In fact, the area's restaurants are usually crowded, drawing customers from all over town and leaving the locals grumbling about the interlopers. But there's one place where you can almost always walk in and eat without waiting, where the food is simple but good and the price is right. Mornings bring a flurry of traffic as commuters stop by for coffee and roll. Others linger over the more substantial offerings, like French toast made with the bakery's signature Como bread. The informal businesspersons' gathering has migrated from the near-deserted Holiday Market and occupies a large table almost every day.
Lunch draws a respectable crowd, too.
They come for the hearty sandwiches, including a killer meat loaf, pizza by the slice, soups, and the grilled tostis. These are thinner, with interesting combinations such as caramelized onions, sharp cheddar, and cranberry chutney. The hinged grill actually flattens the tostis slightly, compressing the ingredients together in a very satisfying way. But at the dinner hour, when the restaurants a short walk away are filling with hungry customers, Grand Central is quiet. It's not exactly empty.