Creativity lives in all kinds of places, and artistry can triumph in a new Main Street cafe as easily as a gallery or museum. In the general scheme of things, the opening of the Round House Cafe on Main Street in Cambridge, N.Y. is not that big of a deal, but it has galvanized this town, my town. Cambridge is a wondrous mix of country people, farmers, artists, professors and writers, it has an arts center, a diner, a great bookstore but has been struggling for years to find a cafe, a gathering place with style and great food. Lisa and Scott Carrino recently opened the Round House Cafe, and it has filled that hole with great class and love and fresh and wonderful food.
Scott and Lisa ran a popular bakery and decided to open a cafe in an old bank, which was sitting empty for years. It was a great shot in the arm for Cambridge, a testament to the idea of being local and buying local, the kind of gathering place that makes rural life so special, the kind of cafe no corporate chain would ever consider opening. At the Round House Cafe, the food is fresh, the muffins and cakes are homemade, the vegetables and salads seem to have come right out of the ground. And the menu us published every morning on Facebook, one part of social media I read.
This is all possible because Scott and Lisa are working 15-hour days (at least) and have simply given up on sleep. Typically, the whole town is worried about whether or not they are getting rest. They remind me a bit of Connie Brooks of Battenkill Books, and I am happy that even a small town in upstate New York can attract such gifted and creative people.
What drew me to them as a photographer was not just their cafe, which was instantly booming, but the chemistry between the two of them, the affection that is evident in every photo. Seeing Scott and Lisa work to together is in itself affirming, and I am dazzled by their creativity – the food is creative in itself, but so are the fresh flowers, the silverware instead of plastic foods and the cheerful greeting of Aliyah (I am sure I misspelled her name, sorry, I’ll correct it later.) It is one of those wordless kinds of connections, the two don’t need to speak much when they work together, they seem wired into one another. I think they are perfectionists and obsessives, they seem to delegate very little.
Creativity is inspiring, it is also hard work.
It is great to see this kind of creativity and hard work pay off, and nice as well to see an appreciative community rush to support it. My town already has a lot of wonderful things, and Lisa and Scott have brought it another. Maria accused me today of being addicted to their food, and she has a point, I think of excuses every morning to go into town and pick up a salad or sandwich or a piece of carrot cake or Morning Glory muffin for her. Good food tastes good and it feels good. Fortunately, the cafe is closed on Mondays and Tuesdays. I spent a few minutes there today taking photos, and will put up a short album on Facebook. Creativity is always inspiring to see, and it is even more wonderful to see it rewarded.
Economists and Washington bureaucrats have given up on rural life, it is considered too inefficient to exist in the new global economy. Rural towns are drying up, their populations shrinking, schools and churches closing, jobs leaving, farms closing. My town is defying that story, Cambridge just seems to me be revving itself up. A small cafe can mean a lot to a community.