Tacoma’s Marrow restaurant has closed for business

Tacoma’s popular Sixth Avenue restaurant Marrow has closed.

“I worked with an amazing team. We had an incredible run,” said owner Matthew Schweitzer. “But unfortunately things didn’t work out.” The restaurant, which opened in 2011, closed Monday.

The restaurant, 2717 Sixth Ave., was known for its upscale cuisine, a fine cocktail list, its focus on dual menus appealing to both vegetarians and meat eaters, and more recently its foray into handmade pastas.

Schweitzer purchased the restaurant in 2014 with Chris Keil, with whom he also owned and operated Hilltop Kitchen from 2013 to 2015.

Schweitzer and Keil dissolved their business partnership in Marrow several months ago.

Although Keil no longer was involved in the daily operations, he described the closure as a terrible loss. “It’s a huge loss for Tacoma. It’s a huge loss for the dining community. It’s also a brutal reality. This is a brutal business,” said Keil.

“(Marrow) was a cornerstone for amazing cooks, bartenders and servers, and that’s not something we built on our own,” said Schweitzer.

He praised Marrow’s previous owners Jaime Kay and Jason Jones, owners of McKinley’s Top of Tacoma and newly opened 3uilt, and co-owner Kyle Wnuk.

Said Schweitzer, “We are grateful for the opportunity. We’re happy with what we accomplished. We didn’t quite reach our goal. I’ve got things I’m working on. Chris has things he’s working on. We’ll be back.”

Schweitzer said he intends to return to the Tacoma area to open another restaurant, but he is headed to San Francisco in the meantime. “I was afforded some great leases and great financial partners. I was able to land softly,” he said.

Sue Kidd: 253-597-8270, @tntdiner

This story was originally published August 24, 2016 at 3:07 PM with the headline "Tacoma’s Marrow restaurant has closed for business."