Fewer Breakfasts Out

As I drove past the Hollywood Grill at midday, no cars occupied their parking lot.  Not paid attention before but was considering going out for breakfast my next treadmill off day.  I assumed they closed for the afternoon for maybe a memorial to an employee, as most seemed to be later in life.  Word arrived that they had closed.  At one time pre-pandemic and really more into my working years, it became a weekly destination for my day off.  I would sit at the counter, recognize other regulars, have either eggs or pancakes.  Their blueberry pancakes were the best.  The counter waitress became a fixture until she went on worker's comp, replaced by capable ladies of similar age.  Retirement and a commitment to a more stringent form of Shabbat largely eliminated that Saturday morning routine, which had really begun the last time I studied for my Board Exams.  I would take the review book to a restaurant, have breakfast, and study.  One place on my breakfast rotation folded, probably the most versatile of them.  Hollywood Grill, also on the rotation, became the staple, supplemented by a few others.  An IHOP had opened, not as good. Another place across the state line had reliable breakfasts at a competitive price, also with a counter for people like me going solo.  Another place came and went and reappeared.  Two more entered the market.  But Hollywood Grill was the yardstick.  

Retirement for me and Covid-19 for everyone else changed the trajectory of eating out for the purpose of eating out.  Some places suspended operations, lost money, and really weren't missed all that much by the consumer.  Others cut corners, as did Hollywood Grill.  The prices only rose slightly but the really skilled short order cook who knew how to make real home fries and poach eggs must have gotten laid off,  replaced by thawed home fries cut into even cubes by a factory process.  Coffee didn't seem the same.  Nor did sitting by myself at a table with plexiglass.  It was the banter between Sue the waitress and the regular customers and the few flat screens at the counter that made the experience.  All gone.  Now the restaurant has closed, to be replaced by some commercial development eventually.  And between retirement and Covid-19, the allure of a morning listening to conversation and spreading whipped butter over pancakes of better texture than I could make myself has disappeared too.