Workers at Tom Menino's Favorite Restaurant Mourn His Passing

At Boston's Drydock Café in the Seaport District, Tom Menino wasn't the mayor; he was a regular.

The former mayor of Boston died Thursday at the age of 71.

"I would definitely say he is part of this place, he is a Friday nighter. A lot of people do come down here because they know he comes in here on a Friday," said one server.

And because he was a Friday nighter and came here for more than a decade, the people who work here know his favorite by heart: Haddock and calamari

Susan Grimes often came in here the same nights as Menino, and everybody knew what his table was.

"That is where the mayor sat, every Friday night with his family," she said.

Menino's favorite table was the one just to the right as you walk in the front door, just big enough for a Bostonian's Italian family.

"It was nice to see him in an environment like this, a nice family restaurant… It was a pleasure, he was a good man," Grimes said.

If the staff and other customers knew him that well, the owners might as well have been family.

Over the years, Kathy Spiropoulos and her husband George have gotten to know the Meninos, not just as customers and other Bostonians, but as very dear friends. So when Menino ended his cancer treatments and his book tour, Kathy knew why.

"Well I knew he wanted to spend time with his family, extra time with his family and enjoy his family. He was hard-working all of his life, and he just retired. And you know, his family is a number one priority," Spiropoulos said.

So now as Boston says goodbye to a man that meant so much to a city and even more to a small seafood Café hidden in one of the corners of Boston, he will probably most be remembered as a friend… Whether somebody knew him or not. 

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