Edward Martin is awaiting word on whether he’ll get financing to relocate.
By Samantha C. DePoy
Staff Writer

FARMINGTON – Edward Martin seems a little anxious these days.

The owner of Quad M’s Cabin Restaurant at 476 Fairbanks Road in Farmington is waiting for financing so he can move his seafood and steak restaurant downtown.

On Tuesday night, the Farmington Planning Board unanimously approved an application for Quad M’s to move into the Knowlton & McCleery Building at 107 Church St.

Martin said he should know if the bank will finance the project sometime in the next few weeks.

If he gets the go-ahead, he’ll move into the new location, which he will renovate, sometime in June. His restaurant will be closed for a week during the move.

“It’s a big money game right now,” he said Wednesday afternoon in the after-lunch lull at the restaurant. “It’s frustrating. I’ve only got ‘x’ amount of dollars.”

Cooking has been in Martin’s blood since he was 14 years old and got a job working at AJ’s Seafood Shack in Turner. He has made the rounds through the area, but is thrilled to finally have his own place.

After being open for only a year and a half, Martin said he’s been lucky to be so successful.

The Church Street eatery would be open seven days a week from 6 a.m. to 9 p.m., serving all three meals. It would also include banquet space where there is currently an art gallery.

The second floor he will renovate into an apartment for he and his wife, Patience, and their two daughters, Michaella, 3, and Mariah, 7, after he sells his Fayette home.

“It’ll be a huge adjustment for us. We’re not city slickers,” Martin said. “I know it’s just downtown Farmington, but that’s big to us.”

Martin said the current restaurant space can’t handle the customers. On Valentine’s Day more than 200 came for dinner and because of space limitations, he had to turn people away.

Currently, he has eight employees but plans to hire eight more if he moves downtown.

Parking will be an issue, but he plans to work with the county, which owns lots on Anson and Church streets and with the town to improve the situation.

At his current location, at most he only has 10 cars in the lot, Martin noted. Where his current location has 40 seats, the new location could seat 100.

As to competing with the plethora of other downtown eateries, Martin said he has a niche business. “Casual. No linens. And good steaks. Nobody downtown does the same steak I do. It’s the steaks that have definitely made us,” he said.

As the days wear on, he admits he is “losing optimism.” But if the financing doesn’t come through, Martin believes it’s for the best.

“I am not going to cut my throat to make it happen because we do have a comfortable business here,” he said smiling and looking around the restaurant.

sdepoy@sunjournal.com

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