Who is Mort of Mort's Delicatessen

Mort is not only the name and inspiration, but truly the heart of our
family's Delicatessen.

 

He is our dad, our Zade (Yiddish for grandpa) our Great Zade and every
person that meets him, a friend. A man who is living the "American
Dream" and has successfully taught his offspring to do the same.

Born Morton Rueben Bloom on May 25th 1927 in a small town in
Skaudvile, Lithuania.

 

During the German occupation of Europe, Mort and his siblings headed
to New York, NY, USA, escaping the Holocaust as many Jewish families
tried to do at this time. Mort was only 15 years old.

Once arriving to Ellis Island, his name was changed, his birthday was
different and his life as he knew it would be forever changed.

There he was in a new country, a huge city, with only the clothes on
his back and he did not speak one word of English. But he was
alive,and that was enough to start his journey toward the "American
Dream".He made a decision and promise to himself, that he would do
whatever he had to do, so that he would give his children the life he
never had.

 

He knew he had an uncle in Minneapolis who he would find to get work.
He then joined the navy to fight for his new found freedom and
country. In the navy, he became known as the ships "Boxing Champion
"and later went on to win the coveted Golden Gloves title. In
addition, Mort was a pitcher for the Cleveland Indians.

One day when the leaves began to change, Mort entered on his normal
Minneapolis bus to find the most beautiful woman in the world sitting
there. Her name was Marcia Fox. He said "I am going to marry you". She
slapped him. He pursued her until finally a year later on October
12th, she married him. When you ask him, he will say that Oct 12th is
the day Christopher Columbus discovered America and is also the day I
discovered my wife.They went on to have two beautiful sons, Michael
and Alan.

 

Mort had many jobs. He started at the bottom and worked his way up. He
worked in junk yards, liquor stores and nursing homes. And then when
he saved up enough, he bought them. He invested in a small amusement
park called Spring Lake Park Amusement Center and again decided to
make a big life decision. He sold all he owned to buy a piece of real
estate on Hennipen and 5th Ave. It was an amazing brick building on a
corner lot on the main drag in Minneapolis. It was the perfect
opportunity to get his sons involved with the family business. This
building had many office
spaces and a small local gay bar called The Gay 90s.

With his sons, Mort's plan was to keep this investment and run the
local bar the best he knew how. The Gay 90s began to grow. Turning the
office spaces into the more bars, creating a multiplex of bars and the
world famous drag show. The Gay 90s is now legendary. Mort's son sold
the Gay 90s in 2008.

 

Like most families, our favorite time to catch up on life together is
during a meal. Our family would meet at the old Lincoln Dell for a
great sandwich and a bowl of matzo ball soup. We would join together
and share new stories, old favorites and how proud we were of our
Zade's accomplishments, above all creating an amazing family. When
that old deli closed we knew what we needed to do.

Start our own family deli, in his honor, our way.

Mort's Delicatessen opened its doors on November 3rd,2008 to continue
our tradition, with our own family secret recipes. We look forward to
sharing your memories at our restaurant, with us, for many years to
come.

 

So please, if you ever see this good looking fella hanging around the
restaurant, walk up to him and say Hello Mort!