Vintage Loft, 99A Main Street, Bacchus Marsh

Little Lucky Cafe, 3 Grant Street, Bacchus Marsh. Phone: 0400 695 787

A road trip to the Ballan area has been enjoyable but ends in disappointment in terms of getting a story up for Consider The Sauce.

So now I’m stuck.

Do I race for home and hit, for lunch, any one of several places on the CTS wishlist?

Or do I cast around where I’m at and see what can I find – or perhaps even stumble upon?

Then I remember … there is something of much interest to check out in nearby Bacchus Marsh.

 

 

Not exactly food, perhaps, but what the hey …

The woman I am seeking is named Daisy.

I have met Daisy before – maybe even a couple of times.

But it was a bloody long time ago and the memory is little more than a tantalising blur. It was, I’m guessing, about 25 years ago.

Certainly, I cannot recall the precise circumstances.

But I DO know it involved Daisy’s dad, Keith.

Keith Glass was and is a lovely man, one with a long and colourful history in the Australian music scene – and, these days, very much beyond Australia. No need to go into the details here.*

Keith and I have never been close mates but we have been something more than mere acquaintances over the years.

A few years after the encounter(s) at which I met his daughter, Keith started reviewing country and related music for the Sunday Herald Sun when – quite preposterously – I was the entertainment boss there and in a position to arrange such things.

Keith did a great job during what was something of a purple patch for both of us – but, yep, all that was a bloody long time ago now.

And it seems like it.

Both our lives have changed – a lot.

For myself … well, regular readers know what that’s all about.

Keith?

Well he now lives in Mobile, Alabama, where his zest and passion for music remain undiminished – so much so that he’s running a gung-ho operation called … yup, Mobile Records.

 

 

So – sorry about the longwindedness! – that’s how I find myself climbing steep metal stairs to the floor above a chicken shop and a pizza joint in downtown Bacchus Marsh and entering Vintage Loft.

Keith and I stay in touch – if that’s the right term – through the magic of the internet, and Facebook in particular … so that’s how I came to know about Daisy’s new enterprise.

 

 

Daisy, naturally, doesn’t recall me – nor I her, really.

But it doesn’t matter.

I like checking out the pop culture riches of the business she has started with two other locals.

 

 

I like getting the back story of her journey from Windsor to Bacchus Marsh and family life.

And, of course, we discuss her father – perhaps his ears were burning?

Whatever … if you’re in the area, and especially if you’re retro-minded, CTS very much recommends a visit to Vintage Loft.

 

 

But what of lunch, what of food?

To be honest, the options in Bacchus Marsh look mighty threadbare.

 

 

But after we’ve taken the obligatory selfie to dispatch to Alabama, Daisy and her local knowledge come to the rescue.

She sends me just a few metres and just around the corner to a lovely place called Little Lucky Cafe, which is housed in an old cottage.

Thanks, Daisy – no way I would’ve found this place without you!

 

 

Of course, I warm immediately to an establishment that has such great floorboards …

The menu (see below) covers a range of breakfast and lunch options – and according to in-house signage, they do dinner on Fridays, too.

 

 

I go the cheese burger ($16) served with “rustic fries” and feel like a winner.

It’s a no-fuss straightahead cheese burger that is very fine.

The fries are superb.

*Hair (cast member), Boys Next Door/Birthday Party (manager), Missing Link Records (proprietor), Deep South Records (proprietor), Onie J Holy (alter ego), High In The Saddle (RRR), recording artiste.