The stars are in conjunction. I have the day off, the sun is out and I’m at Louis Family Restaurant on Brook Street.

I used to come here when Louis and Dom ran it, and my mother used to come here too. Same pictures on the wall, new ones pasted over the old ones. And ‘Guy Ate Here’ from the Food Network. I’m sure that Guy didn’t leave hungry.

Once in a time of despair I decided to have breakfast at every diner in the area, which was a good project and got me through. I seem to remember more diners in Fox Point, maybe diners between the worlds that served eggs from little first floor storefronts that were never found in the directory, but are real and solid in my dreams. But then, I used to sleep a lot in my early years, and this is Lovecraft’s old neighborhood, so real is a relativistic term.

There was the ‘Beef and Bun’ on Brook Street, and I seem to remember places on Wickenden before Manny Almeida’s Ringside Lounge closed down and everything got cute. I’m not snarking, I’m going to walk over there after breakfast and do some shopping.

Acme Video, Coffee Exchange, Taj Mahal– it’s good to see some hang on in a town that is so tough on small businesses. You’ve outlasted the 195 overpass–congratulations.

And Louis, the anchor of Fox Point– long may you wave.