The last time we were there, we ate on the sidewalk. That is, sidewalk dining, not standing up in the street. That last time I met Steve my ad salesman from our Modern Food Service magazine days which ended abruptly one February morning in Hackensack in 1999.
So, we didn't run into him. But we could have. I wondered whether I'd run into someone from MEWS since we were in the heart of Baristaville. If not the heart, then the side street or appendix.
I figured before I left, I'd meet someone I know from someplace else.
The food was really good. So was the coffee. And the service was just swell.
Having never been inside the building, I was taken by the old style cafeteria feel of the place. It was like the restaurant has been there a million years. Can you imagine all the chits and chats that took place inside these walls over the decades?
The place was nearly empty when we got there, they had just opened. We didn't exactly know when they opened, but we got one of the last parking places (What, a quarter for a half-hour? More than that?) on the street and strolled the empty early morning street. Church Street in Montclair makes you feel you are far away from the city, even though you are smack dab on its left elbow.
Well, if I ate any more fresh fruit, or drank anymore coffee, I'm sure I would have exploded. But the dining area is so far from today, and the sun light finagled its way through the front window and lit up the pretty bottles on the shelves.
Across the way from where we sat you could read the movie body count from some classic horror movies. I guess we're not too far from one or the other of the old movie or live theaters around this place.
So sure we would meet someone, I looked up before we left and lo and behold, there was that fellow from the Write Group, you know who he is, you've seen him at the readings. Yup, it's him. Carl Selinger, the author and all-around nice guy. So before you know it, I'm standing there yaking with Carl about poetry and upcoming open mics and my ladies have headed out for the yoga store down the block.
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Copyright © 2009 by Anthony Buccino, all rights reserved. Photos and content may not be used for commercial purposes without written permission.
Copyright © 2009 by Anthony Buccino, all rights reserved. Photos and content may not be used for commercial purposes without written permission.
