My favorite Southern California restaurateur, Robert J. "Bob" Morris died peacefully at his home on April 13, 2025. Morris was kind of a "Johnny Appleseed" of restaurants, opening them and then moving on to open others. The places he left behind him — which included the original Gladstone's, The Jetty, RJ's the Rib Joint (in Beverly Hills) and the Malibu Sea Lion were always great when he was managing them…not as great when he was no longer the guy in charge. Several of them closed once he was no longer involved.
A Bob Morris restaurant was usually one of the most comfortable places you could dine — with sawdust on the floors, barrels of free peanuts, the widest-imaginable selection of beers, huge portions of everything and the best damned clam chowder you ever ate in your life. Usually for dessert, there were sundaes and slices of cake which could serve six. At RJ's — my favorite of his many businesses — my date and I would order one slice of his addictive chocolate cake, stuff ourselves, then pass the remainder around to strangers at adjoining tables to enjoy.
His official obit says "Throughout his storied career, Morris developed and operated over 25 restaurants, redefining the California beach dining experience and mentoring countless restaurateurs along the way." That is quite true. His last restaurant, which survives him just as it survived the recent too-damn-close fires in Malibu, is the Paradise Cove Beach Cafe. It is nearly impossible for me to get to it now because of road closures but once Pacific Coast Highway is back the way it was, I'm going there and I'll toast Bob with a bowl of his clam chowder. I only knew the man a little but I could see he did everything first-rate.