Sunday, July 18, 2010

DINING AL FRESCO

Chris always looks forward to breakfast at Shoney’s on the way home up I-65. This time we got there just as they’d closed that wonderful “breakfast bar” with all the grits and bacon and biscuits with that lovely cold strawberry topping, but the fresh-cooked Sunday Dinner bar was really good---fried chicken and all the Southern trimmin’s including collards and cornbread.

THEN, when we got on up to the Smokehouse, I regretted that lunch, any of which I could cook at home, because the scent of smoke was so enticing and I’d wanted just ONE good barbecue sandwich on our trip South. Maybe next time.

So, we decided we’d have our dinner WAY up the road, at a place we’d seen on our route of travel---there used to be one like it in our hometown, and we hadn’t tasted their fondly-remembered cuisine in quite some time. We opted to dine al fresco, and the fountain added to the ambience of the evening.

The tiny birds-in-residence added their song to the event, and they joined us in our dinner on the patio.


The whole atmosphere was wonderful, the food just as remembered, the same-though-far-away-in-time-and-place service-with-a-smile. We both associate the place with memories of old times of our youth, and the evening air, the paving still damp from the cooling shower, and the music enticed us to dance, for we were the only diners on the patio. It WAS difficult, I must say, NOT to step around the floor to “Twist and Shout,” and “Old Time Rock ‘n’ Roll,” but we restrained ourselves, dedicating our time to such wonderful food while it was still hot.



I had a wonderful grilled chicken cutlet, with a lettuce, tomato and bacon salad, pain ordinaire, and pommes frites.


Chris opted for a saucisson supreme, with its accompaniments of fromage Americaine and a lovely poivron et tomates sauce:


Yep---that's a big old foot-long Chili-Cheese DAWG.
His side dish of choice was a familiar crisp dish of tiny pommes croquettes, with their savory topping of fromage and more of the that luscious sauce.


The famous DANIEL Bite:



The waitstaff was attentive and cheerful---downright perky, in fact, but who can be anything else working where THIS is the norm:


What can I say---we’re small-town all the way, and couldn’t pass up a trip to SONIC while we had the chance, for Old Times’ Sake.

8 comments:

  1. I LOVE me some Sonic Tots!! I am fortunate that I can indulge myself when I travel to St Louis to see my oldest :)

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  2. Rachel, you do love to lead us on, don't you?

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  3. Ah, my son and grandson share your love for this fine eating establishment. And, I confess to loving their orange slushie. But, I must sip if very carefully to avoid the much dread brain freeze.

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  4. Sorry---this WAS a bit much so soon after the Tartes de Lune blather, wasn't it?

    I sorta formed that silliness in my head as we sat down at that table in the cool damp of the afternoon, and each picture Chris took made it sillier and sillier.

    And COOKIE---I know the Sonic on 86th is gone, but it seems there's one out near the corner of Raceway and Rockville. We'll probably go and try it out when we get over that chili- regret of last week!

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  5. Oh, that's one of our favorite places, too. And, since we moved there is one very close by. Don and I go every Sunday morning on the way to church. I look at the Sunday paper and he usually reads his Sunda School Lesson. I read mine during the week.

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  6. I grew up on Shoney's in Virginia - oh yummy the strawberry pie!

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  7. I can scarcely read this, it makes me so hungry!

    Love the Sonic!

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  8. We love Sonic - used to have to go all the way to Petersburg (half hour plus away), but now we got our OWN!! LOVE the tots!

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