This Is Framingham

I was taking a walk one cloudy weekday morning and saw the neon “OPEN” sign at Llyod’s diner.  They’ve always seem to have mysterious hours which I thought had been reduced to just weekends, but here they were open on a Monday morning with all-week hours posted on the sign out front.
I went inside and asked the man behind the counter if there had been a change of ownership (although I had heard the former owners left to open O’Connell’s) and he told me yes and handed me a take-out menu.  It’s now a Brazilian restaurant called “Tropical Cafe” which I thought was funny because “tropical” is not a word that comes to mind when I look at Llyod’s.
The menu I was given was completely in Portuguese except for “11 Fountain St. Framingham, MA” and an item called the “Framburger”.
I am guessing they will keep both names for operating the diner to stay recognizable and the guy did say they will continue to serve “American breakfast” (not listed on the take-out menu).  I’ll try to check it out some time and see what the food is like.
New hours are 6am-10pm.

A thoughtful reader wrote to me about an artist she follows Flickr who created some designs based on our sorely missed Shoppers World.
Brandon Schaefer makes insanely creative images that are mostly retro-inspired re-designs of movie posters, book covers and miscellaneous subjects, like Shoppers World and made these fantastic designs:

Of course I had to write to Brandon and ask him how he got to making these, what inspires him when designing images and what his background is.   Being the nice guy that he is, he answered all my questions and told me about his work.  Brandon is a 25 year freelance graphic designer who has been designing since high school.  While various subjects inspire him, he has an appreciation for American Modernism during the 40’s and 50’s which clearly comes through in his style.  He has a special place in a his heart (like most of us do) for the old Shoppers World, which I think is great for someone so young.  If you like what you see, you can buy it by clicking here. And if you like these, be sure to check out the rest of his work at http://www.seekandspeak.com, it’s just fantastic stuff- enjoy!

Today I went to get the mail at the Trolley Square plaza like I do everyday and was expecting to peek into the window of the soon-to-be-open produce market, like I do every day, except today it was open for business!
It was great to see the store I had watched progress all summer, fully functioning. what is mectizan used for They did a nice job inside:

The produce, as expected, looked fresh and crisp:

They have a variety of breads including their own that they bake fresh every day:

In addition to lots of imported jarred and canned goods, they offer plenty of cheese, cured meats and smoked fish, whole, cut and sliced:

Just walking through this place is fun, you could make a project out of trying something new every week. I spoke with the owner for a little bit and when I asked him why he chose Framingham to open this store he said “because you needed it”. He has been in the specialty food business for many years and most of them were in New York, where he imports a lot of his items from. where can i get ivermectin tablets
Like the cakes, which looked fantastic:
This place is everything I hoped for and I think it will do well because of the unique items that can’t be found at the bigger markets. Their site isn’t quite up and running but they’re at 855 Worcester Rd. and the phone is (508) 872-7272.

My friend and I went to check out the newly opened O’Connell’s (address at the end of the post).
Inside is very sports pub like with flags and sports pictures and helmets everywhere.
The bar is the main area you have to walk through to get to the dining or function rooms.
The dining room still is less “sporty” and still has some elements of the previous business, Asia Buffet, like the lit glass designs dividing the booths:
My friend and I sat in the bar, some of the tables have their own TVs and you can change the channels to whatever you want.
We each started off with a Smuttynose pumpkin ale, and looked through the menu which has the type of food you’d expect to be at a pub.
I got fish and chips which was really good:

The fish tasted very fresh and it wasn’t overly battered, which I like.
It came with coleslaw and thick-cut fries which were also nice and crispy.
My friend Jim got a cheeseburger:

This was a good-sized burger and Jim said he liked it although the bun was a little thick for his liking, the burger itself was very good.

The only thing is that the acoustics in the bar are pretty sharp (which is not unusual for a bar, but we left with our ears ringing), so if you want to have an easier time having a conversation you might want to sit in the dining room. I haven’t found a website for O’Connell’s but it’s at 700 Worcester Rd, in the same plaza at Ski Market. I hope they do well, this location is due for a “keeper” and if they keep up the crowd we saw there the other night, they’ll do fine. Good luck O’Connell’s!

Game Universe on route 9 closed recently.  I didn’t go there much, but I did find it very useful to have a place in town where I could buy old game cartridges for my Atari 2600. neteller  
I also liked that there was a place in town that brought together the gaming community in a similar way of how arcades did back in the day (like when Fun and Games was fun).

Their MySpace page doesn’t mention why they closed or if they have any plans of opening anywhere else.   It seems like they had a lot of fans so I’m sure they will be missed.

The town had a small ceremony outside the Edgell Library (which is a Civil War memorial building)this morning that was really nice and a great way to honor those who have served.

Outside of my regular work I also keep my waitressing skills sharp by working at the 400 and pick up an occasional shift at the Columbus Club where Paul Sanchioni runs an all you can eat roast chicken dinner every Sunday. It’s an incredibly good deal: soup, salad, pasta, potatoes and chicken for $9.95.

Paul gets there before the sun comes up and makes everything from the focaccia bread (which is amazing) to the tomato sauce, to the main course. All Paul, all awesome.

If you’re familiar with Paul’s cooking, you know how good it is. If you’re not, you’ll be in for a treat. The Columbus Club is at 11 Fountain St. and the chicken dinner is every Sunday from 12-6pm.