I woke up on the morning of Monday, Feb. 20 with what I thought was a bad case of the grumps. I was tired and cranky, yet off I went to breakfast the Santa Fe Café, 9946 W. 87th Street.

During the 20 minute drive I became increasingly cold and queasy.  I was not at all in the mood to deal with food, but I hoped that the café would be so amazingly perfect that it would lift my spirits.

I was wrong. The inside was crowded and decorated in an overwhelming Southwestern décor. Clinking glasses and mismatched chatter made the restaurant annoyingly loud.

Sensing that I was in less than a good mood, the waitress immediately came over with menus and questioned if I was doing alright. I lied, and said I was great and began to look at the menu.

The menu was decently sized but seemed to lack variety. It did not help that every menu item I considered sound revolting at the time.  While I am normally a huge sausage lover today it sounded gross. Pancakes, omelets, French toast-it all sounded revolting.

I finally settled on a cinnamon roll and a side of hash browns. I have never met a cinnamon roll I didn’t like, so I was hopeful. The waitress assured me that she would get it out quickly and make sure it was perfect.

It did come out quickly, but that didn’t make it any more appealing. As it sat in front of me it looked fine, I just wanted nothing to do with it. I sat there poking and prodding the cinnamon roll like I had never seen food before in my life.

The waitress again took note of my composure and asked if everything was okay. She pushed, questioning me on what she could do. Did I want something else to eat? Could she get me a different cinnamon roll?

Finally, I became overwhelmed with every and began to tear up. The waitress then sprang into action. She had to-go boxes and a check at the table in under a minute. She made sure that we could pay our check quickly and sent me out the door with an “I hope you feel better sweetie.”

Home again, I discovered that I indeed had a fever and was officially sick.

For me the real story of the Santa Fe Café is not the food, it is the service. They do everything they can for their customers.