Monroe General Store

A new store opened up in this sleepy little town after years of closure. I went in and felt like I was at home. Local products, meats, produce, super friendly staff. I had never had a Reuben, and I am now in love with them! They make a fantastic sandwich! The Pastrami was also great with the house mustard. Great beer selection and they love to sell local which I think is fantastic. They are very friendly and great for the community. My grandfather even brought in his dog to say hello.

Fall, 1977. I forged a note at school saying that I was allowed to go to the Monroe General Store to buy lunch. I took my .50cents, walked down the street, and bought the most amazing comfort food of my youth, an Italian Sandwich, made in a hot dog bun, wrapped in saran wrap, filled with cold cuts, pickles, lettuce, and topped with American cheese. As I write this, my mouth still waters for the taste and texture of that gotten by deception treat.
The Monroe General Store had always been the epicenter of a village of hard scrabble survivors farmers, dock workers, teachers and so many others got their coffee, Bangor Daily News and Republican Journal at the General Store. There was ammunition and fishing gear for the hunters and anglers who were trying to keep the family freezer well stocked.
Winter 2014. The General Store of my penny candy and .22 caliber youth had been closed for years. And now, the General Store has returned to serve my hardscrabble hometown. The hardscrabble life is different now; Monroe has Satellite TV and at least one working cell tower. With Prius and Subarus replacing many of the Ford and Chevy Trucks that filled the parking area. Mixed in with those hard scrabble survivors are the occasional bank president, artist, editor and retired military brass blending into the patchwork that has always been Monroe.
For me, it has been decades since I last shopped there. My heart skipped a beat as I parked my car with New York plates at the side of the store, near the river. I slowly ascended those few steps haunted by Ice Cream Bar and RC Cola memories. I opened the battered screen door stepped in and looked around: My childhood touchstone was changed, evolved.
It’s a General Store and Café. I am no longer a sad kid forging notes at school to be able to be alone with my favorite sandwich and RC Cola for lunch. In the almost 40 years since, I grew up, my tastes changed, and lucky for me, my childhood General Store evolved with me.
The Wicked Rooster Café has a menu that is modern, delicious and still caters to comfort. Home made pizza, pasta, hot soup. and oh the sandwiches. For dinner, we call to order a delicious pizza, I drive to the store 20 minutes later, and the pizza is ready, to complete the meal, I pick up some wine, hard cider and beer from the eclectic, well represented racks of wine and shelves, swipe my debit card, and I am off to enjoy a night of convenient, delicious food with my family.
It is comfort food for the soul. Brought to you by artisans who are charging local prices. The Alice Waters/​Mark Bittman «eat simple and local» movement was being marketed in my home town. The place where decades earlier, eating local began for me, when we had to pull the carrots from the ground, and weed the potatoes has returned. Now eating local is organic gardening, Artisanal local cheese, local milk, local ice cream, local beef jerky, and local pasture raised meats. These all remind me that I was raised in a place of hard work and quality. The General Store is still the heart of the town, after years of dormancy, it is healthy, vital and adapting to our now global village.
I can’t wait to go home again (But I’ll wait ’til after the winter is long gone). Thomas Wolfe was wrong. Not only can I go home, but I can bring the city folk that I love, and they will feel right at home, because finally, farming is appreciated in the big city, it is all the vogue, and I can tell my flatlander friends that they can hang out in Williamsburg and pay way too much money for a PBR, or they can come home to Maine with me, eat amazing food, drink some great wine/​beer/​cider, look at the stars, and be happy that the rural lifestyle still sustains us.