by Nicole Lowman

I am a squatter. I have been squatting for the last year and a half.

Fine.

That’s not entirely true. I’m staying in my aunt and uncle’s basement while I finish graduate school. They’re super-supportive, which means the world to me. I just feel like a bum.



The sign out front.

Recently, though, my Vonnegut-loving self found a new reason to love where I live.

The basement is about an hour from New Haven, Conn., where I attend school. A few months ago, I made a few friends in class and met the aforementioned boyfriend. Before then, I went to class and went home. There wasn’t much reason to spend time in New Haven when I had an hour to drive and work to do.

But, since the boyfriend and friends live in the New Haven vicinity, I began socializing in local haunts.

Enter: Book Trader Café.

It’s downtown and technically on Yale’s campus, so my state-school-attending-self hadn’t heard of it. We went there for lunch, and I immediately fell in love.

With the restaurant, I mean. He’s all right, too.



Toasty, gooey goodness.

Half used bookstore and half café with cleverly named yet simple menu items, Book Trader offers a few of my favorite things: coffee, food and literature.

Each sandwich is a tribute to an author or a great literary work. They call their salads “Paradise Tossed,” and you can order the “Sense & Sensi-BLT” with horseradish mayo on toasted sourdough.

Best of all (wait for it), they have two shout-outs to our boy Kurt Vonnegut.

The first is for the Vonnegut’s Veggies sandwich, which adorably is followed by: (Nothing Slaughtered Here!)

It’s served hot on thick, multigrain bread with oozing Brie, oven-roasted veggies and caramelized onions. I’m no vegetarian, but this thing is delicious.



Untoasted. Still yummy.

Word to the wise: Make sure you ask for it toasted. The gooey cheese and the slight crunch on the bread made the sandwich.

The second shout-out is for their list of pastries, bagels and egg sandwiches appropriately titled, “Breakfast of Champions.”

Swoon.

My only slight disappointment was the glaring lack of Vonnegut books available for purchase, but that’s most likely because no one would sell their copies.

At least, I wouldn’t.





Nicole Lowman doesn’t intend to offend you, but she probably will. Her perverse fiction, poetry and personal essay have been published by various small presses. She is pursuing a Master of Arts in English at Southern Connecticut State University. You can hear more of her ramblings on her blog and her website.