Exchanging emails with a classmate of mine, (we'll call him "Coby") has triggered many memories that I had put aside without really thinking I would ever visit that part of my brain any time soon.
One of the topics we touched on was local eateries. Coby asked me, "Where was the best place to eat back in the day?" Of course I answered, "DAIRY QUEEN!" Coby quickly responded, "No way. It was the OK Cafe!" My gosh. How could I have forgotten about the OK Cafe? The most mouth-watering chicken fried steaks and who could ever forget the catfish that was caught "below the Mason Crossing" and served with hush puppies and/or french fries? And it was all fried, yes ma'am, it was FRIED all in the same grease.
The OK Cafe was a regular stop for everybody in Little Town. The 6am coffee drinkers could meet and greet while drinking the best damn coffee in town. Lunch rush? Don't stop at the OK Cafe if you were expecting to eat in a hurry. There was only one speed and it was what we affectionately know as "granny gear". The after-five crowd would gather for the coldest beer in the county and catch up on what had transpired during the day. And it was THE family place to go for a home-cooked meal when Mama didn't feel like cooking. Forget a kids menu! Kids were given the same amount of food as the adults and, by God, there were never any leftovers to take home in a doggy bag. (I didn't know what a doggy bag was until I visited a very ritzy restaurant in Austin several years later in my life.)
After reading Coby's email about the OK Cafe, I drove down the street to where the eatery once stood. In its place now stands a lumber store. There is absolutely no indication that a cafe used to take up residence just a few blocks south from the North Llano River. I don't remember when the doors closed for a final time at the OK Cafe. I am a little fuzzy, too, on exactly what the layout was of the interior of the cafe other than red vinyl booths and the smell of grease. I do remember the awning that allowed customers to have covered parking.
As Kris often says to me, "It's all good, Mama, it's all good." And that's how I'd like to remember the OK Cafe.
4 comments:
There were two doors, one at the north end and one in front. The booths ran along the front wall and the counter separated that area from the kitchen where Punkin fried up all that fish. Seems like there were a few tables down on the far end. And you forgot the pie. How in the world could you forget the pie?
THE PIE! I FORGOT ABOUT THE PIE! Probably forgot because I was stuffing my face with greasy catfish.
And Molly remembered the little jukeboxes built into the booths, which I totally forgot. Get enough of us aging broads together and we might piece up a whole memory.
My memory of the OK Cafe is from 1983-ish when La Familia started out there if you will recall. Murr lived with his sister right across "main" street from there and I don't know how many times we would go there to eat mainly because the waiter wouldn't mind serving us a cervasa or 2.
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