Josh Amidon on LinkedIn: VALENTINE’S DAY 2024 PART II We spread Valentine's cheer this morning… (2024)

For each Taco Tuesday, we usually get two big bags of tortilla chips from a big-box store in town. This morning, for one of the two bags, we accidentally bought unsalted tortilla chips (you might as well eat our papered basket lining; it has the same amount of flavor), so we had to run back to the store to get more.We ran to the big-box store, and they had no bags left, but the price tag outlining the location within the aisle was still on display. We just missed out. So we grabbed another brand of salted chips – not nearly as good, but we had to make do with what we could get.As we started walking to the registers, we walked past a woman in her mid-to-late 20s. In her cart, she had a bag of the brand of chips we were looking for! We figured we might as well state our case and see if we could buy them from her. We walked up to her as she was reading the back of a spicy ramen bowl pack (which looked really good, note to self for the next shopping trip).Preoccupied and not looking away from her ramen, she cut us off before we could say much and said:“Listen sweetie, I appreciate you shooting your shot, but this is a waterfall…”**as she uses one hand to outline her hips, still not looking up**“…stick to the rivers and lakes you’re used to.”We laughed so hard we snorted, which caused her to look up. We explained the situation and how our restaurant needed the bag for Taco Tuesday. She had never heard of our store, but smiled and said:“What the hell – you'll get your chips and I get to tell my Abuela I saved Taco Tuesday. She’ll like that.”We invited the young lady and her grandmother to spend Taco Tuesday or any other day with us - their meal is on us.Photo Credit: Taco Tuesday at Gino's! Handmade pan-fried guacamole tacos – topped with chicken or steak, melted cheese and served with tortilla chips, salsa and sour cream

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Last week, we had an exhausted mother (late 30s, 40 tops) come into the store.This single mother went to the pizza place in the same plaza as our store with her family and ordered pizza and wings. Her three kids (were teen and tween-aged) stayed at the pizzeria for 25 minutes, engrossed in their phones and Nintendo Switch, while she came over here and enjoyed a glass of wine, engaging in conversation with adults. Everyone was content.She sat down, sighed, and said..."I need a glass of cab and whatever pills doctors prescribed housewives in the 50s."With an opening line like that, we knew we were in for a treat and started mentally preparing for how we were going to narrate this story for you.She started talking about normal things that drive parents crazy, like her house being a mess..."The house is just littered with random objects they pick up, carry around, and drop for no reason like they live inside a claw machine. Yesterday, I cut myself sitting on the couch, there was a vegetable peeler between the cushions. What the hell?"At this point, a teen walked in by himself; he was wearing a tank top and shorts – as it was snowing heavily and freezing. Mom confirmed that this was her son who must have gotten bored at the pizzeria.As he sat down, she asked if he was cold and mentioned that he should be wearing pants and a coat. He got annoyed, and he said she was nagging."Fine, sit there shivering, but you're shaking more than the apps when you edit the home screen on that damn phone of yours."We paid for her glass of wine as a thank you for the laugh but told her we couldn't help her with the pills she requested.Photo Credit: The best lunch special in CNY - a 6 inch cheesesteak of your choice (16 different choices) and a small mound of fries (she upgraded to curly fries). This sandwich just happens to be our best-selling cheesesteak, The Bellyfiller (which is what the stressed-out mom ordered).

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A grandmother and her granddaughter recently came in for lunch. The girl was around 5 or 6 years old. Upon entering, we noticed she carried a massive backpack.In the back, some to-go orders were being prepared. However, it was post-lunch and pre-dinner rush, with the restaurant having no dine-in customers except for the grandmother and the young girl.After delivering their meals, we observed the girl bending down to unzip her bag. A large, adorable cat stuffed animal popped out from the partially zipped bag. We couldn't help but smile at how cute she was snuggling the plush animal head.Our smiles quickly turned to confusion when the girl picked up her hot dog and began to feed her stuffed animal. It became evident that the cat was very real and very hungry.Glancing over at the grandmother, we pointed at the girl's bag and said, "I think you have a stowaway." After a moment of slight hesitation, the grandmother looked over and promptly moved the bag with the cat to the car so they could finish their meal.As the grandmother walked to the front door with the bag, the following conversation ensued:GRANDMOTHER: I told you... you couldn't bring Lady Sparkle Paws to lunch!GIRL (mad): Cynthia gets to bring her pet with her everywhere she goes.GRANDMOTHER (at the front door): Cynthia is blind! That dog helps her get around.GIRL (folding her arms, leaning back in her chair defeated): Not fair, I wish I was blind!The grandmother returned, and they enjoyed the rest of their meal. We really wanted to give the girl a cookie, not as a reward for any unwanted behavior, but just because we've never heard such a funny name for a cat—Lady Sparkle Paws.Photo Credit: Gino’s Pot Roast Sandwich (Wednesday only) - Premium chuck roast, slow braised for 12 hours in a secret blend of herbs and spices - hand-shredded and piled high on a toasted onion bun and smothered in melted bubbly cheese. Served with a side of our famous Au jus for dipping or pouring.

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Last week, it almost happened. The inability to keep our mouth shut exposed a secret and almost tore a family apart right in the middle of our restaurant.A dad and daughter (early 30s and 5 or 6 years old, respectively) came into the restaurant and ordered their meal. As we brought out their meal, we handed the tacos to the dad and the chicken tenders to the child. The girl was talking about a boy in her class.“I told them, Cody is not my boyfriend. I have chicken tenders and friendship bracelets, I don’t need him.”We smiled because, well, how could we not? That was the most adorable thing we heard all day. The father looked up at us from the booth and said,“That is why I will buy her chicken tenders till the day I die.”We ran a few more food orders and went back to the table to see how everything was. We looked over at the girl and asked about her tenders. Without looking up from coloring, she said...“Good. Not as good as a 5-piece box from McDonald's; they’re drier, so I get to chew them more than these.”Again, freaking adorable. We thanked her for the high praise. Without thinking, we just blurted out that it had to be a 6-piece box because Mickey D’s doesn’t have a 5-piece.The dad jumped in and admitted the truth of his betrayal. He sneaks a nugget and tells her it’s a 5-piece. That was the moment everything changed. Time slowed down. The crayon dropped from the child’s hand and dramatically bounced off the table like it was a pin from the old Sprint TV commercial. The girl looked up and said...“YOU STEAL MY NUGGETS??? ……(long pause, building suspense)……(laughing)…..you’re silly.”We gave her a free cookie as an “I’m sorry, I ruined your family” gift. She smiled and accepted. She walked out with a cookie in one hand and her father’s hand in the other.Photo Credit: What the dad was eating...only onTaco Tuesday-Handmade pan-fried guacamole tacos – topped with beef or chicken melted mozzarella cheese and served with tortilla chips, salsa and sour cream.

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After an insane first Friday of Lent, we're giving the crew a well deserved day off. Since it is Presidents’ Day and schools are closed, our crew can spend the day with their families.

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As soon as we’re done steaming our Valentine’s Day outfit, we’ll be walking around the village of Fayettville all morning handing out red velvet cookies. Don’t be afraid to roll down your window on the way to work -we’ll ultimate-frisbee a cookie right in your car.Just look for the horribly dressed man with blue curly hair….

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Last night, the bar was almost full, with a handful of tables and two out of the three booths occupied. The dinner rush had just died down when the two separate parties in the booths left within minutes of each other.As the last family in the booth section got into their car and drove off, our server noticed a backpack on the floor near their table. She grabbed the bag and ran out the door after them.Our restaurant is situated at the very back of a plaza with a long parking lot. By the time we reached the front door from behind the bar to see what was going on, Sarah (our bartender) had run through the entire parking lot and was in the middle of the busy road, chasing this car, screaming "come back!" She was trying to lightly slap the side of the car to get their attention, all while swinging the backpack like Wonder Woman’s lasso.As quick as Sarah is, she didn’t catch them. They sped away.Sarah came back looking defeated, repeatedly asking, "Why would they speed away like that?" She got over it within a few minutes, hid the backpack behind the counter, and went about her shift.The phone rang at 9 pm, which is unusual because we close at 8 pm. Sarah answered the phone. It was the family in the booth who left the backpack. BUT it wasn’t the family she chased down earlier that night; it was the family in the other booth!Long story short, she chased down the wrong party.NOTE TO THE FAMILY THAT WAS CHASED DOWN:We now know why you sped away so fast. A crazy woman was in the middle of the road screaming at you, chasing you, swinging a foreign object, and slapping the side of your car. We would’ve sped away too.You might not believe this, based on what you witnessed last night, but we swear, Sarah doesn’t bite.Photo Credit: Only on Fish Fryday - the Cape Cod Reuben – fresh haddock with coleslaw, swiss & 1000 Island Dressing. Not sure why, but this customer's sandwich got cut diagonally.

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We needed to pick up a few things at the grocery store on the way to the restaurant yesterday.We were stressed out; it was our first day back to the store since being out with a really bad stint of tendinitis. We were out of the restaurant for pretty much a week. It’s why we haven’t been posting as much as we normally do; we’ve been stuck in bed and unable to share any stories.Anyway, we walked over to the produce section.Normally, we despise the produce section; too many entrances and exits into the area, no obvious flow of traffic, too many carts sneaking up to attack the back of your ankles - it’s Mad Max meets the wild west meets the Royal Rumble. It’s the devil’s garden, where sins and chaos grow.But this time was different; we reached for a bunch of celery and heard a thunderstorm sound effect and felt the vegetable mist shower on our hand/arm. This is the most beautiful experience in the world. In 38 years on God’s green earth, we never knew the thunderstorm effect played with the vegetable mister. Genius.All our stress and worry melted away. You know when you meditate and you’re supposed to close your eyes and “go to your happy place”? That moment was our happy place. Our brain immediately spit out a ‘404’ error code. Our mind was so empty, Spirit Halloween tried to sign a lease for the space.Suddenly, we realized a period of time had elapsed. Ten seconds, ten minutes, ten years – we have no idea, but we’re holding our celery and were interrupted when an older woman (who must recognize us) says…“C’mon, no one puts celery on a cheesesteak, keep it movin’ tutz."A second “never in 38 years on this planet” – we’ve never been called tutz.Happy to be back to see everyone again; we missed the store, employees, customers, and of course, the crazy stories that come from it all.Photo Credit: Meatlover’s Cheesesteak - Steak, hand-ground chicken, mayo, lettuce, tomato and pickles…we think this customer added peppers as well.

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Our store is located in a plaza with a dozen or so other shops. At closing, the employees clean up and leave. We stay behind and gather the nightly deposit for the accountant, including the cash due, credit card slips, and the daily report. Most nights, after everyone leaves, we sit in the corner booth and write all the day’s crazy stories in our journal.Due to all this, we're generally the last people in the plaza’s parking lot. It’s quiet and peaceful—except for a night last week. We went out the side door, walked around the whole restaurant, and pulled on every entrance to make sure they were locked. As we walked to our car, we slipped on black ice and waved our hands to keep our balance.In doing so, the briefcase with our laptop shifted, and it was going to fall to the ground unless we dropped something in our other hand to save it. We had to save the laptop, so we had to drop the the nightly deposit, or the sandwich we were eating. In this industry, you’re programmed to never drop food—the cooks will yell at you if they have to remake something, and no one wants a tired cook yelling at them.Instinct kicked in, and we dropped the nightly deposit. The cash got picked up by the wind and began to blow everywhere. It was like trying to grab the money in one of those wind tunnels you used to see on game shows—except this was your money, and anything you don’t catch is gone forever. All we kept thinking was, “If we don’t get all this money, how the hell are we going to explain this to the accountant?”We ran around the side parking lot, picking up bills in mud puddles, snow piles, air-intake vents, and even retrieved a $50 bill from a drainpipe. We felt like we were competing in that game show from when we were young - Double Dare, where every challenge was just disgusting. But in the end, everything was accounted for.We got home and sprayed the money with Lysol and hung it from a string with clothespins to dry in our living room. Granted, hanging it in the front window wasn’t the best idea; our neighbors probably think we’re running some sort of counterfeit money laundering ring (we really don’t need any other rumors about us floating around).Anyway, the reason we tell you this… it’s Pot Roast Wednesday! This is the sandwich we chose not to drop on the ground and caused us to briefly lose the cash from the entire day’s sales. Anyone who’s ever tried this masterpiece of premium chuck roast, slow-braised for 12 hours in a secret blend of herbs and spices, hand-shredded, and piled high on a toasted onion bun, and smothered in melted bubbly cheese knows why we didn’t drop it.

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