Eatonville Blog… “Joe’s Cafe”
Posted March 26th, 2009 by Andy S
Conway’s Joe is a plump Irishman who runs The Conway Cafe and is as sweet as a teddy bear.  He pulled up a chair, folded his arm and sat next to us when he found out we were in the business - he was charming and full of talk.  He shouts at guests leaving “see you later John” “Thanks for coming”.  He wanted to share everything with us - his troubles with his wife - his kid’s lacrosse games - his secret recipes! and his meatloaf - “its just coming out of the oven”. Two minutes later we were sampling the meatloaf after eating an enormous breakfast.  Very tasty and full of onions and sweetness from the ketchup on the crust.  The breakfast was quite good - not the best ingredients, but made with care. The eggs were over e.a.s.y. The southern fried steak with gravy was fried well and smothered with thick-as-wallpaper paste gravy.  ”you gotta have thick gravy so it sticks to ya” he yelped with his Bostonian accent (his family is originally from New England)
The furnishings were quite old and side of the road diner style:  metal chairs with vinyl cushions and lots of tacky things on the wall.  A picture of his daughter’s lacrosse team is in one corner, a Florida map in the other.  The coffee was warm dirty water - no taste.  No surprise there. Big city coffee tends to jade your taste buds.  You start searching out the espresso machine in any restaurant.  Like an addict looking for signs of drug paraphernalia.  Usually the absence of an espresso machine is a warning.  
We lingered for a while listening to more tales and more small town intrigue. We said goodbye and hit the road.
