I was born in New York City and I lived here until I was six years old and that has never felt like a long time for me. But there are some things here that have stuck and makes me feel like its been ages. These are memories that feel like they last a lot longer than they have actually existed. I’ve been coming to this restaurant with my family since as long as I can remember, it’s always been here. I remember having a special day out, getting a hamburger with my dad and my aunt. Sometimes my mother would take me after kindergarten for mother-daughter time. I still remember wanting to use sit at the counter and my dad dragging me to a more “family friendly” seating areas by the booths. I always wanted pancakes and so I could use the metal syrup servers, even though I couldn’t finish them all on my own. I still remember my experience finding out that I don’t like pickles because I found them sour and gross. I still remember being four years old and getting dum dum lollipops of several new and bizarre flavors like root beer and cotton candy at the end of each visit from my Uncle Dimitri.

I moved back to New York when I was 14 and it did not feel any different.