Land of Blacktop and Broken Dreams

Oh, Natick. Known throughout New England (or at least out to 495) as the home of Shopper's World and the newly minted Natick Collection, it is a land of minivans, endless parking lots and TJX. Despite my constant urge to shop for shoes, that was not the goal when Liz, Geoff and I trekked out there on route 16 through Swellesley and Newton. The goal was hot dogs. Casey's Diner hot dogs.

Now I remembered Casey's from my time in a holding cell at TJX. I lived for my lunch hour, escaping to all of the local greasepits and sometimes to Cochituate Lake to nap and ponder driving into it. Steve the tech guy, a local, introduced me to Casey's Diner. Since I hadn't been there in 4 years, I wanted to relive the glory and see if my taste buds had a good memory. Liz and Geoff, never ones to turn down cheap food or a chance to race VW punks through Swellesley, came along for the ride.

Now Casey's comes with a good reputation. Originally a horse drawn diner car, it has retained most of its charm and about 80 years of cased-on grease. Given the history, it seemed a great location to begin our 2009 hot dog hit list. Liz and I went with our usual: 3 hot dogs, 1.5 for each. Ketchup, Mustard, Relish and Onions. I know, traditionalists hate ketchup. I say, screw you tradtionalists. Ketchup is awesome. It activates the awesome glands. Back to the dogs. They were normal sized, with crisp natural casings on the outside and nice and tender on the inside. Want fries with that? Too bad, they don't have a fry-o-lator. Strike one.

Geoff wanted chili. They didn't have chili, never have it. Geoff got pouty. Strike two.

In the end, Casey's redeemed itself with pie. Blueberry pie, apparently from Sam's Club, part of Wal-Mart's evil empire. But I digress. Because this pie was delicious: tart, with flaky, crumbly crust. Despite Geoff's broken heart over the lack of chili, we were all ready to nap after this pie. And what else would you want to do on a Saturday afternoon?

Casey's Diner is worth a stop if you're in the area, but don't trek out to Natick just for that; make sure that you are getting some shoe shopping in as well.