This Is Framingham

Nobscot Plaza reminds me a little of sad plaza  but it’s not as sad.  Nobscot also has an abandoned grocery store but their plaza is in much better shape and has occupied store fronts.  They have a pizza place, a chinese food place, CVS, bookstore and some other stores.  In fact I believe they only have one vacancy besides the grocery store. 
Since I live downtown, I haven’t been there in a little bit so I forget exactly what’s in there but I know it’s better than our plaza.
I heard Hannafords will be moving into the old grocery store though. precession of the quanox eiki

I think Nobscot Plaza has a great location for people living in N. Framingham, it always seems to be kept up decently and has another little plaza next to it with even more restaurants and stores that keep busy. a buon mercato ivert  

I WISH they would open up a grocery store where the Big D was but our plaza doesn’t seem to be desirable for people to open businesses there.  But who knows.

When I read the police logs I notice there are always stolen bike reports.  I know my bike isn’t highly desirable, I don’t even know if they make Shoguns anymore, but if it got stolen I’d definitely want it back.  
Shogun and I have been through so much together: the flat tires, the steep hils, the dousing by cars speeding through puddles and of course the senseless heckling from people sitting outside the Salvation Army…  I won’t give my Shogun up until she decides to dismantle herself (I think she tried to last spring but Phil took care of her).  So I figured maybe I should go down to the Framingham Police Department to register the old girl.  You never just never know.

I gave them my information, then they asked some questions about shogun (how many gears etc… ??? ????? ) and gave me a registration sticker to put on it.

If you have a bike, you may want to register it, it takes just a few minutes and its free.

Last year I only got 2 trick-or-treaters. Also, some 10 year olds were riding their bikes by my house (not in costumes) and asked them if they wanted candy. They said “sure” and took some but I don’t know if that counts in addition to the two real trick-or-treaters.

Pretty sad, considering I really look forward to giving out candy on Halloween. 
I have my front step ready with more pumpkins than last year and a doormat to signal there is candy here so we’ll see what the turn out will be like tonight.

Have a great Halloween!

I noticed that at the corner of 135 and Mellen the Walgreens that I heard was coming has put a sign in the window.  I know Walgreens isn’t the most amazing thing but I think it will help the area and usually with a Walgreens there is another little store or two next to it so maybe they’ll do that here too. ???? ??????? 31

I was alerted by the good reverend Bob that the Chicken Bone Saloon was now just “The Chicken Bone” and seems to have changed owners as well as the format from biker bar to family restaurant.

As long as the food is still good, I don’t see a problem with this, although I’m curious to know the story behind the change over. 

I love the chicken playing a flaming guitar on the sign, if nothing else, that’s a good enough reason to like the new Chicken Bone.
I haven’t been in yet since the new owners took over but on their site they show some pictures that show they made changes inside.
The Chicken Bone is one of the few non-Brazilian restaurants in downtown, nothing against Brazilian restaurants but it’s nice to have a little variety so I’m grateful that the new ownership didn’t decide to pick up and leave downtown.

Also, next door used to be a building that my uncle had his auto part store in (after he moved it from the corner of Waverly and Concord).  They knocked this building down about a month (or more?) ago and I have been trying to find out what will be going there. 

Last time I was in the chicken bone they said it was supposed to be a health clinic but I read that a health clinic is going in on Union Ave. 
I REALLY hope they’re not putting two health clinics downtown.  I want downtown to be a cool place but no one is going to want to come here if all the stores are turned into health clinics or places of worship, offices, etc…  I think downtown needs vacant stores/restaurants being turned into new stores/restaurants.

 
Tonight we went to Ken’s Steakhouse. I like this place because it’s old and different from everything else on Rt. 9.
As many reviews I’ve read online, I can see how people say it’s overrated, the steaks are not phenomenal, actually I don’t think I’ve ever had anything phenomenal there but there’s just something about this place I like.
We’ve never had a bad meal there and have always had good service.

I feel I need to note that both of us have never noticed this before but at the bottom of the menu is a disclaimer “M.S.G. used for flavor enhancement”.  I don’t know if we never noticed it before or if this is new, but when Ethan asked if they could not use M.S.G. on his steak the waiter said M.S.G. is on all of the steaks already but the other dishes (chicken seafood etc…) don’t use it.  Kind of odd but I thought it was something to point out since I know people (like Ethan’s dad) have to be very aware of when M.S.G. is used at restaurants.

One of the unique things about Ken’s is their wall of fame-like display of salad dressings as you walk down the hall to the host desk (where there are yet more bottles of salad dressing displayed).

The decor is pretty dated from I don’t even know when.  Tonight I noticed they have updated the table settings though. Tables used to have yellow tablecloths with red napkins, now both linens are white.

We both started off with a caesar salad which was a pretty good size for a pre-meal salad.
Ethan got the filet on a plank (the picture came out too dark) and I usually get the same thing but the Eggplant sounded good so I got that.
It was basically eggplant parmesan but rolled up and I was happy with my choice. 

Tonight I think we’ve had the best waiter we’ve ever had there tonight. He didn’t try to up-sell any appetizers, wine or desserts on us. He was very polite, professional and had good timing (he also gave a double thumbs-up when we told him everything was great).  There was also a piano player in the dining room which was nice to listen to during the meal.

We had an early dinner and were done a little past 7:00pm. By this time almost every seat in the dining room was filled. Its good to see a living establishment of route 9’s glory days doing well in a land of chain restaurants and stores.

In Sad Plaza there are a few vacant stores in a row, one used to be a CVS and one used to be some sort of Pool place like Namco or something. 
In these doorways were big pieces of water-stained paper that half-hid the space behind it, which was in pitiful condition. 

Most depressing was that there was dead bird, that never found his way out, in the push-bar of a door.

Last weekend I happened to be by and noticed that all the stained paper was out of the doors and the dead bird was removed.  I don’t know what this means. ?????? ??? ???? 888   It could just be maintenence is finally being done on the building to be presentable or a store is actually moving in.  Either way it’s progress.

Then:

Now:

Then:

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