Dispatches from Luke’s Cafe From a Girl Who Has Never Seen Gilmore Girls
Early-ish this morning, I made my way to “Luke’s Cafe,” a temporary Gilmore Girls coffee shop-takeover in my neighborhood. Or so they tell me. I’ve never seen Gilmore Girls, but I like free coffee and being included so I figured I’d check it out to see what sort of insight the experience would give me to this TV show I’ve somehow missed.
What I knew going in: Mad Men star Alexis Bledel lives in a small town with her mom played by human Snow White Lauren Graham. They talk fast, love pizza and are a somewhat-mismatched-but-still-loving pair. There’s an uptight looking grandma and national treasure Melissa McCarthy wears an apron sometimes.
What I expected: Hot dads! Isn’t Luke a surly baseball cap wearing hot dad? I’m going to be honest, 99% of the reason I went out of my way this morning was that I thought somewhere between 4-5 Little League coaches would be making Americanos. Instead, I got this totally lovely and super stylish barista. She was great and said she made more coffee today than she ever has in her tenure as a barista. I hope she gets free Netflix for life and the rest of the week off.
What I learned: Luke loves flannel and hates cellphones! He also serves chai lattes which seems incongruous to the other two facts, but maybe that was just Brooklyn Luke. They were playing Stevie Nicks’ Edge of Seventeen when I walked in so I think he’s probably got an edge of some sort. Since I am now a full-fledged GG expert, I feel empowered to take a stab at the first coffee shop scene of the new season:
INT-LUKE’S COFFEE SHOP. DAY.
Erstwhile bad boy and current coffee slinger LUKE (45, stubble, baseball hat, signature flannel. Widower? How dark does this show get?) is brewing a hot cup of Joe, when LORELAI enters his shop, talking quickly on an iPhone.
LUKE: Hey, Gilmore! You know the rules here. Hang up or that thing goes in yesterday’s grounds.
LORELAI: All I’m saying is you can’t discount the value of letting your kid make a few mistakes, you turned out fine, mostly. I’m at Luke’s, you know how he is, I’ll text you later. (She hangs up)
LUKE: And no texting.
He slides her a cup of diner coffee that puts your $6 pour-over to shame. The sexual tension is palpable.
END SCENE
In summation, coffee is great and people love Gilmore Girls. The cafe didn’t teach me much about the show itself, but I did learn that it has a ton of passionate yet very chill and friendly fans.
Gilmore Girls banters its way back into the hearts of many on November 25 on Netflix.