Well, it was actually What's Your Beef, which is how it was known before it became Charlie Brown's. And it was a Plainfield success story. Emphasize was.The Courier ran a story in the print edition on Sunday (February 19) in recognition of Charlie Brown's 40th anniversary. Reading it brought back memories of one of Plainfield's roaring successes during a less than auspicious time in our history.
The day we moved in from Brooklyn in the early 1980s, we were tired and hungry after lugging boxes around. Without a working kitchen or the desire to cook even if there were one, we set off in search of a place to get something to eat. Shouldn't be hard in a town of 45,000, right?
Not knowing the town at all, we drove around aimlessly looking for a restaurant. Front Street didn't turn up anything that seemed open. (Turns out there was Lily Greenleaves, but it was so low-key that we missed it entirely.) Eventually we stumbled on What's Your Beef, on Roosevelt Avenue at East Third Street, nestled up against the railroad tracks and a block from the train station.
This was clearly a happening place! It was packed with a noisy, friendly crowd. The bar was jammed. There was a wait at the door for a table. The food was ample and edible, and the service was friendly and efficient. What more could you want?
Turns out that we ate there nearly nightly for the six months it took us to get our kitchen organized. And frequently thereafter as we made friends in the community and found that it was everybody's favorite hangout.
It was at What's Your Beef that I first met Rick Taylor.
Rick would always arrive with an entourage and stop at every table to say 'Hi' on the way to his own. He always stopped at our table, spoke or shook hands with everyone and made small talk. Everyone with him always seemed to have a good time.
It seemed that everyone who was anyone in Plainfield came to the restaurant -- to eat, to drink, to see or be seen.
We fell in with a group that ate there at least once a week, among whom were Chris Larew and Jerry Clark, Allen Mintzer and Randy Phillips, and other friends, including Joe.
Kathleen, an Irish waitress with a quick wit and a thick brogue, adopted us all and would make a beeline for our table as soon as we were seated. She was great fun and made the place feel like being at a friend's as much as at a restaurant.
Once, we took along as part of our party Joe's mother, who was visiting from his Alabama hometown. Joe's nickname was 'Precious.' I don't know where it came from, but just about everyone called him by this handle rather than Joe.
However, in preparation for this particular night, with his mother coming along, Joe had sternly instructed us all in advance that it was to be strictly 'Joe' that night -- no 'Precious.'
We arrived and after a brief wait at the door were seated at a large round table. True to form, Kathleen bustled over to give us our menus and take our drink orders. We went around the table and she ended with Joe. When it came his turn, she put her elbow lightly on his shoulder, order pad and pen poised in mid-air, and said, "Well, what'll it be tonight, precious?"
Everyone was mortified and froze in place. I think we were all sure Joe would believe we had put Kathleen up to it. But Joe's mother immediately chirped, "Why, Precious (dragging it out as only a Southerner can), she knows your pet name! Isn't that sweet?"
We all laughed until the tears ran down our cheeks. But I don't think Joe ever believed it was a complete accident, which it was.
The fun times at What's Your Beef were not to last. Without any evidence that the business was off, the place was shut down on relatively short notice and the staff moved lock-stock-and-barrel to a new Charlie Brown's on Plainfield Avenue in Metuchen, next to the Metuchen County Club.
We went a few times and got Kathleen as our waitress. But eventually we drifted away. Kathleen was still there when we went a few years ago, but the atmosphere just wasn't the same and we've not been back.
I did ask, though, about why the restaurant had moved when they had such an obviously successful location in Plainfield. The reason, I was told, was that there was a problem acquiring space for parking. Now parking had been something of an issue, and we often had had to park half a block away. But, hey, in New York City, finding a parking space that close would be considered rare good luck, so we thought nothing of it. Ours was not a suburban point of view, I quickly learned.
J. Pierpont Morgan, one of the robber barons, once remarked, "A man always has two reasons for the things he does: a good one, and the real one." Suspecting there was more to the story of the restaurant's move than the parking situation, I asked Kathleen what the real scoop was.
"Too many shootings in the neighborhood," she said with a shrug that indicated the move wasn't her idea.
Maybe What's Your Beef/Charlie Brown's should consider coming back. The old space is vacant. Or maybe near the new County office building. There is plenty of parking. And we don't have shootings on the streets downtown any more. Right?
-- Dan Damon
Keyword: Business
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