My kingdom for a hot dog

I probably shouldn't write about this, lest people who read it trample on Grover's good nature with off-menu requests, but I can't let this one pass without notice.

Picture: a summery Sunday eve, my boyfriend squiring me home after picking up the laundry from the fluff & fold, when I'm seized with the craving for a hot dog. It's July, the rain has finally stopped, and as we're cresting the hill where Boston Avenue meets Broadway, James says, "Maybe that place has hot dogs," "that place" being Eat at Jumbo's. We stop, go in, scan the menu from beginning to end, and alas, hot dogs do not appear. "Everything but that," says James.

Enter Grover, owner and local hot dog hero. "What are you looking for?" he asks.

"Oh, I was just craving a hot dog..." I said.

"I just bought some on the way here to cook for myself for dinner! Do you want some? I can cook 'em up for you."

Well. That was the last thing I expected. Like losing a rhinestone from a brand new shoe but then finding it again.

They were damn good dogs, too. Kayem natural skin, I believe, steamed, in untoasted buns. I really hope he adds them to the menu. He actually used to run a hot dog place in Swampscott prior to opening Eat at Jumbo's, so he knows his hot dogs f'real.

When people are generous in little ways like that, it's momentous to me. So thanks, Grover, for coming to Somerville and making me a couple of hot dogs.