Muddy Water
Click right to take a look around…
Never did I for a second think, after walking by this cafe over a dozen times during daytime and midnight walks to the Tarrytown train station, that this would be the place where I’d get recommended A Bronx Tale. Yet, this scenario is exactly what played out. Admittedly, it’s a little less cut and dry actually. It was the result of a Witness Protection Program joke. Now I’m realizing that this may have just muddied the waters. A conflating irony? Okay, now I’m just having too much fun with this. I’ll make my way to the point. It’s a decent-sized space, glass-paneled pastry crate at the front and the order counter just before you hit the back room which is definitely related to the space up front, adopting a slightly toned down character—the quieter sibling? You’ll find an unabashed array of seating in both areas, sofas and stools, painted ladderback and cushioned French-bistro-style chairs, but the leading arrangement opts for primary colors, even in the paintings for sale, while the rear is softer, with coffee bean sacks sagging atop one another and black and white art, sketches and photographs findings more prominence. Keep heading back, and you’ll find yourself in their red-and-silver furnished back garden, the perfect outdoor complement to main window display of indoor greenery. In fact, through the garden entrance and this back area came in a disheveled fellow, who looked a little uneasy. He walked up to the counter, laughed with the woman working for a minute, and soon exited...plunger in hand. None of the stories within these walls seem to have their anticipated endings.
“One of these things,” a man who had entered with presumably his wife and daughter pointed to the aforementioned pastries.
“The almond croissants,” the barista tried to clarify.
“Yeah, the almonds with the sugar.”
This order was certainly my favorite.
With an understanding of the space established…the Witness Protection Program joke. Oh, I’m dearly sorry for straining you along this long. I had gone to take my panorama, and in doing so interrupted a conversation between the barista—carrying the social interactions for the coffee slinging duo—and a customer in a tight dusty blue tee. He playfully froze and remarked that he was in the Witness Protection Program.
“I would respect that if it were true, but you wouldn’t be able to tell me,” I responded.
He didn’t break, simply moved to the side, making a few more quips as he went.
“Have you seen A Bronx Tale,” he asked.
“Can’t say that I have. Wait, how old is it,” I curiously pandered.
“Oh it’s old. You should watch it.”
He paused briefly then added: “Do you like Romance?”
I guess something about me screamed Rom-Com girl.
I decided to indulge this very typical fifties-man-with-young-woman exchange, where so many things are assumed and nothing is truly said.
“You should watch From Scratch, on Netflix,” he continued. He made his way to the bathroom then, and I retreated back into comfortable obscurity.
If I said it once, I’ll say it again: treading in these waters, only anticipate unanticipated endings…and a few film recommendations.
SCROLL DOWN
SCROLL DOWN
For More
〰️
For More 〰️
Drink: Cappuccino
The first sip...eh. The second sip *becomes the Robert Redford nodding in Jeremiah Johnson*. Their espresso blend pokes its head up sneakily. Rarely do I enjoy something that I’d describe as sneaky. But, you know what, there is always room for a rarity.