by Shannon Lee Mannion
Look no farther than ten minutes down the road to Carleton Place where the Deadly Grounds Café will put all your dead-of-the-night dreams to rest while piquing moribund fantasies and tickling your taste buds with skull-shaped muffins.
Invited for coffee earlier this week, my coffee klatch friend was eager to introduce me to a venue with a unique decor. She enthused about coffins, oversized skeletons, and macabre art on black walls, making it sound as if Mexico’s Day of the Dead was a daily occurrence at this beige mini-mall behind Shoppers Drug Mart on Costello Drive.
Given the milieu, it’s understandable if not expected that your java comes in a skull-decorated cup, or if you want it to go, ordered by size: a small Chucky, medium Freddy, or a large Jason. Curios on view include free-standing, suitably decked-out skeletons and skulls, from Neanderthal dimensions to arty renditions. These rest on shelves beside bags of Never Sleep Again Extra caffeinated beans, along with tempting Rot Chocolate should you wish to indulge your dark fantasies at home.
Owners Michael and Catherine Sulyha take their customer’s gasps in stride and have it in hand. Oh, sorry, that hand is protruding from a black doily on one of the tables. They are dead right with their sepulchral decor, “We’ve created a creepy/cosy spot people like,” discloses Michael.
His insight is not easily deep-sixed because as I was bidding adieu, a young mother with her pre-kindergarten daughter popped by for a look–see and something from the baked goods counter.
The child’s face was a dead ringer for mine when I walked in the door an hour earlier. She gets it and so do I.
Now will my aunt get it when I enthusiastically suggest, “Auntie, let’s go for coffee. I know just the crypt, uh spot.”
Deadly Grounds Café
(closed Monday)
