition by Jackie who is known by friends and family as the Kale Queen, are a revelation. The Ritz Kale Salad boasts dried cranberries, sunflower seeds, parmesan cheese, panko bread crumbs, shredded kale and red cabbage and a honey-lime vinaigrette that will make even the most fervent kale-hater convert.
Jackie has seen it happen firsthand: “Last night before closing one of our bartenders was walking around making everyone who said they hated kale eat it. She was walking around shoving it into people’s faces and people were like, ‘Oh my gosh, I didn’t know all the things you could do with kale!’”
But if you need something heartier than a salad to hold you over for a long night, the tacos – either pulled pork, chicken ranchero, or short rib – all will delight, especially if you ask George to put some of the Lone Star Beer queso on them.
Though the Stallings have altered some things at The Ritz, the most important thing remains – the vintage, no frills feel of the old bar, making it an ideal spot for live music and good company. Though time has changed it, The Ritz is still for the island’s locals, the island’s heart and soul as Jackie says. Yet, anyone who walks through its door is welcome. To its core, The Ritz is still, undeniably, Martha’s Vineyard.
