The Galley on Lopez

I am halfway to being 71 years old.

In those years I have accumulated a list of favorite restaurants:

The Mayfair in Saigon (now defunct)

Le Départ St-Michel in Paris (epicenter of my to-date only novel; Mayfair has a minor role)

La Citrouille in Paris (site of my 70th birthday party)

Ringside in Portland (too many tales to try to reprise)

Luc in Seattle (great happy hour and clams)

The Goose Hollow Tavern in Portland (Reuben is religion)

To name a few.

Incomplete sentence noted. Lightning bolt from Sister Justitia hurled from heaven avoided, but barely. (See Saigon 1967 – a memoir – for more on that).

There are more of those favorites.

They have come and gone, but I still remember all of them fondly.

But it is the new ones that creep into my life that I am writing about here.

There are two, but I am going to write about one of them now; later I will write about the other.

The Galley is associated with, and owns, I guess, a mooring facility on Lopez Island. 

It is as close to a diner (like in New Jersey) in its food and service as I have ever experienced on the West Coast. 

Everything that they serve – discounted if you be a food snob – for what it is (fish and chips, Cole slaw, French dip sandwich) etc.- is perfect. 

Jeff, the owner, assures that.

His people seem to buy in to his management style, because they act as if  “but of course (bien sur) that is what we expect to deliver – perfection of the type of food and service that we choose to vend.

How Lopez.

I was there this afternoon for a late lunch and a few of things happened that got me thinking about creating this post.

One was that the person behind the bar – I was eating in the bar, at the bar – was new to me.

I am not a regular, so I don’t want to make too much out of that, but, new to me was new to her. 

It took her about  45 seconds to make me feel as if I belonged there. 

In fact I do and in fact I did.

But she didn’t know that.

It was just the way The Galley treats people.

Not a bad gambit.

I was so hungry.

I already knew what I wanted.

I ordered a French Dip and and a merlot.

Great! She said.

While I was waiting for my order  I saw two things posted that made me even more of a devotee of The Galley.

They were Both so smart.

One was a sign that said when/if the kitchen happened to be closed  (I know that to be a not very frequent occurrence) one could order a bratwurst – of course organic..

Bratwurst, at least for me, is one of the few things I could think of as a substitute for a real meal. 

“Pretty smart”, I thought.

A little later I saw another sign: “Snickers for a buck”.

Last Snickers I bought was over two dollars,

“Pretty smart”, I thought

So I decided to use my blog to add The Galley to my list of favorite restaurants.

There is another restaurant here on the Island – The Bay Café – that I want to get to next.

But I am running out of gas.

And one great restaurant deserves its own space when talked about.