The plan was to stay close to home in case Chay could find, or had, time on his way back home. Alas, not to be as Deb K was transferred to Schenectady in the afternoon. Still, the other six, plus Kerry, had an enjoyable evening at GC.

 Only one week had passed since our last dinner at Old Factory – a rare occurrence of a later month event followed by an early date of the next. This was necessitated by vacationers leaving after the 10th for the rest of the month. Conversely, we have had a couple instances of a gap of seven weeks.

 Usually, ambiance is saved for later but too many memories flavor any trip to the former Mountain View Brasserie. A look at our past DP8 events show we spent many an enjoyable quality time and meal here. It is with a bit of wistfulness to see so much that is familiar but that extra star of quality twinkles slightly less brightly. Now, it feels more like a nice diner posing as a good restaurant although it is still a good place to enjoy a good solid meal.

 The menu shows a worthy enough and full diner range. ten burgers, fifteen sides, ten appetizers, ten salads, half-dozen sautés, three steaks, several entrées, eight pasta dishes, three specials, with a range of the usual meats, and the Café has something for everyone. One can even order breakfast all day. The Teators each ordered the meatloaf. It seemed a whole meat loaf came on each plate. Six leftover dinners at home ensued.

 Service is prompt and friendly, making us wish more establishments would follow suit. We also noted that the Windham Diner seems connected, along with the Mexican ethnicity restaurant staff.

 Our drink list included beer, soda, and Ken’s coffee.

 The final bill per couple came to $45-$65 – an entrée each, one drink, no dessert. Many entrées fell in the low-mid $20s. A pricier entrée and three drinks might run the tab to $90 but not this evening at our table, I think.

 Topics for the evening:

            The big one again is Deb K recuperating. At dinner time, it looked hopeful that a transfer to rehab was a positive step. A long journey back seems likely and we all wish a quick and as comfortable as possible recovery.

            The other big story, going in the other direction, was the improvement in Ken’s physicality, with that gleam in the eye back, a twinkle ready to give back what he thinks someone is dishing out! All good.

            Other topics: Kerry’s Stockade-athon coming up, the sharing of Karnees’ stories and news, the Notars past trips and the one upcoming, the Monteverd medically-flexible calendar, Halloween tales and quiet evenings, art shows, Stanley Maltzman’s passing and a Jewish funeral, election day, Don working election day at the Greenville site with a 5am to 10pm day, Brasserie memories, Freehold Country Inn memories, someone is Christmas decorating, someone reneging on the possibility of an underwear photo, the doings of our children and grandchildren with Kerry adding full flavor, the clocks changing back and early evenings at 4:30 in the afternoon, health insurance, and a gob of other topics escaping this writer’s keyboard.