Pete's Place
2460 East 1st Street
Blue Ridge, Georgia

This place has a prosperous look to it, and a prosperous feel. I got there just about the time the after-church crowd from the early service starts to clog the parking lot, so I suppose I shouldn't be surprised that it took so long for my order to arrive. At least the waitress made it a point to refill my glass and bread basket during the wait, a courtesy not always extended by harried servers.

what's that mean?

Having had a conversation earlier with a guy who had just learned how to fly-fish for trout in a nearby stream, I decided it'd be a good idea to order trout. And so I did: grilled trout on a house salad. The fish was clearly fresh, marvelously so, and very nicely seasoned and perfectly grilled. If the kitchen had hewed to the wise maxim that nothing in a salad should be larger than a lady's mouth, the meal would have been perfect. That rul

e, even today, is good policy mostly honoured in the breach, but let's be honest: you cannot efficiently cut a thin slice of red onion (or just about anything else) served in a bowl atop many varied ingredients. You get inadequate support under the item you seek to cut, and just push it down into the mix, which moves aside to slop out of the bowl.

 

Clarence's Drive-In
on the main road, near the freeway exit
Unicoi, Tennessee

I ordered the veggie omelet and a doughnut. The omelet was uninteresting; badly needed something to bind the innards, like a little cheese. The veggies were sautéed in oil and too much of it. But the doughnut was outstanding: home-made, hot from the fryer, a little sprinkle of cinnamon sugar and the doughnut hole perched on top. I won't say it made up for the omelet, but it sure helped.

what's that mean?

The coffee was good, too, and the service was down-home how-ya-doin' cheerful.

 

The Egg & I
6121 Harbourside Center Loop
(a shopping center on Hull Street Road)
Midlothian, Virginia

My main gripe with chain restaurants is their tendency to dumb down the food on offer to conform to their conception of the general palate. This chain, or at least this outlet -- I've only ever been to one other, in Texas -- carries that tendency almost beyond comprehension. I ordered a dish called the Parisian Benedict, which should, from the description on the menu, have been a rich composition of flavours and textures. 'Twas not so: instead, it gave new scope to blandness, a scope near beyond comprehension. And the coffee was really bitter, too, more than even a double-dose of salt could correct.

what's that mean?

Beyond that, the ambience was pleasant and the service was good. I thought the prices were a little high, even before I'd tasted the food.