A Guilty Pleasure?

As a former New Yorker, I often get food cravings that cannot be easily satisfied in our neck of the woods (Vietnamese hot and sour soup, Shanghai-style juicy dumplings, tacos and burritos.) I also miss lox and bagels, which was the Sunday morning breakfast of my childhood. So I was pleased (but wary) when both Toymaker's and Mountainside added smoked salmon on a bagel to their menus (served with cream cheese, capers and red onion.) I am happy to report that they credibly satisfy my craving but I still miss Russ & Daughters on the Lower East Side.

Like Proust with his madeleines, I am overcome with sweet memories by this meal. But it's a guilty pleasure that is causing me tsuris. Is this breakfast a symbol of gentrification? Isn't Falls Village a sweet-potato-waffle and bacon-and-eggs kind-of town? Yes and no. Falls Village is changing and not everyone who has lived here for decades thinks that is a bad thing anymore. Are lox and bagels a symbol that the Old Guard and Young Turks can live (and dine) together in harmony? Well, as we heard sung so many times during FVCT's production of Cinderella, "Impossible things are happening every day." To wit: I had a very jolly lunch the other day at Mountainside with Faye and Pete Lawson and Mr. (Fred) Peterson. I am beginning to feel truly at home.