Gourmet Guru

It’s lunchtime on a Monday and Morton’s Gourmet Market is full of life. Some customers are in search of their family’s dinner, while others are on their lunch break hunting for their midday meals. In the middle of all this hustle, standing behind the hub of the neighborhood market, self-proclaimed “gourmet specialist” D.K. Morton helps a new customer decide what to put on her sandwich. Through a series of questions, he gets to know her and hones in on her tastes.

“Do you like spicy food? Cheese? Turkey, chicken, beef or ham?” asks Morton. After familiarizing himself with her palate, he claps his hands in excitement.

“I know exactly what I’ll make you,” he tells her.

The customer is pleased with Morton’s customized creation and promises to say “hi” the next time she comes in. It’s clear Morton has added a new member to the Morton’s family.

Family and the market go hand in hand for Morton. This week, Morton celebrates 30 years working in the family business.

Morton’s father, Ted, began working at the market in 1952. Back then, it was known as Marble’s Market. In 1969, Ted Morton bought the market, renaming it Morton’s in 1978.

From the time his father was a manager at Marble’s until he took over the market as owner, Morton spent his childhood in the specialty grocery store helping. On Sundays, Ted Morton would check the refrigerators, and Morton would help by sweeping sawdust off the meat locker’s floor. As he got older, Morton and his brother, Eddie, would play hide-and-seek throughout the store in the mornings and evenings. Although a future in the market seemed like a natural fit for Morton, it wasn’t necessarily a straight path to his current position.

When Morton — who still sports his trademark black beret — was 5 years old, he would draw his mother something new every day and talk to her about his future as an artist. In the early ’70s, after years of helping with the family business, Morton pursued his dream and attended the School of the Museum of Fine Arts, Boston. It was during his time studying fine art, first at the Museum of Fine Arts and then at Tufts University, that Morton began his 13-year journey around the world. Morton traveled for both his love of art and his love of adventure. He traveled across Europe, to Africa, and he once took a train from Istanbul to Afghanistan to help a friend buy scented oils.

During all of his travels, Morton still felt the pull of his market roots. He missed his family, and eventually he knew it was time to come home.

“It was the best decision I ever made,” he says.

After his return in 1983, Morton started working in the produce section, but has since been a part of almost all of the departments in the market from meat and seafoods to the deli, and eventually the bakery.

Now Morton works at his favorite location — the middle of the market. From his center stage, Morton is in constant contact with his customers. His position allows him to connect with everyone who walks through the double-glass doors and has garnered him the title of the “face” of the market by some customers.

After 30 years on the floor, Morton takes customer service to a different level. When an item is out of stock, Morton has been known not only to order a new shipment but hand-deliver it to his customer.

Recently the market’s parking lot was so packed that a customer had to park down the street. After she mentioned how busy the parking lot was, Morton not only helped her with her groceries, he also fetched her car for her.

“He’s a real gentleman,” Edye Morton says about her husband, whom she met in the mid-’90s while shopping at Morton’s Market. “And you know you don’t find a lot of those anymore.”

His kindness kept her coming back to the store.

“There’s no such thing as a stranger,” says Morton. “Only friends you haven’t met.”

Contact Harriet Sokmensuer at [email protected]