I’m in the middle of writing an essay for an anthology my great friend/fantastic editor/and owner of Parisian Phoenix Publishing is putting out as a tribute to my comrade-in arms/fantastic writer/warm and loving friend, M. Christian, who died on the very first day of this year. In writing my tribute, I’m attempting to celebrate the wonderful bond I had with my buddy by highlighting as much as possible his many great qualities and highlighting a few of the more interesting times we had.
And given what Chris and I write, we have had some interesting times.
Living as he did on the West Coast of the country for most of the time I knew him, and me always and forever here in NJ, Chris and I didn’t see each other nearly as often as we’d have liked. But the aforementioned writing did land us here and there to teach classes at various conventions and to have even co-authored a book (see here) and co-host a podcast for a while (because everybody has to host a podcast these days).
In my essay, I recall a great time we had in the company of an equally great guide-of-the-city/worker for a convention we were visiting in St. Louis, when we were ferried to a cool little diner. Man, what a time that was, eating great food in one of those classic American hole-in-wall spots you’d only ever know about if you were lucky to hang with someone from the neighborhood. Rosie, our guide, not only knew of the Chili Macs diner, but had actually worked for a special effects house in Los Angeles that was part of the team of artisans who worked on the original Outer Limits television program. Two sci-fi geeks like Chris and I were salivating over the great food as much as we were over Rosie’s stories.
Hanging at such a cool no-frills neighborhood eatery like the Chili Macs reminded me so very much of my beloved NJ diners and the many late-night hangs I enjoyed with friends at so many of them. Eating just about any food at any hour, when those beloved eateries were open 24 hours, was pretty much de rigueur for kids of my generation and plenty before. One of the many terrible side effects of Covid, and there have surely been many and only negative ones as far as I am concerned, is that so many of our diners, even little luncheonettes, suffered such a downturn of business during the lockdown, not only causing many closings but surely with New Jersey diners, to cut back on their usual open 24-hour policy
In some sort of weird scroll of my feed this week, an article about the Chili Macs came up, and suddenly recognizing the place, I managed a deep dive, as much to add information to my piece on Chris as to think about all this. Beloved by many a citizen in the area and beyond, the reviews of the place are across the board fantastic, as Chris and I found it to be.
Another interesting fact is…the Chili Mac has been in business for 122 years!
Holy ****!
I guess the point to this extra-long scribble is:
Cherish the moments, even the simple, seemingly off-the-cuff ones you have with your nearest and dearest, cause when they are gone, as “Marsellus Wallace” says to “Butch Coolidge” in Pulp Fiction, they “stay gone.”
And although I believe NJ to be one of the greatest places on Earth for the out-of-the-way eateries (and food in general), there are so many great places out there, beyond my wonderful state, as I am sure you have found.
I suggest that if you have the time, go and search a few out, with a friend, and mark the time well.
Go here to find out more about Chili Macs: Chili Macs Diner | St. Louis MO | Facebook
