One of life’s most disheartening experiences comes when you pull up to a favorite take-out place to find it has gone out of business. Last week I made a trek to the lone seafood joint seemingly within a ten mile radius, to find brown paper on the windows and a note on the door thanking the patrons for supporting them. I guess there weren’t enough of them. I admit, the pricing at the place was not low enough to make it a regular stop, but I would go every few weeks, and the food and service were great. The staff kept the merchandise in the back, and it appeared that they were striving for safety and quality over ambiance, as the counters in the front were empty and the floor needed repair. The place had been taken over by new management who were trying to win back a good reputation smudged by the prior occupants. They were friendly, courteous, and helpful. And the food was darned good.
Years of having no seafood joint had me losing my hopes for a good seafood platter until I discovered their great selection of flounder, shrimp and crab cakes, dutifully served in Styrofoam clam-shell containers, accompanied by little containers of coleslaw, tartar and cocktail sauces, and fries which are never crispy but are addictive enough to eat by the boatload. The land of Old Bay on a budget lived briefly in a little strip mall, until suddenly, during a few weeks’ absence, they unceremoniously left with no advance notice. There was a referral in the note on the door, to the pizza place a few doors away. Sorry, but it’s not the same thing.
Little mom-and-pop take-out places are hard to come by, and seafood appears to be a tough market these days. Years ago one could stop at a seafood place and find a fisherman town or ocean theme on the walls, with netting and plastic crabs and lobsters cavorting around the windows, display cases packed with fresh fish, and happy little hand-drawn signs advertising the specials which never changed but were always the perfect size and price for a hungry family. Now another attempt to keep that vision alive has gone away.
When we lose our sense of local business, we lose the neighborhood. I hope a new place will emerge somewhere. For now, Gorton’s in a box will have to do.
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