Lots of things make me happy, but these days, just walking into the Girls’ Café is enough to make anyone happy. So good to see Vera back on the job, looking and acting like she’s feeling terrific and able to take on the world, or at least our small part of it, keeping her customers happy with that outstanding oatmeal she makes. Would make me happier if she would ever give out the recipe for it, but all I can learn is that it’s a family recipe and that’s where it’s staying! Even before you get inside, though, you get the feeling spring is really not far behind and those outdoor tables will be up and busy within a few weeks. Mikey had already done such a terrific job with the flowers and plants, even those hanging plants which he did all by himself, climbing the ladder with pots in hand to ensure they were all perfectly arranged. And now the Girls Café has some pretty spectacular tee shirts available for sale in all sizes, so stop in and look at them, ask how you order one and see for yourself how attractive and unusual they are.
Just as Highlands is its Girls Café, Atlantic Highlands has Emilio’s where, like the Café, you’re greeted with heartfelt enthusiasm and smiles, a lot of love and great food. For Emilio, his wife, and all their employees, this isn’t a job at a corner restaurant on Center Avenue. It’s simply a great place where the family doesn’t look at it as work as much as giving back to a community they love with the excellence of their culinary skills. Can’t wait until they’re open for dinner as well, and that is probably going to be sometime in a month or so. A nice quiet restaurant filled with love and a talent for great cuisine, smiling staff and close enough to home to walk to on a lovely spring evening. Life doesn’t get much better than all of that!
