Gastronomy Blog

Each time I head into Ocala’s downtown, I pass a small strip of storefronts on my left. I always check for Norman behind the glass of one of those storefronts. At least that’s what I think is the dude’s name, because the name of his shop is “Norman’s Chocolates.” He is most always alone. Usually wearing a cap of some sort. Diligently rolling his chocolate truffles, dipping strawberries into chocolate, cutting the peanut brittle into squares, whatever one does as a confectioner.

I always look for Norman because as a business owner, he’s actually lasted here more then 6 months. Perhaps it’s not fair to say nothing in Ocala ever stays open because we did just go through the worst depression since The Great Depression. Many locals took a hit. Foreclosed homes abound. Business is slow. But I have friends who’ve lived here a while who tell me Ocala is known as the place where nothing ever stays open for very long.

Let’s see..in my recent memory, there was that breakfast/lunch joint called “The Flip Side” that shut its doors after three months. The awesome burrito joint downtown that shut faster than you can say “spicy carnitas.” Man, how I miss that place! Mango’s, a healthy, vegetarian-friendly popular lunch spot downtown that decided to up and move 10 miles out of town, I suppose because the rent was cheaper. Yes, businesses come and go everywhere, but it seems in Ocala, there’s a much shorter shelf life for everything. It’s just the way things go. And Ocalans don’t blink twice when it happens. Maybe because they’re so used to it by now?

I once asked a grizzled local bar owner, a man who’s been around the block once and then some, how he’s kept the doors to his bar open for so long–15 years strong. “Well, I guess, we just developed an identity,” he told me. Maybe that’s what these places that close so early need. An identity. They try to be too many things at once–hip, “classy,” cultured, nouveau, when maybe all people want and need around here is grits ‘n cheese, so to speak. A cold beer. Not a rainbow roll and edaname.

I hope Norman makes it past the one-year mark. I once went in there to buy some truffles, and chocolate-covered strawberries. They were actually really good. I feel bad because I haven’t been back since. Hopefully he’ll still be there when I drive past tomorrow.

-Sal