Remember When…
Today was the perfect lazy Sunday. Rose early feeling rested, worked out feeling accomplished, ate breakfast feeling healthy and napped feeling indulgent (yes, I know a three hour nap is more along the lines of a mild coma but I take power napping to a whole other level people).
As mid-afternoon rolled around and I awoke from my dreamless sleep I found myself craving an early dinner, I wanted a salad bar. You remember what those are don’t you? They’re the country bumpkin cousin to the city slicker New Seasons or Whole Foods self-serve section. Grilled salmon, crumbled feta or blue cheese and quinoa have no real estate here. Rather three-bean-salad, macaroni salad and the classic green jello salad rule the line.
It seems places such as these are a thing of the past (and no, I’m not talking about a buffet – Sizzlers and Izzy’s be damned). I am not talking about a grocery store that feels like an open air farmers market (disguising the fact that these places too are part of the larger corporate world) where you pay by the pound and carry your locally-sourced produce, ethically prepared sides home in containers that are derived from by-products of many of the things they hold. Don’t get me wrong, I think this is fantastic and I frequent places such as these on a fairly regular basis but whatever happened to the Engine House Pizza Parlor of Kelso/Longview, WA? Or those fast food chains that sat on the fence (once upon a time) – I remember being a healthy omnivore from a young age, taking trips as a treat with my mother or paternal grandmother to the local Wendy’s which, in fact, had a salad bar. Round Table Pizza (of Longview) had a fantastic salad bar where there was a viewing area for the wee ones where they could watch the pizzas being made on the assembly line. Granted this was before the advent of cellphones and other similar technologies but I always found the process fascinating.
If you haven’t figured it out yet, there’s a quest forming. Using Yelp (a portable version of the Knights of the Round Table) I set out to find a destination that would embody the near mythical charms of my lost (but not forgotten) youth. The usual suspects (New Seasons, Whole Foods), a trendy eatery located downtown and open during the week (serving suits with a hankering for veggies), a few Mongolian-type grills but wait…there, I think I see something. Could it be? The unicorn of eateries still exists!?!
The ruddy lights have never looked so good.
Ahh…now this, this is what I’m talking about. Here little league teams convene following tournaments (cleats, jerseys and small trophies abound), children’s birthday parties are held (where helium balloons are used as weapons of mass annoyance between siblings and cousins), soda comes in large plastic pitchers (pass the root beer please), families are expected to be loud (the more the merrier) and the wait for the corner booth is nothing more than a Game of Thrones. And though I adhere to a rather strict Paleo diet and like my beverages with alcohol and complex flavors, I still value the smell of garlic bread sticks and the promise of quarters for those prize machines, but only if I’m good.