CAYUGA—The lunchroom at Cayuga’s St. John the Divine Anglican Church was hopping last Friday as Yee Ling Wong, one half of the driving force behind Cayuga’s Community Café, welcomed two of her oldest friends for a reunion 53 years in the making.
Wong met Paul DiMaggio and Peter Barnes, along with her husband Roger Cocking, over 60 years ago at her grandparents’ restaurant, which was located on Talbot St. W. where the Cayuga Library and Heritage Centre now stands.
The three would come in frequently, rarely ordering food and often annoying the customers with endless rock songs on the jukebox. Wong’s look of disdain as DiMaggio fired up ‘Green Onions’ by Booker T. and the MGs on his phone showed this particular issue remains a hot one to this day.
“Every time I hear this, I think of you,” said Wong to DiMaggio. “They used to come in and drive me crazy.”
DiMaggio grew up on his family farm outside Cayuga, while Barnes was born in England but immigrated to Canada in 1954 when he was 7; he moved to Cayuga in 1961 when his parents bought a convenience store in town.
“I met Paul in ’62,” recalled Barnes. “He caught up with me outside of the post office and he was going on and on. I don’t remember what sparked the conversation, but there we were.”
“It was the long hair,” replied DiMaggio, noting that they were firmly ‘60s kids.
Barnes called it a simpler time, “Then the population was 1,000 on the sign; it was still classified as a village…. There was a hardware store next to us, there was a little supermarket, drug store, the pool hall, the barber shop.”
“I definitely hung out at the pool hall,” cut in DiMaggio wistfully.
Barnes recalled sitting in the Wong family restaurant as an iconic moment in American history played out, “One particular memory I have is of sitting in there with Paul when Lee Harvey Oswald got shot and it was live on TV.”
The friends also remembered hanging out at the lake, buying ‘bootleg’ liquor sold at marked up prices to teens, and a never-ending rotation of dances, particularly at Rainham Centre.
“I was always the youngest of the group but I was very, very happy hanging out and going places,” said Barnes.
But all good things must eventually come to an end, and by the mid-1960s the group of friends were starting to go their own way.
Barnes’ parents split up in 1965 and he stayed in the area for a brief time, working at Stelco, before moving back to the UK, returning only for short visits. Wong moved out to California, believing at the time she would never see Cayuga again, but eventually finding her way back. DiMaggio dropped out of high school in 1962, moving between Hamilton and Burlington and then, “In ’69 I moved to British Columbia and never came back.”
Barnes and Wong didn’t expect to see DiMaggio after so many years: “When he came in this morning, I had to look twice,” said Wong. “He’s the lost boy.”
There was one thing DiMaggio could never find in his new home: the Chop Suey burger on the menu at the Wong restaurant back in the day.
In honour of the reunion, Wong surprised her old friend with a blast from the past, presenting him with a Chop Suey burger prepared from her grandparents’ recipe. It was a moment to remember for the old friends.
When asked to review the burger, DiMaggio simply replied, “I came back 7,000km 60 years later just to get it – that should be enough of a review.”
Wong, beaming, gushed, “He said my cooking is as good as my grandmother’s. I am very happy.”
Anyone interested in getting a taste of Wong’s cooking is welcome to join her and friend Vicky McClung at the Cayuga Community Café each week for a hot, free, delicious meal.
Wong reiterated the philosophy behind the enterprise, extending an open invitation to every community member to stop in for not just a hearty, homemade meal, but for the social interaction and fellowship that was on clear display last week.
Judging by the smiles of her patrons and the empty bowls being brought back to the kitchen, you won’t regret stopping in.
The Cayuga Community Café is open every Friday from 11:30 a.m. to 1 p.m. at 39 Ottawa St.
