Movable feast6/27/2023 The squat toilets of the old apartment houses, one by the side of the stairs on each floor with the two cleated cement shoe-shaped elevations on each side of the aperture so a locataire would not slip, emptied into cesspools which were emptied by pumping into horse-drawn tank wagons at night. The Café des Amateurs was the cesspool of the rue Mouffetard, that wonderful narrow crowded market street which led into the Place Contrescarpe. The women drunkards were called poivrottes which meant female rummies. Many strangely named apéritifs were advertised, but few people could afford them except as a foundation to build their wine drunks on. The men and women who frequented the Amateurs stayed drunk all of the time, or all of the time they could afford it, mostly on wine which they bought by the half-liter or liter. It was a sad, evilly run café where the drunkards of the quarter crowded together and I kept away from it because of the smell of dirty bodies and the sour smell of drunkenness. The leaves lay sodden in the rain and the wind drove the rain against the big green autobus at the terminal and the Café des Amateurs was crowded and the windows misted over from the heat and the smoke inside. We would have to shut the windows in the night against the rain and the cold wind would strip the leaves from the trees in the Place Contrescarpe. It would come in one day when the fall was over. to 7:30 p.m.Then there was the bad weather. We doubled down, we helped revitalize the area, planting trees, making economic development vital again." "We were once among all these chain restaurants up on 71st Street. You know that the money stays in your community," Courtney said. That's why Courtney says making the choice of a smaller market like his, could be the best choice in the long run. To survive and thrive, local businesses need support. But we pulled through and we're survivors." so people could do curbside," Courtney said. "We survived thanks to Kathleen's online ordering. WRTV first profiled the business back in 2020 during the pandemic, when, without even realizing it, Movable Feast's owners put themselves way ahead of the curve with its minimal-contact pickup model. Movable Feast's loyalty to the community paired with its adaptability, means it has stayed a staple of the neighborhood through thick and thin. "Right now we're working on the Nickel Plate Trail, which is just gonna be like 50 yards from here," Courtney said. Courtney and Kathleen Tracy, his fellow owner, moved their operations to the East 65th Street location a few years back.Ĭourtney says the business is committed to the neighborhood and its goals. It's the same two-person operation they've been using since Movable Feast's start in 1997 at a location on East 71st Street. So it's just the connectivity of people." now those people are bringing their kids in for lunch. "We've done baptisms, the first communions. "Food is a very strong connection with people," Courtney said. Movable Feast is great for grabbing food on the go, sitting down with a group of people, or snagging a quick snack for a party later. Salads, daily specials, beer and wine, dips. We sell pounds of that and people go crazy." "Our chicken salad is the bomb," Courtney said. Sandwiches like the turkey pesto & provolone, or the classic Philly steak & cheese. Its menu is filled with homemade soups and hot sandwiches. The independent café and market offers a lot of warmth, both literally and figuratively. "In these days - especially leading into COVID - you need to be diversified," Movable Feast owner and partner Peter Courtney said. In operation for over 25 years, Movable Feast on the northeast side of Indianapolis is many things, all in one delicious package.
0 Comments
Leave a Reply. |