Gobble Till you Wobble is a wonderful place for brunch. The food is delicious and clearly made to order. The choice of fresh fruit as a side with one's eggs or french toast makes for a lighter fare than home fries and when accompanied by their very hot mango salsa a treat in itself. GTW is small, sunny and family friendly. Its pleasant atmosphere creates a welcomed bridge between the workweek and weekend. I wish it every success.
Ray Oldenburg, a sociologist at the University of West Florida, has written several books that celebrate what he calls "the third place." In his world, there are three kind of places: home, work and "the third place" which can be a café, a bar, bookstore or other hangout, "where people relax in good company and do so on a regular basis."
For our family, which includes two almost-six-year-olds, the Wobble Café is a "third place" kind of place that we love. The food is good and healthy, and to call the Wobble "family friendly" is an understatement. If only the government and corporations were as family friendly. The Wobble is a home-away-from home where you don't have to go the cooking or the dishes, and it carefully collects the art work of its youngest customers.
In Oldenburg's last book, Celebrating the Third Place, he writes that chain operations are not "the real thing," not as long as they are high-volume, fast-turnover operations. He cites the advice that a Starbucks employee gave an owner of the Good Neighbor Coffee House in Pensacola, Fla: His chairs were too comfortable, he wasted too much time talking to customers, and his food wasn't fast enough.
At the Wobble, we're happy to report, the chairs are comfortable, Rich and Beylka waste time talking to their customers and the food isn't fast, but worth waiting for.
