Mae's Grub-Hub
Written by: Ripshot
So unless you're rich, vegan (usually rich) or too squeamish about your food (rich again), your diet probably has some kind of insect or crustacean in it, shredded into paste and shaped into a pretty bleak aproximation of other meats. No shame in it chummer, you gotta get your protein somewhere. Mae's Grub-Hub really likes mealworms, and a whole bunch of other kinds of creepy-crawlies. But unlike most other places, they tend to skip the whole 'grind into paste and reconstitute it into not-food' parts by growing them on-site and serving as-is, along with a side of soyspuds and a Lexington BBQ-sauce that's out of this world. Goddamn, I'd pay good money for that recipe... But enough about my obsession with good eats. Mae's Grub-Hub isn't on this cache for it's cuisine, it's here for the service. The owner is one Mae Wilson-Hancock, also known in the shadows as Agitator. She's one of Raleigh's more people-oriented fixers, and it reflects in how she runs her eatery: Nearly all the staff are SINless of somekind, there's always a free meal for people who can't afford it and as of this write-up there's been an uninterrupted pay-it-forward streak going for around four months. In return for her philanthropy, Mae's got the first word on damn near everything that happens in her part of the city, and anyone who needs anything not-quite-legal will usually get pointed to her place before anywhere else (no offence, Barkeep) and not have to worry about getting collared by the local Lone Star precinct (who in turn are given 'anonymous donations' to their policeman's ball). In all, it's a good place to hook up with some street-level work and have a private chat without worrying about eavesdropping. Three out of three stars, chummer.Purpose / Function
To the passer-by, the Grub-Hub's a restaurant that buys , catering both regular customers though sit-in meals and takeout handed through a walk-up windows, and to the poor and SINless who need a cheap or free meal.
At later hours when the majority of regular-joe customers are gone, the eatery becomes a hub for Raleigh's underworld to discuss their work, arrange illicit jobs and find new contacts through the owner of the place.
Architecture
I'm not a fan, but even I gotta admit the Wilson-Hancocks did a good job making this place palatable to blue-collar schmucks and hipsters alike. Edison lights, metal stools, those tables that look like wooden spools, and all the neon-signs needed to guarantee tinitus.
History
Mae's Grub-Hub Abode holds a pretty unique distinction of being one of the few businesses in Raleigh to remain a family-business for more than one generation. Before it was Mae's, it was Hugh's, after Mae's dad. And before it was Hugh's, it was Adam's.
Adam Wilson-Hancock (born Andrei Waclauski) was a Polish immigrant who started off working in private security, before making a small fortune in an out-of-court settlement after a chemical-contamination in a first-aid kit sent him into Anaphylaxis. Retiring early on the money made, Adam bought some property on the cheap (last time anyone would do that in the sixth-world, heh) and opened his own takeout, making some old family recipes with the best ingredients he could get his hands on and selling them out onto the street for competitive prices with the help of his kids.
Naturally, the business was looking to fail in short-time. The 'all-natural' ingredients Adam insisted on using were getting harder and more expensive to buy by the day, and he refused to cook meals that were more 'upscale' to charge more, in pride of his working-class background. Not to mention, dude just wasn't a good cook. Eventually, he 'bequeathed' the failing business to his son, Hugh, but not before making a few questionable loans to keep the place limping along, which spelled trouble for the unwilling heir.
Fortunately, Hugh was a much brighter guy than his papa: He saw that with natural foodstuffs becoming a rarer commodity, most people were switching onto krill or soy based diets, and so any kind of food that wasn't reconstituted was a luxury people would pay luxury prices for. All he had to do was source some protein on the cheap, and you know what's super cheap? Worms, baby!
I mean, it's still pretty expensive, but Hugh was desperate for ideas and didn't want to get his legs broke by loansharks.
Sinking the last of his own personal savings into this far-fetched idea, Hugh set up a Mealworm farm in the backrooms of the estalbishment along with hiring a local enthusias to keep an eye on the thing. The idea was that the restaurant would save money by being the source of their own protein which they could then put onto
People were a little picky at first about eating larva, but Hugh was able to tweak some of his dad's recipes to give everything a little Polish flare and even incorporate some North Carolina barbequing into the whole thing, and the restaurant finally got the second-wind it needed. It'd still take a while for Adam's usurious loans to get paid up, but with the new business they were getting, it wouldn't take that long, right?
Well, it still took too long for the likings of the loan-sharks, who came around to start asking for a bigger cut of the business in exchange for their "generous" investment. Some harsh words were exchanged, a few regrettable things were said. Long story short, Hugh stabbed a dude with a pairing-knife and kept the other one at gunpoint with his own gun.
Everyone involved was arrested and expected to be in for the long stretch, which meant another change in ownership for the eatery. And with Adam suffering from early-onset alzheimers, the only qualified person was Adam's youngest, Mae Wilson-Hancock. Not only did she have an easier time than Hugh at managing the newly inherited business, but unlike the last two proprietors. she was far savvier about Raleigh's underground elements, having been a petty criminal for her teenage years, and was able to hold the fort against the friends of her father's debtees by making friends with some far scarier people. But we'll talk more about that on her article.
Nowadays, the Grub-Hub's big enough to be an actual restaurant, having space for plenty of people to sit down and enjoy an expanded menu. It still ain't technically a high-end place, but both Mae and the usual customers prefer it that say, especially since it became a preferred hangout for a lot of Raleigh's less reputable types.
Alternative Names
Mae's, The Shell-Hut
Type
Pub / Tavern / Restaurant
Parent Location
Characters in Location
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