Charlie's Cafe

A. and I had a bad day earlier in the week. We don't have many, but when we do get one it tends to go sour pretty fast. It was one of those days when you haven't gotten enough sleep (me) or else the sleep you got wasn't good (her) and you keep taking off your diaper and hiding it in inconvenient places around the house (definitely not me, I swear). By lunchtime we were in need of a pick-me-up, so we called up some friends and headed down Granby to Charlie's Cafe.

Molly and I have decided that we are adopting Charlie's as Our Place. You know -- the place where you go so frequently that you get to know everybody by name and maybe, if you go there enough times over enough years, they reserve a barstool in your honor and name a sandwich after you? Everything is better at Charlie's. For instance, this is how the pancakes look at Charlie's:




And this is the kind of chocolate milk you'll get at Charlie's:





And that's not even special kid chocolate milk, mind you. It's just the way it comes! For everyone!

There are many things to love about Charlie's, including the extremely friendly staff and the ready availability of vegan and vegetarian options, which is sometimes hard to find in standard diner fare. But the best thing about Charlie's is that they serve breakfast all day, which means if you don't like how your day is going, you can have a symbolic do-over in the form of a fluffy Charlie's omelet with spicy, oniony home fries and crumbly-delicious beaten biscuits on the side. And so we did. We also ordered a restorative bag of the famous Norfolk donuts to go because nothing turns a bad day around like a bag of donuts, hot off the grill (pan? fryer? however it is that these particular donuts are cooked). They also come stuffed with ice cream but we're saving that for a cure for a really bad day -- you know, like when our house burns down or our dog runs away or something.

Little Zeke (a restaurant critic in the making) pronounced it: "Smiley Charlie's -- a place for kids!" Three years old and already on the lookout! I fully expect him to take over this blog one day when I have moved on to different things ("geriatric-friendly living in Hampton Roads"). Watch this space.