A 99 kinda day

Adam's roommate, Zaron went out to lunch with their friend Zayne to the 99 restaurant over by Alewife. Zaron had never been to the 99, but it turns out Zayne is a frequent customer since the waitress cheerfully greeted him "Good to see you again." Adam was slated to join Zayne for dinner that very evening and they hadn't decided where to go. I really wanted Adam to say to Zayne, "you know...I've never been to the 99...I've always wanted to go there," but Adam refused to play along.

Later that night, my Carin, Katie and I hopped into Nicole's Prius for our jaunt out to the Friendly's in Charlestown. Unfortunately, Friendly's had just closed for the night when we pulled in a little past nine. We didn't have a lot of snack options...Dunkin Donuts, Papa Ginos and a dismal looking Foodmasters. Lo and behold, like a beacon, across the strip mall parking lot stood a 99 restaurant. We were all hungry for dessert and I was looking forward to some greasy munchies so we hopped into the Prius and drove 200 yards across the parking lot and parked in front of the 99.

We ventured into the 99 and the unenergetic hostess lethargically led us to our table. Granted it was nine at night, but this place was empty...there were three people seated. We were greeted by a peppy server with an accent I could not place [Irish?/Scottish?/British?]. It was all very disorienting, but our tap waters were garnished with wedges of lemon. We perused the menu and debated what to order. Nicole had just walked 20 miles for the Walk for Hunger and was thus, very hungry. She wanted to order everything on the menu, but settled on the fried seafood dinner. I wanted to order the side of gravy for 29 cents just to see what it would be like, but ended up with a bowl of cream of broccoli soup since they were all out of iceberg wedge salads. We shared an order of potato skins and some massive desserts. All in all, I was pleasantly surprised and pleased with my first ever 99 experience. Sure the place was initially odd and disconcerting, but the deliciously crispy potato skins won me over. My soup was quite nice and the mile high ice cream pie was... well heavenly. What's not to love about butterfinger and chocolate ice cream layered into a chocolate cookie pie crust?

Here's to Zayne and the 99. Zayne's boundless enthusiasm for and expertise in the subject of savory potato concoctions is truely impressive. Afterall, it was Zayne who taught us how to substitute our ho-hum side orders for those transcendent potato bakes at Pizzaria Unos. With a side of gravy for only 29 cents, anyone can afford to eat out at the 99 in Charlestown.