Why Bengals quarterback Joe Flacco likes to eat alone - ESPN

CINCINNATI — One afternoon last month, a tall, familiar-looking man ducked into Allez Café in downtown Cincinnati for a meal.

Joe Flacco was hungry. The 18-year NFL veteran quarterback and Super Bowl MVP had recently relocated after the Cincinnati Bengals acquired him via a trade with the Cleveland Browns on Oct. 7. With his wife, Dana, and their five children home in New Jersey, Flacco sidled up to the bar for an experience that is gaining in popularity.

He ate alone.

«I used to see guys sitting at a bar by themselves or just sitting by themselves and eating and [being like], 'Man, I feel so bad for that guy,'» Flacco said recently. «You almost want to go join him.

»Now I realize that dude was in heaven."

When Flacco stopped in at Allez Café, nestled in the Over-The-Rhine district of downtown Cincinnati, casual NFL fan Kile Yurchak immediately recognized him. Instinctively, Yurchak welcomed Flacco by name as if he were a regular. Flacco ordered a side salad and a turkey sandwich on focaccia bread.

Facing the bar that features exposed brick and a collection of plants that range from a Pothos potted plant to a spider aralia, Flacco settled in for a quiet meal like so many other locals.

«I used to see guys sitting at the bar by themselves eating and I used to feel so bad for them and now I realize that dude was in heaven.»

Not many of us can relate with being on a new team, in a new city, without our family, but many of us can relate to this. pic.twitter.com/FhSgSe6Jd8

«It's people that are in the same position as he is,» said Yurchak, who runs the front of house at Allez. «You work down here. His job is down here, just like a lot of people's are.»

A few blocks away, Chris Craft was enjoying a similar experience. Craft,