A 'Divine' Loss

My heart is broken. The Divine Cafe has closed its doors.

For four years, the Divine Cafe has been the embodiment of all the wonderful aspects of this Exeter life and I can’t let it go without a bit of a eulogy and a note to owners Bonnie Galinski and Denis Sharp:

Dear Bonnie and Denis,

Thank you. Thank you for daring to open a restaurant on the “outskirts” of Exeter and trusting that your neighbors would become your biggest fans. We are.

Thank you for feeding us good food made from real, untainted ingredients and for showing us that healthy, organic food in a restaurant can be affordable.

Thank you for being the place where I always wanted to spend my limited number of eating-out dollars. I wish it could have been more.

Thank you for building the deck. Countless relationships were nurtured sitting outside on a beautiful day.

Thank you for being the kind of place I was proud to bring every out of town guest.

Thank you for being kid and dog friendly.

Thank you for always having Rose Bryant’s vibrant and splashy artwork on the walls. It never failed to improve my mood.

Thank you for knowing me by name. It made my day. Every time.

And thank you for leaving the Cafe open as long as you did, even though keeping up with your rapidly expanding Divine Burger business while feeding all of us breakfast and lunch was slowly killing you both.

I will miss you terribly. So too will all your friends and neighbors who always knew that on a sunny, rainy, snowy or lazy weekend morning you were always around the corner ready to make us a Track Express on a grilled bagel or a couple of pancakes.

Good luck to you as your continue to create your vegan burger empire.

Exeter is proud that you got your start here, but life won't be quite the same without you.