Wednesday, November 12, 2008

Road House Café

And Cocktails

A small hole in the wall place in Eagletown, IN.

In the 17 or so years I lived here, I’d bet we driven past this place 1,000 times. DC and I stopped in here on our way home form the Lebanon mission for Harold Hancock October 31st.

When you drive by, it’s a road side dive. Looks like a house that someone has turned into a restaurant. Complete with front porch and a mail box attached to one of the porch posts. I don’t know what I was expecting but again, for 17 years, this place has been here. Somebody eats here often enough that it stays in business and the sign and curb appeal wouldn’t attract the weary traveler.

Inside... not much better. Hardwood floors that look like they could be a hundred years old. One row of 4 or 5 booths against the wall, one row of tables down the center and a bar.

As we walk in, the first thing I noticed at a little after one-thirty in the afternoon is that the places was packed. Only one booth was available and the menus were placed on the table, that says to me 'seat yourself' or your gonna loose the only open place to sit down.

The waitress comes over, quick enough and has the usual pleasantries; “how are you guys today”, “Whacha drink’n?”, “Special today is meatloaf, with mashed potatoes and corn for $6.50”.

That was easy, 2 specials.

We look around the place and it see that it’s actually a bar. A good old Indiana, smoking permitted, buy a beer or shot of Jack at 8 AM, bar. They were serous about the ‘and Cocktails’ part of their sign.

The clientele looked and sounded like a group of locals. Yelling across the room, “Hey Joe! How ya been?’, and the reply returned, just as loud. Lunch conversations center around the days work. Someone was discussing brakes and turning rotors, “no body does it right anymore” said one old timer. “All the gawd damned ‘break’ places want to replace the fool rotor.” Says another, emphasizing his disgust with modern day ‘break places’.

Our food arrived fast and hot. Without asking, I’d guess everything was home made and the corn wasn’t canned. It was good. Meatloaf can be dry, this wasn’t, very moist with a good flavor. The rest of the menu had the distinct look of your standard bar fare, burgers, pork-tender-loin and breakfast served anytime.

I’m definitely going back to the Road Side Café and if you ever find yourself west of Westfield on SR-32 in Indiana. Stop in, get the special, tell’m DNR sent ya.

1 comment:

Anonymous said...

You know, even though I dislike your usual style, I actually enjoyed this post, for its worth.

DNR, you should do this more often, instead of your usual "lets support the troops" stuff, where you always seem naive and moronic.