einstein bros. RIP
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Oh, man...
One of the few reminders of home that I've found up here in New England was the Einstein Brothers' bagel shop over in Newton Corners. Back when I lived in sleepy old Belmont, I used to make the seven-mile trek pretty much every Saturday and Sunday morning just for a bagel and a cup of coffee, passing a Bruegers' Bagels, a Dunkin Donuts, and not one but two Starbuck's shops on the way. For my money, Einstein's has better coffee and way better bagels than any of those other places, so it was well worth the trip. So it's a Saturday and I have to go into work, so I figure I'll take the long way so I can swing by my old apartment on the way to pick up mail, and since I'm halfway there anyway I figure I'll stop by Einstein's for breakfast. I make it all the way out to Newton and low and behold, there are no cars in the parking lot. Hmmm, strange...it's just after eight, and the place is usually pretty hopping by now. Wait a minute...there's nothing inside - I can see right through to the window on the other side of the store, and it's...empty. Oh, no... The incomparable Einstein's is gone. How can this be? I used to have to get here early to avoid standing in line. They seemed to do a lot more business than any of the little hole-in-the-wall places around here that look like they must be mob fronts or else they wouldn't be able to stay in business. I'm left sitting in my car in the parking lot in stunned silence. Now what am I gonna do? Where the hell am I gonna get a decent bagel? Starbuck's? Starbuck's? (sigh...) Maybe these same snotty New Englanders who don't know enough to buy homes with central air are too stubborn to let someone else edge in on the market that Dunkin Donuts has cornered. Maybe it's finally time to punt on the whole New England thing and move to California. At least in Silicon Valley they take their strip malls seriously. |