New Highway 34 Lunch Break -- Woonsocket's Way Station

I went campaigning in Woonsocket with Scott Parsley and Jeff Nelson yesterday. When it came time to rest our knuckles from knocking on doors (and we knocked on almost every door in town), we stopped for lunch at the Way Station, about a block east of Dumont Ave. on Highway 34.

The building, right by the railroad tracks, has been a car dealership, a hardware store, and a bunch of other things. Co-owners Jo Ann Twedt and Gay Lynne Larson turned it into a coffee shop this summer, opening just in time for Woonsocket's Fourth of July festivities. And they've been doing solid business ever since.

Now fancy coffee would be enough to get my lovely caffeinated wife to make a stop. But the Way Station also features wireless Internet, different featured soups each day, beef and chicken wraps, and ice cream. I had the Italian Wedding soup (it has meatballs! yes!) and some darn good bread for lunch, followed by a big waffle cone of spumoni. (Remember: ice cream always ends with mmmmm!)

The Way Station's a good little shop. It has nice big south-facing windows for watching the bean trucks roll by. There are cookies and muffins at the bar, along with lots of nickel- and dime-candy ("penny candy"—another victim of inflation ;-) ). if you're crossing the state, you've got one more reason to pass on I-90 and take Highway 34 through Woonsocket.