across the street

-- and one block away from me is the other green line, a charming coffeehouse with free wireless internet, large cups of java, and mandelbrot, meaning it is my new Favourite Place. i sat there reading outside for about an hour before the sun started going down, and then went to quest for dinner. i didn't have to go very far -- next to it is koch's deli, where i bought the best hot pastrami on rye (with munster cheese) i have ever had in my life. the deli seems to be famous -- pat sajak has visited, and the cast of everybody loves raymond (yuk), and the walls are plastered with a zillion newspaper reviews and e-mail endorsements from penn graduates going back a good fifty years (the graduates, not the endorsements). lou, the original owner of the place, passed away a couple of years ago, and for a while there was doubt as to whether it would remain open, but bob, his brother, took over the reins, and was at the counter handing out free slices of salami when i went in. the sandwich took a long time to make, but that gave us time to talk about escalating rent prices, and the art of sandwich-making, and, very importantly, WHO THE HELL all these people were watching everybody loves raymond. some things in life will forever remain a mystery. i promised to return, often, and he made me promise to show him some singapore dollar notes (it is one of this Things to Do Before He Dies to see Singapore and HK). they have a chopped liver and ox tongue sandwich that i noticed only as i was leaving, and which is definitely what i am going to have the very next time.

#24 - Eggplant parmigiana, but only when it is done right.