R.I.P. good friend

I received some most upsetting news this weekend. The Village Inn on Harvard and 24th is no longer serving my beloved jalapeno poppers. I remember the first time I strayed from my usual two egg breakfast order and got the poppers on a whim. How drastically that decision changed my late night eating excursions. These little guys were not only the most amazingly delicious food items to ever touch my tastebuds after midnight, but I am sure their greasy goodness prevented several mornings of horrendous hangovers. They are probably responsible for over half of my visits to VI since I tasted them. After being out for a night on the town, I could hear them beckoning my friends and me, and we would start planning our next VI adventure by shouting out, "poppers, poppers", to whoever was driving us until we were taken to answer their savory calls. (In extreme cases, we had to call Mel, the taxi driver, to take us.) Right now, you're probably saying, "so what, there are plenty of other places you can get jalapeno poppers." And you're right, except that no other place has come close to making jalapeno poppers half as tasty as the ones at that specific VI. I don't know what their secret was, but they perfected popper making. And I can't shake the feeling that my steady decline of going out combined with an even steadier decline of eating after going out may have contributed to their demise. The guilt is much heavier than the guilt I felt the next day after eating such an unhealthy food. Jalapeno poppers, you will be missed tremendously (well, by everything but my rump, hips, stomach, and thighs).