mattgsilver

My Old Restaurant – The Bean

I was a partner in a coffee house called “The Supreme Bean” in a little town called Chatham in upstate New York. It eventually meta-morphed into a restaurant and because everyone kept calling it “The Bean”, that’s what we renamed it to be.

The Supreme Bean wasn’t exactly a money maker.  We had a killer open mic which was hosted by Mr. David Higgs and driven by the amazing Raif* (whose music your hearing). We had a lot of customers, but in hindsight, there were some bad business choices.

We were on a side street off the main drag, in the basement of a building that housed the town newspaper and a real estate office.  It started off with a good mix of adults and kids, but kids don’t really want to hang out with adults and adults don’t really want to hang out with kids.  Unfortunately, kids don’t spend as much as adults.

Due to our underground location we weren’t allowed to “cook” food.  But we had to find a way to supplement our menu of bagels and pastries. Given the OK to use crock-pots, microwaves and toasters, we devised a quasi-Mexican menu of beans, rice, salsa, etc.  It certainly helped, but not enough.

When an opportunity presented itself to move down the road to a recently closed bar and grill called Macchio’s, we jumped at the chance.  Macchio’s had been a Chatham staple for more than 60 years.  It was right on Route 66 and backed up to the train tracks which ran through Chatham.  Spencer Macchio had decided to toss in his towel and retire.  While he didn’t care much for my business partner Dave, he took a liking to me and agreed to lease the place to us.  And so “The Bean” was born.

We had a ton of help form our new friends and fans and after some more of Dave’s dads money and about 2 months of sweat equity we opened the doors.  Although we tried damn hard to go a little higher end and serve the better brews and food, we still had our fair share of local old timers pony up to the bar and ask for their Bud.  But it was all good.  We had the pool table, the juke box, a couple video games, open mic, and live music every Friday and Saturday night.

It was an unforgettable chapter of my life and I have no regrets.

Dave and I parted ways and The Bean eventually closed down.  Despite the well wishes of Dave, and the lovely note, our friendship was permanently fractured and although I tried, we no longer speak.

P.S  If any of the ex-beaners are out there or know where the others are, I’d love to catch up and see where you’re at! – Matt

*Raif met with an untimely death doing what he loved, diving in the Bahamas.  We will all miss him.

Powered by iSOUND.COM