Lunch at Blueberry Hill

Blueberry Hill is one of those restaurant-bars that distains decorations of haute couture in favor of high clutter. The word eclectic comes to mind. Joe Edwards has outfitted this flagship establishment with his ample collection of gewgaws from the second half of 20th-century pop culture. It boasts an action figure collection that would make Steve Carell’s “40 Year Old Virgin” character, Andy, salivate with envy upon seeing it. Blueberry Hill can boast Chuck Berry’s Saint Louis Walk of Fame star right outside its front door. It also can still boast Chuck Berry live, once-a-month, downstairs in the Duck Room.

Into this Mecca of coolness the three of us sauntered in, on a hot Saturday afternoon. It used to be that on a summer afternoon, you could just walk-in and just pick out your favorite booth. The students had long since fled and The Loop had settled into a sleepy summer doldrums. Anne’s favorite is the one with the scrabble board inlaid into the table. We were recollecting the last time we sat in that booth. We’re pretty sure that the three of us were present then. We thought that Rey might have been the fourth, but there may have been some transposing with age on our memory. We all seemed to remember though that that game’s endgame revolved around the question, “Which of us was still holding the Q?” There were no more letters to pick from, but still no one had played the Q. As it turned out, the bar’s game set was missing the Q.

Today, we had to wait for a booth. At two in the afternoon, what gives? Has some other troubadour been spilling the beans more successfully than me? It was only a five minute wait, just enough time to get beers at the bar. Actually, I had a hard cider and its crispness was just the thing. Dave and I had burgers and Anne had a sandwich. We had sides of fries, chips and onion rings. It was quite the repast.