I went to Northside News Cafe, since Good Morning Mama's shuts their lunch service down at 2:30.
Northside News is looking pretty grim these days. When I moved up here in early '08, it was a newsstand with a few shelves of used books, and a sandwich joint located next door with a pass-through between the two. The lunch counter was known for its Cubans, but served a good variety of deli sammiches.
Early last year the newsstand portion went toes up because the magazine distributor they worked through had gone under and neither of the other local distributors was willing to deal with such a trifling account at a discount that would be profitable. It was kinda sad, because they stocked Reason magazine and my brand of smokes just for me.
The lunch counter half has tried to soldier on, but their business has tailed off. They were never more than half-hearted about keeping cigs in stock when that facet of the business passed to their control, and I noticed today that the cooler where they kept their beer was empty, so I'm supposing the on-premises alcohol permit has gone away since the last time I was in.
There were only a couple other customers in there while I munched on my Reuben, and that doesn't bode well for their future. Too bad; they made a good Cuban.
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12 comments:
That's the place we found the magazine devoted to meat (and no, that's not playboy - sheesh folks).
Stepmom out of the hospital and home, as am I. After airport food I'd trade my AR for a decent Cuban sandwich.
Tam,
Your Broad Ripple situation is a microcosm of lots of similar small businesses all over the country. The little guys are being taxed and regulated to death. Fear is a powerful disincentive to entrepreneurial energy.
Leatherneck
Tam,
I used to work for a large tobacco company some 20 yrs ago, what brand do you smoke? I am still within 2 hours of two of largest manufacturers plants and several smaller ones. I can look around if they are hard to come by up there!
Also, I have found out it is proper Etiquette to ask one if I may add you to my public Blog roll. Do you mind if I do?
Thanks
Kelly
need a good Reuben
Obama's Cruel America, where a woman isn't going to be able to find a reuben, a Reason or a Merit.
Keads,
"Also, I have found out it is proper Etiquette to ask one if I may add you to my public Blog roll. Do you mind if I do? "
Go right ahead. :)
Thanks for the other offer, BTW, but I've got things covered on this end for now.
Ok, glad you can find your brand. Don't worry, I was not going to suggest we evade state tax on smokes to fund some unscrupulous organization (Happened here).
I worked on cigarette machines and it was a bitch when the change fell out of them! (Sorry, old tobacco factory joke) The machines did 8,000 cigs a minute. There were 72 of them under one roof (46 acres).
Although I am a tech monkey and have been for many years, the whole online social media thing is really new to me. Hard to get signals out of the tin foil hat and bunker!
Kelly
My guess is that the dole pays better and more reliably than sandwiches and newspapers.
The pressure on small businesses is incredible. If all my names did not mean stubborn (really!) I would have hung it up long ago.
If there's a small business you enjoy patronizing, better do it while you can. Because they will soon be a memory.
Stranger
You really have to work to have a failing restaurant in Broad Ripple.
Shootin' Buddy
Your posts inspired me to order a Reuben at the local cafe whilst my daughter was at gymnastics - what a mistake. Was my first time at the cafe.
A good Reuben should not have one side toasted and crispy and the other side toasted and kraut-waterlogged. Mine fell apart as I picked it up.
Simple prep steps prevent this horror, including building the sandwich on the grill from bread to kraut to meat to cheese to sauce to bread, not the reverse; toasting it lightly before the flip to prevent the kraut from melting the bread; and serving it with the kraut side up so the juice flavors the meat rather than liquidating the bread.
The salad croutons were home-made but had been refrigerated atop the wilted salad so long as to be totally stale, and the fries were made at lunch and served at dinner as best I could tell.
The cafe was doing a brisk enough business, but won't be getting my patronage again.
I am afraid of what they might do to their liver and onions.
I love me a good Rubin, but there is nothing worse than a bad one!
And sadly bad Rubins are aplenty!
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