Written by Alex, server

As Thanksgiving is upon us, I start reflecting on what this holiday means to me, personally.  I know it means different things for everyone but for me, it means family and how thankful and lucky I am to have such a great family.  It’s sitting around the table enjoying a perfectly roasted turkey with garlic mashed potatoes or my mom’s festive rice.  Most of all, I love listening to my mother’s stories of her growing up with her six siblings in Little Italy.  She loves telling my brother and I how the art of conversation is lost on my generation.  In her time, there were no cell phones but friends still managed to get together and talk.  Don’t get me wrong, I think my mom is still cool and very adaptable to all the new technology but the romantic in me can’t help but agree with her that we have lost the art of conversation.

My favorite all time story my mother tells is the one where she “gave up religion for a cappuccino”.  You see, growing up she had a favorite café she would hang out with her friends.  According to her, there was this other café which dominated most of the business in the neighbourhood but only because they had the best corner but for mom, Sweet Dreams was more her beat.  Sweet Dreams was like going to your friend’s house to hang out.  The owner, Tony always treated you like family and made you feel so welcome but according to mom, he made the best cappuccinos, so much so that she would sometimes skip going to church on Sundays.

Fast forward to the present and Tony has moved on from Sweet Dreams and now runs the Boom family.  His philosophy is still the same, when you come to Boom, Tony always makes you feel like you are part of the family and he is still making those great cappuccinos.  I like that Boom still holds that little piece of the past for my mom.  Who knows maybe Tony can teach my generation a thing or two about the art of conversation and just hanging out with friends over brunch.

So, on this Thanksgiving, I would like to thank Tony, not just for his repertoire of espresso-based coffees but having a place where friends & food collide over brunch.