Posted on 12/19/2015 6:06:11 PM PST by MinorityRepublican
Big Ed’s was actually a chain of 2. They were family owned by the Watsons for many years. They are both under different ownership now but the downtown one still has great food and the waitresses still call you Honey. But it’s a tourist place mostly now.
Thank you for the info on Big Ed’s. It was recommended by the hotel concierge, so I guess it is popular with tourists. I do know it was packed. The staff was indeed friendly and helpful, and the meatloaf I ordered was excellent. In most restaurants which offer meatloaf, it’s like trying to eat a brick, so I usually won’t order it in a restaurant. But this meatloaf was almost like what my mother used to make. And the portion was huge. Looked like I had half the loaf.
Big Ed’s reminds me of a diner — plenty of good food at reasonable prices. My kind of place.
The challenge in cuisine ....IMO...is the greasy spoon .... or diner. Some are great ...some bring you to a direct ride to the ER.
Great fun when you are exploring the highways and by-ways of America.
A friend told me, you can judge the quality of a greasy spoon/diner by the number of calendars on the wall...if they had more than *11* calendars...it was a great place to eat. :)
If it were 10:30 when they open, I’d be on the way to Indio for an In-N-Out Double Double....
Don’t get me wrong, it’s still great - it’s the standing in line I can’t take any more.
Back in the day (1990s), “Big Ed” Watson had a reserved chair up front with his name on it. He would come in wearing a costume of bib overalls and a red checkered shirt and sit and hold court, in full character.
Hmm, maybe I’ll go there over the holidays when the restaurants are slower.
The Southern antique decor is splendid and makes liberal heads explode. Everything from guns and ammunition, tobacco advertising, confederate items and even a still are represented. It looks like liberty to me.
Oh now...I can always go for some nice baba ghanoush, falafel in pita, and fattoush salad. :-)
We love Chili’s and Carrabas well and Cracker Barrel. LOL!
What I think will happen with Mom & Pop restaurants will be failure not by lawsuits, but by lack of business. We've had a few of those come and go in my neck of the woods, and once it gets around that the place is ptomaine's last stand, folks stop going and it eventually closes.
Local tastes tend to drive the cuisine also. A while back, we had a new Thai restaurant open, and being a fan of that type of food, I was one of their first customers! Oh, the food was great - so hot, I was enjoying myself. A friend cautioned me though: "Come back in a week; they'll have toned it down for Americans." He was right, it was waaay milder - sigh. So now, whenever I order from a Thai restaurant, I specify "Thai hot, please."
Same with Indian; I make sure the person taking my order knows I like my vindaloo extra hot!
Oh yum!
My wife and I like Denny’s. There’s one less than a mile from our house that we frequent, and the wait staff know us. We go there every Saturday morning for breakfast - it’s our little routine - a nice quiet time early in the morning to get away, just the two of us.
Good for you. Y’all deserve that time.
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