Danny Murray

A Morning With Mister Sunshine Himself

By Dan Rattiner

There are a number of wonderful breakfast joints in the Hamptons. One of my very favorites is Danny's Poxabogue Café, located midway between East Hampton and Bridgehampton on the north side of the highway opposite a potato field.

It's just the little lunch place that's part of the nine-hole Poxabogue Golf Course, and though the food is good and the place is airy and there's an outdoor patio, the main attraction, in my opinion, is the proprietor, Danny Murray.

Murray is the most cheerful person in the Hamptons. When you come in, he greets you with a big smile, a toothy grin and these big baby blue eyes. He's attentive and polite to a fault, leading you to a table and asking about your day, but there is not a hint of an obsequious servant about it. He's simply someone who likes everyone and he shows it. And everyone likes him back.

I bring this up at this time because this past Monday I went there to meet someone for breakfast and it was already 77 degrees out. Danny can be smiling and happy in a snowstorm. On a summer's day such as this one - this was October 22 - he was standing outside talking to some golfers and absolutely bubbling over with good will and happiness.

"Hey Dan!" he shouted.

I pulled up and rolled down the window.

"What do you say we swap jobs?" I asked. "You take over Dan's Papers, I'll take over Danny's Poxabogue."

We're both Dan. It could be done.

"Ask me about it in July," he said. "Maybe then. But not now. What a now."

I parked, walked over, and he shook my hand and we walked inside together. It was busy as usual. But there was an empty table.

"Do you believe this weather?" he asked, motioning an arm at a slider. "It's still summer."

Outside, a 10-year-old boy was carrying a lightweight bag of clubs and following his dad to the putting green.

"My favorite summer month is September," I said. "If we can keep this up, maybe we can get summer in October."

People at the next table turned. It was, after all, just 8 days to November.

"Maybe global warming is not so bad after all," Danny said. "We've had a great summer. And now it's fall and we've STILL got a great summer."

"If you drive your car around and around for a of couple hours and send more crap up into the atmosphere, maybe we can get summer in November."

Here's what you get when you order apple pancakes. You get apple pancakes, bacon strips, maple syrup, a couple of slices of strawberries, an egg accompaniment any way you want it, and, if you ask, toast and butter.

They call it "The Sixth Hole."

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