At 6:30 tonight Jews all across the Twin Cities will gobble down a handful of cashews or quickly finish their dinners, knowing that at sunset at 6:39, they will begin the traditional Yom Kippur fast. We go without food until sunset (6:38) Thursday as part of the ritual period of cleansing, mindfulness, and clarity that embodies the “day of atonement.” By mid-afternoon Thursday, most of us will have headaches, be cranky, and sitting through our second or even third service at temple. We will know exactly what we are having for dinner and the exact moment we can eat it.

Jews are legendary restaurant patrons, but one place you won’t find us Wednesday night or during the day on Thursday is in a restaurant. And there are few Twin Cities restaurants where the Jew to Lutheran quotient of diners is quite as high as Golden Valley’s Good Day Cafe, which combines the qualities my grandparents admired of high quality, fast service, lots of choices, and good value. It’s not a deli, but when in Rome . . .

The problem with Good Day Cafe is the crowds. Get there after 11:30 a.m., and a timely lunch is out of the question. Weekend breakfasts recall the morning after Thanksgiving at Best Buy. Hordes, hordes, and more hordes. But for a few hours on Thursday, my friends, if you’ve been wanting to eat at GDC and not have to wait, it’s your day. It will be the most Gentile day Good Day has had since, well, last Yom Kippur. The fressers, chozzers, and MOTs are at Temple. Or lying in bed rationalizing that Advil is not food, and if it is, how am I going to get gefilte fish and brisket for fifteen on the buffet at 6:38 p.m.?

Yours in contrition,