What do you mean by let’s meet at the chair? My friend Tom said to just look for the Big Chair as we were driving down MLK Jr. Blvd in Anacostia. I admit, I’d never even heard of the Big Chair but I was on an adventure with a trusted friend so that didn’t matter.
When we found the BIG, really BIG CHAIR we pulled into the parking lot of a large professional building but found no parking spaces. We drove down a small side street, turned around and parked. Our final destination was the new Big Chair Coffee ‘n Grill.
I’m not a big fan of coffee (I drink decaf) but being with Tom was enough to lure me across the Anacostia River into Southeast. In our travels he and I also frequent the Southeast White House. We found the coffee house across the street from the Big Chair in the historic district.
I asked for decaf and the barista pointed to the large pot marked DECAF and said he didn’t have any! Apparently there is no demand for such a product. He asked me if a decaf fenchpess was OK and I didn’t have the slightest idea what he was talking about. This turned out to be an individual “French Press” coffee-making machine into which he put decaf coffee grounds and hot water. Instructions were to wait for the egg-timer to run out and then very s-l-o-w-l-y push the knob down and press all the flavor into the coffee.
A well-connected businessman came by and we struck up a conversation with him. He turned out to be the landlord of this family-run establishment and is not only interested in real estate east of the river but is also interested in building low-income housing in Silver Spring, Montgomery County, Maryland.
I had a wonderful ham & cheese omelet before checking out the upstairs overflow seating, meeting room and art gallery. After praying for the city in the upper room, we were off to have lunch with some pastors in Fairfax, Virgina, and to continue our adventure for the day.
David Robert Lambert 