Friday, April 03, 2020

Sad News

I live near Auburn Blvd, which in days past was US 40.  The stretch near my house has been Auburn Blvd my entire life, but I remember when it was a pastoral road out in the middle of nowhere.

As long as I can remember, the Ranch Motel and adjacent Ranch Cafe have been there.  Never knew much about the motel, but it looks like one of those tiny places you see in movies about the 50s.  The Ranch Cafe has always been a greasy spoon, but the food has always been good and the prices even better.

Several years ago the Ranch Cafe was sold and it became the Western Coffee Pot.  Later it was sold again to some east Indians whose restaurant about a mile away, Rosie's Country Kitchen, moved into the former Western Coffee Pot.

The Ranch Cafe/Western Coffee Pot decor didn't change.  The service and value didn't change.  The menu changed a little.  Sure, the omelets and chicken fried steak and waffles and burgers and hot and cold sandwiches remained on the menu, but some new meals were added:  Chicken Tikka Mughlai, Chicken Curry, Chana Masala, Vegetable Briyani.  You get the idea.

I'm fortunate to still have an income, as I'll continue receiving pay until the end of the school year in June.  When the best thing I can do to help the economy is to order out for dinner in order to keep a small business operating, that's not a huge sacrifice.  At all.  I've had a hankering for breakfast-for-dinner and would love their chicken fried steak meal, so I called.

They're closed for the foreseeable future.

Pearl House, a Chinese restaurant, is thankfully still open.  I have to go pick up my meal in about 10 minutes.

Pearl House, Rosie's, and a local Mongolian BBQ were the 3 local restaurants I've decided I need to support.  I'm too late for Rosie's so I'll add in a nearby Mexican restaurant.

I was going to spend my "stimulus" money on eating out, and eating out isn't something I do often at all.  But I'm not going to wait for the money to arrive--I still have income.  It's time I start eating restaurant meals more often.

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