Goodnight Fatty — Restaurant in Salem

I saw a post from a friend in the high end restaurant industry. She said there was a new place to check out. That was enough for me. I packed up 2 cars of people and made the 30 minute drive. Salem, on a cold drizzly night in October, will there be parking? am I nuts? Possibly, but I digress. We got there and both cars got on street parking 100 yards from the hidden gem. My family still had no idea what we were doing because I wanted to surprise them. We walked past a loud bar with people spilling into the street. They had no clue what was to come. We walked in to the establishment that is under an assumed name (Derby Joe) and found a pop up business that is only open for 5 hours Friday and Saturday nights. The smell when you walk through that doors rivals walking into Grandma's kitchen as a kid ( provided you had Paula Deen as a Nana ). The smiles and welcomes from the staff were instant, it was like they were waiting for us and were so happy we came. The 3 cookie choices that night were peanut butter gooey goodness with a graham cracker dusting, this is the one I had. And let me tell you, it was so delicious! Also on the nights menu was a oatmeal & chocolate one and a lemony moist mouthwatering kind. Luckily they served one without chocolate. My husband gave up chocolate for Lent and since we're not Catholic we didn't know when it ended. It's been 2 years since he's had some. He's pretty sure Lent is over by now but now he has a streak going. Anyhow I sure was happy that Goodnight Fatty somehow knew his dilemma before we even showed up. Witches? Psychics? I don't know. I am glad they had a non chocolate option! Everyone in my crew was happy with the surprise. As we sat at our tables ( they're chess tables, we played, I lost ) we were served bottomless glasses of milk. We took them up on that. They had almond milk too. Just as we were eating and smiling and playing chess, smiling and drooling all around, a Queen song came on. Bohemian Rhapsody. The owners cranked it as loud as it could go. And then.........we were singing. Everyone in the place was singing loudly to the well known song. Turning this place into a musical, or a SNL skit. We were all into it. The moment owned us. Milk drunk? Cookie high? Perhaps. I think this place is special, family friendly, down to earth, and worth the drive. If you go, tell them Kellie from Burlington sent you, and see...

Alright, so I was behind in trying Goodnight Fatty but I am so thankful I had a chance to stop by. If you're like me and have been waiting a while to get their cookies, but are unsure of the process, here it is.

You'll need to place an order online by filling out your name, number, email, allergies, how many cookies you want, if you want to be surprised or know the flavors, and if you'd like to order milk (whole, 2%, almond) and or soft serve (vanilla, chocolate - non dairy, or swirl). You'll also need to let them know if you're doing curbside pick up (you then give some general deets about your car) or pick up by walking to the store front. At this time, they will not take walk up orders, so order through their site! FYI you can only order once they open and sometimes they may need to close ordering due to the large amount of orders that come through.

I went with 2 flights of cookies (2 of each kind: fruity pebbles, dunkaroos, and Cinnamon toast crunch), with and order of whole milk and almond milk. You then let them know the time you'd pick it up (15, 30, 45, 60 minutes from ordering), and then you will get a text confirming your order. Once you're out front, you'll text "HERE" to their text and they'll soon walk out with your order.

Overall, awesome cookies!! They are gooey, flavorful, and dope. I also love that they are still able to serve during this time, so go on and check them out. I hope they bring back their oreo cookie so I can go...

Oh, there's excitement and fun in the quest to find this place -- down an empty alley and through an unlit, unnumbered door with a tiny sign off to the left of it -- then to the warm, inviting interior. You get your choice of three cookie selections for the night. Last night it was chocolate/peanut butter, kit Kat (or was it twix?), and (shudder) fruit loops.

Ok, cool. I ordered my two: choc.-peanut butter, and the other chocolate option. After a brief wait, I was presented with a closed box containing my cookies. Not until. I got home did I discover that instead of the Twix cookie, I'd been given a fruit loops cookie. I abhor fruit loops.

Luckily, since I was not about to go on another quest to complain, the fruit loops cookie tasted just like a sweet sugar cookie.

Quality of goods? Cookies are the nice, chewy, a little cake-y kind. Small and puffy. Flavors are kind of muted. I could detect no peanut butter in the choco-peanut butter one, and as noted, mercifully could taste no fake fruit flavors in the fruit loop one. Are they tasty? Sure. Are they worth $3 each? Absolutely not.

Goodnight Fatty's is a fun experience for a mediocre cookie. I expect they'll last a while because people DO enjoy the mystery and secretiveness of it all. Kind of like joining the "cool kids club". But they'd never cut it in a regular storefront with that product. Or that inattentiveness, that they can mess up a simple order for...