Jody (via kottke.org) links to Calvin Trillin’s article on Shopsin’s (and its cantankerous owner Kenny) in the Village and I realized that I completely forgot to link to a NY Times remembrance of Josie’s Java in Carroll Gardens.
Between the shoeshine man and Caputo’s, there is a dank, grim coffee shop where the customer is often wrong. The place is called Josie’s Java. It resembles a truck stop, and breakfast and lunch are served every day. Get dinner someplace else. In the evening, the door is covered by a grate painted to depict a full cup of coffee with an arm reaching up from inside the liquid, drowning or waving.
You do not pour cream into your coffee at Josie’s; you say when. She pours. She opened the place as a video shop two decades ago; that explains the free movies that sometimes come with coffee to reward good behavior. Once, in recognition of a 20-cent tip, she bestowed a copy of the Talking Heads concert film “Stop Making Sense.”
Josie’s may not have been the last angry diner, but there was only one Josephine D’Esposito. Wish I coulda met her.
Meanwhile, over at Shopsin’s (assuming your retinas can withstand the menu) Kenny is kicking ass, taking down names, and making soup from scratch to order:
One evening, when the place was nearly full, I saw a party of four come in the door; a couple of them may have been wearing neckties, which wouldn’t have been a plus in a restaurant whose waitress used to wear a T-shirt that said “Die Yuppie Scum.” Kenny took a quick glance from the kitchen and said, “No, we’re closed.” After a brief try at appealing the decision, the party left, and the waitress pulled the security gate partway down to discourage other latecomers.
“It’s only eight o’clock,” I said to Kenny.
“They were nothing but strangers,” he said.
“I think those are usually called customers,” I said. “They come here, you give them food, they give you money. It’s known as the restaurant business.”
Kenny shrugged. “Fuck ’em,” he said.
An attitude I greatly respect. Right now, I’m ready to just drive directly to Shopsin’s the minute I’m finally in NYC for good.