Soup. That’s all we wanted.
It’s 3 p.m. on Tuesday. Elise and I are hungry but crippled by foul flu-like symptoms, the source of which she claims to have contracted from me. I sense hostility when she instant-messages me:
ILoveLyndaBarry: I’m going to kill you.
bookdork: lets get zoup!!!!1
Half an hour later we meet at my building and head down Congress Street in search of warm, wet foodstuffs at the Latte Cafe, which theoretically is home to many tasty soups.
After walking a few blocks in the stark 12 degree weather, we reach the restaurant. Before an ominous “closed” sign at the door prompts Elise to kick my shins, I deter her feverish mind and suggest the cafe across from Longfellow Books that I’ve wanted to check out.
We head down the street, nearly tripping across a sandwich board for the Latte’s neighboring restaurant, the Kozy Kitchen. The what? We look in, raise our eyebrows … but I really want to check out that place across from Longfellow.
Apparently at 3 p.m. on Tuesdays, there are few lunch options in Portland, and yet another cafe is closed for the day. Staunch fatalists that we are, Elise and I head back up the street to the Kozy Kitchen.
We enter the restaurant, which I suppose is more of a diner yellowed by age. The space is what one might call neo-casual. The front houses a good number of mismatched tables, and only a few were occupied by a handful of older patrons. Booster seats are piled in a corner, but it doesn’t look the restaurant is frequented by anyone under the age of 65.
We linger near the kitchen area, which is hidden behind a yellowing counter.
“You can seat yourself at a table, or you can order food from here,” the friendly cook suggests to alleviate confusion.
Elise and I seat ourselves at a table for two and look over the Xeroxed menus. A waiter, who reminded me of my grandfather, comes over with paper napkins to two little plastic cups of water for us, the kind of mini-cups you get at a hospital to swallow pills.
Elise goes for the special of the day, American chop suey ($3.99) which comes with a “vegetable.” She asks what that vegetable is, and the waiter said standard fare vegetable at the Kozy Kitchen is green beans. I go for a bacon, lettuce, and tomato sandwich ($2.75) and a bowl of the corn chowder ($2.49).
The waiter comes back with gummy rolls fresh from the microwave, and only a few minutes later he comes back with our lunches. Though he switched around our orders, we didn’t say anything and switched them around after he left.
Both meals are steaming, served on Styrofoam platters that look like greying remnants of the ’80s. The BLT came on white toasted bread, and the lettuce and tomatoes were pleasantly crispy. The corn chowder was also tasty, although the ingredients were kind of unbalanced as it seemed to have massive chunks of potato and only a few kernels of corn.
Elise was very pleased with her American chop suey, which came with a generous side of canned green beans. “You can taste the can,” Elise said with a smile.
“I’m sorry. Did I mix up your orders?” the waiter asks when he notices that we were eating different meals. He laughs and said it was our blinding beauty that confused him.
The waiter asks if we want dessert, and I go for the chocolate cr?me pie ($1.85) while Elise chooses the apple pie ($1.85). We inquire if the pies were homemade, and the waiter said they were homemade, but in a bakery in Lewiston. Both pies were exquisitely fresh, tasting like they had been made that morning.
When it came to reconcile the bill, which for two people with dessert was miraculously cheap, we discovered that the Kozy Kitchen did not accept credit cards. We dug in our pockets for cash.
“I have a hunk of ones,” Elise said, clutching a handful of $1 bills from her wallet. It seemed to cover the bill.
Though we just went for soup, we ended up falling for the Kozy Kitchen. After our first visit, we’ve gone back three or four more times. Elise notes gleefully that the Kozy Kitchen has both “the clientele of a retirement home cafeteria and the ambience of the kiddy table during Thanksgiving at your grandparents’ house.”
Perfect for the poor college student and for the student who is far away from home,
the Kozy Kitchen, located at 482 1/2 Congress St., is open for breakfast and lunch (eat-in or take-out) Monday through Saturday.
Daily specials
Monday Mac & cheese $3.99
Tuesday American chop suey $3.99
Wednesday Meatloaf dinner $4.49
Thursday Roast turkey with stuffing $4.49
Friday Baked haddock dinner $4.49
Saturday Baked beans and hot dog $3.49