ghost of the main st cafe

Six months ago, as near as makes no difference, I led a ride on the last day that the Main St Cafe was going to be open. They had promised that the new place would be open in February, but construction promises are less reliable than Mr Trump, so it was only in the last few weeks that they've actually opened the PJ's Pancake house that arose from the ashes.

The Excellent Wife (TEW) has been there to visit, and when it comes to rising from the ashes of the Main St Cafe, there appears to be a mixture of phoenix and zombie. On one side, the new PJ's has mounted a pump on the retaining wall right on the corner of 27 and Laurel:

On the other hand,they've made it clear that, on weekends especially, the outdoor seating (except for two benches) is reserved for the ordering-a-sitdown-breakfast crowd.

Now, TEW was a particular partisan of the Main St Cafe, partly because of the excellence of their offerings (no argument from Very Truly Yours, Plain Jim, on that score), and partly because it was a convenient stop for some of her rides. She has done some reconnoitering, and reported back about the Italian specialties shop about two stores down. (Good heavens; is that an intruding finger in the photo below? I need to learn where the lens is on the phone camera.)

So I took a ride down there today. Here's the shizzle, between TEW's info and what I was able to gather:

Times:

TEW indicates the coffee is not to be despised (she's much more reliable about these things than I; my favorite coffee has the pink-and-orange DD label on the bag), and there is a toilet inside that is available for use. There are tables inside and out. I got there before it opened today, and saw a cabinet for muffins and such, and there was a collection of Italian chocolate (TEW says there is Polish chocolate as well; I can vouch for the palatability of Polish chocolate). They have soups for cold weather, and cold drinks for hot weather. They WON'T have the variety of excellent baked comestibles that were available at the late Main St, alas. We mourn for the greatness of the past.

Anyway, it's to be considered for future rides. I'm not sure the local Major Taylors will still be able to use the new PJ's as their departure point (as they did from the Main St Cafe for years); perhaps they'll move down the block.

Edit:  Apparently, Google's Blogger won't let me link to pictures in Google's gallery. Hrmph. Anyway, I think it's fixed.