This place has always caught my eye, even during my first visit to BJ. Ironic, for such a nearly nondescript place. The sign, for instance, looks like it hasn't been changed since the place opened. The lettering is in old-fashioned and squat script, rundown and weathered. The low ceiling makes the place dark and yet, the parking lot is always bursting at the seams. When I took the train at 5:45, Saugus Cafe outshone the others because it was open. Even if I couldn't look in the windows, I knew that the coffee machines were churning, the counter was being warmed with steam and fingerprints ... I just knew it was alive. It made me want to jump from the train, run over, and have waffles dripping with butter.
Finally, on a whim, Ana and I found ourselves inside last Friday at 5pm. The inside was just as I imagined. Booths with vinyl benches and old tables. A long counter and behind, men and women in hairnets and t-shirts. Beside them were the pie containers, the kind with rotating shelves and glass panels. There were coffee machines, milkshake machines and the little bell they pressed when an order was up. Eating at the counter was an old man with a long beard and another one in a leather vest. Sitting at a booth were old floral ladies in big glasses with silver chains. At the back of the cafe, there was one of those machines that had toys inside you had to catch with a metal claw. And a jukebox (I wanted to play songs but it was a dollar for 3 songs. Uh, no thanks. I thought it would be a quarter but the lady said it was more expensive because it was a CD jukebox). That was as far as I could see because behind the jukebox, there was a door that led to a bar with orange lights and poker tables. We didn't go in there.
It was an iffy time so the place wasn't full and there were only two servers. A younger (than me) girl who wouldn't stop talking about a dress she had just ordered and a middle-aged woman, who smiled fondly at her. I ordered a milkshake and before the younger girl went to make it, she pushed a few dollars into the toy machine and tried her luck. "She's pretty good with that machine," the lady told us (she totally caught us staring). "She wins a bunch everyday." When her dollar bills were gone, the younger girl went to the older one and said cheerily, "I won a hat and some bears." And then she went and made my chocolate milkshake.
WHICH WAS THE BEST EVER MILKSHAKE I HAVE EVER TASTED. There were whole lumps of chocolate ice cream and a ton of whipped cream and chocolate sauce. Wow. Ana's chili-burger and the mozzarella sticks we ordered were great as well. As we were eating, an old lady in a walker was walking out while the lady server lectured her about her diet. "Keep your blood sugar level!" she said sternly, wagging a finger. "If I keep eating at this place, it never will be!" were the old lady's last words.
When Ana and I paid the bill, I held out the dollar bills to the girl to "put in the machine." She laughed a little and said, "And that's where they're gonna go."
(We went back yesterday and the milkshake wasn't that good, maybe because it was a different girl who made it. It was pretty disillusioning and reminded me of the "Dead Stars" story. I know, I know. It's an exaggeration. But I'm a milkshake monster and I could tell, so it was pretty disappointing. That doesn't mean I won't be back though.)
Finally, on a whim, Ana and I found ourselves inside last Friday at 5pm. The inside was just as I imagined. Booths with vinyl benches and old tables. A long counter and behind, men and women in hairnets and t-shirts. Beside them were the pie containers, the kind with rotating shelves and glass panels. There were coffee machines, milkshake machines and the little bell they pressed when an order was up. Eating at the counter was an old man with a long beard and another one in a leather vest. Sitting at a booth were old floral ladies in big glasses with silver chains. At the back of the cafe, there was one of those machines that had toys inside you had to catch with a metal claw. And a jukebox (I wanted to play songs but it was a dollar for 3 songs. Uh, no thanks. I thought it would be a quarter but the lady said it was more expensive because it was a CD jukebox). That was as far as I could see because behind the jukebox, there was a door that led to a bar with orange lights and poker tables. We didn't go in there.
It was an iffy time so the place wasn't full and there were only two servers. A younger (than me) girl who wouldn't stop talking about a dress she had just ordered and a middle-aged woman, who smiled fondly at her. I ordered a milkshake and before the younger girl went to make it, she pushed a few dollars into the toy machine and tried her luck. "She's pretty good with that machine," the lady told us (she totally caught us staring). "She wins a bunch everyday." When her dollar bills were gone, the younger girl went to the older one and said cheerily, "I won a hat and some bears." And then she went and made my chocolate milkshake.
WHICH WAS THE BEST EVER MILKSHAKE I HAVE EVER TASTED. There were whole lumps of chocolate ice cream and a ton of whipped cream and chocolate sauce. Wow. Ana's chili-burger and the mozzarella sticks we ordered were great as well. As we were eating, an old lady in a walker was walking out while the lady server lectured her about her diet. "Keep your blood sugar level!" she said sternly, wagging a finger. "If I keep eating at this place, it never will be!" were the old lady's last words.
When Ana and I paid the bill, I held out the dollar bills to the girl to "put in the machine." She laughed a little and said, "And that's where they're gonna go."
(We went back yesterday and the milkshake wasn't that good, maybe because it was a different girl who made it. It was pretty disillusioning and reminded me of the "Dead Stars" story. I know, I know. It's an exaggeration. But I'm a milkshake monster and I could tell, so it was pretty disappointing. That doesn't mean I won't be back though.)
2 comments:
oh my god mika, dead staaaaaaaars!!!! shit that short story was such a killer.
i miss you, i haven't been here in ages because for some reason, my dino-mac can't open your page. and today it decided it will/can.
hey, how come i never catch you in YM anymore? :(
wow! sounds like the perfect diner.
i will never, for the life of me, get rid of "dead stars" in my head. sometimes i find myself muttering "dead stars" when i feel that i've encountered a similar situation which does not necessarily pertain to relationships :)
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