Wouldn't it be amazing if one could snap his or her fingers and get any kind of food they want- and top quality, affordable, too. Well, there's a place in Lafayette Ca, where I live, that was last a decent sub sandwich shop and many other things before that. Several months ago a new shop opened called 'Local Kitchens.' I could have sworn it was a kitchen appliance store like the one that used to be across the street. So, I ignored the place for months until...
I read about some newish restaurants selling potato lakes, brisket and other delicacies in this last night of Hanukah. I'd already made an amazing discovery of 'Revival', in Berkeley, days earlier from same news article: maybe the best brisket and crispy latkes I'd ever had and in a beautifully renovated old building.
Wises and Sons deli was supposed to be open according to the article but their website said 'closed' but there was a referring address in Lafayette. As a good old journalist I was not one to ignore a lead
I was nearly resigned to cooking my own dinner but being nearby I thought I'd drive by the given Lafayette address. Amazingly, this place was open and well lit.at 7 pm on a Sunday night . I parked in their lot not expecting much. As I walked in the door good smells emanated and an ambience like something from the future . I've heard of new restaurants in places like Japan where there were no workers. ..well, that was the case here. There were no people to take orders but instead, just three kiosks with computer screens beaming pictures of attractive food including that of Wise and Sons Deli. How could this little box of a place put out quality food from not only Wise and Sons but many other restaurants - and with no employees. At the kiosks You are instructed to key in your fave dishes and whatever 'extras ' you want. There was not only Wise and Sons but menus from eight or nine other restuarants. How the hell do nine restaurants put on food in this little cracker jack box with no workers? I chose a pastrami Rueben sandwich, coleslaw and order of latkes . Total came to less than $25, for which I was instructed to pay by credit card with my phone. I could barely handle the 'tech'. What would someone do here who wasn't tech savvy?
Within seconds I was notified by text that my order would be ready in 10-15 minutes. Incredible, I thought. Was I really about to get a delicious deli dinner from this non-descript location seemingly devoid of people? Who was cooking the food and where were they cooking it. I'll believe it when I see it. This is something from science fiction, I thought. If it works , great. But I had my doubts.
Another text...'your order ready in 5 minutes,' then, sure enough, in exactly five minutes a bag of food appears out of nowhere in a small square opening. Then a voice announced my name and that my order was ready. A robot?
I got to my car and checked to make sure this was no joke and, yes, Charley, there was real, delicious food that I had ordered- food for which I might have had to otherwise travel to New York or Los Angeles to eat,- and at much more expensive prices!
Surreal , yes. On one hand I would have scoffed at impersonal 'robot food' but, no, after all, this is 2121 , well beyond 1984. Let's leave it as a mystery how they do it and even offer up the address for your now very curious self to try. As an old Nostalgist maybe some things in this technological age today aren't so bad.
This was the best dinner, along with the aforementioned Revival, that I had had in a long time and I didn't have to drive far, wait long or leave a tip as I did at Revival. Perfectly timed for the pandemic, this type of restaurant may become a trend. Go now before the lines form.
LOCAL KITCHENS: 3455 Mt Diablo Blvd Lafayette, CA 94549
