Discovering Brylan's for lunch, coffee, conversation and the pleasure of a secret garden
My friend Steve Platt had told me about this fine old manor turned coffee house in Newtown and I had yet to visit.
Wandering this afternoon in search of a quiet and scenic place to sit in the shade and be quiet a while, I thought I'd visit the Jesuit center in Milford, maybe walk the labyrinth and sit on the deck overlooking the river. Coming through Newtown on the way from Lunken airport, I remembered Steve telling me about the big yellow house on 32, just past the main street UDF, so I stopped to see if it was open. The sign said it was, so I came in for a coffee, just in time, it turned out (they closed at 3 today, so I had 40 mins or so to take in the beauty of the indoor spaces). Not having my DSLR camera along, I figured the iPhone 3G would have to do, and those pics are attached with this post. Brylan's is a lovely, comfortable, timeless place that offers lunch and will soon be open for dinner and feature music, poetry, stand-up and other gatherings and attractions. The building and grounds are attraction enough, which can be appreciated at least a bit, I hope, even with these mobile phone pics. The garden and reflecting pool are an escape to some far removed place right here, minutes east of Downtown Cincinnati. I was hoping for a still place to spend some time and found a better space than I'd hoped. Even though they were closing at 3, I was invited to stay and enjoy the garden as long as I wished, so I sat in the breezy shade of the shelter at the far end of the garden, drew some pictures, enjoyed the surprise of that pocket of quiet and chatted for a few minutes with my daughter Jen in Jersey about her upcoming 30th birthday. Now I'm sharing it with you. What a fine place to find here in our town. Visit their website, www.brylans.com, then visit them in person - or drop me a line and we'll arrange to meet here for a conversation sometime soon. Randy
