BS: Ye Olde Greasy Spoon Revisited

Subject: RE: BS - Ye Olde Greasy Spoon Revisited
From: Little Hawk
Date: 19 Apr 01 - 10:57 AM

Orillia has 2 full-fledged greasy spoons of the highest calibre. One is Rombo's (they of the wall-mounted McGill porta-potty, already famous on Mudcat)...and Hill's Family Restaurant, where you can get a superb breakfast (if you can stand all the cigarette smoke...yuck!). When I eat at Hill's, I usually get takeout to avoid the smoke.

Orillia also has a couple of not so good greasy spoons...namely George's Family Restaurant (I give them 3 out of 10), the Hastee Tastee Diner (1 out of 10), and the Royal Oak (5 out of 10), and the Golden Dragon (scary! I've never eaten there at all.) The Hastee Tastee may be out of business now, I'm not sure.

The absolute worst greasy spoon I recall was Black Cat Fish & Chips on Avenue Road in Toronto. What a hole. I got the worst goddamn cup of coffee I have ever tasted in my life there. It was 1/3 normal strength, and I think it had been watered down with soapy dish water from the last sinkful in the kitchen. I had one sip of it, recoiled in horror, and left the rest to decay on the counter. This grotesquely bad establishment went out of business in the 80's sometime and has not been missed by anyone.

- LH

Subject: RE: BS - Ye Olde Greasy Spoon Revisited
From: Peg
Date: 19 Apr 01 - 11:07 AM

the best greasy spoon in the Boston area was The Tasty in Harvard Square--open 24 hours.

Sadly it closed (along with an Italian-owned German pub called The Wursthaus which had a huge selection of German beers) last year and that whole block was bought by developers and the entire look and feel of Harvard Square has changed irrevocably. All the old businesses have had to close due to high rents from greedy landlords and desires to renovate from new developers. This string of old businesses in ther heart of historic Harvard Square is now pacific Sunwear store and an Abercrombie and Fitch store and a chain bagel shop...

I loved it there at The Tasty. I went there about once a month for a grilled cheese sandwich or some bacon and eggs. The two hot dog special was popular and everytime I ate there someone walked in and ordered one and left with it. A tiny place where the sweat from the frycook's forehead was always millimeters from dripping into your coffee. Where goth-clad street urchins shared the ten leatherette stools with Harvard professors, students, tourists and locals who worked retail in the Square.

I still mourn its loss every time I walk by.

Subject: RE: BS - Ye Olde Greasy Spoon Revisited
From: GUEST
Date: 19 Apr 01 - 12:27 PM

UK Tipton/Dudley Port (Birminghamish) there is (was 5 years ago) a greasy spoon theat rejoices in the name
"Sam & Ella's"
'bout 1/2 mile west of the Pie Factory.

Subject: RE: BS - Ye Olde Greasy Spoon Revisited
From: CarolC
Date: 19 Apr 01 - 02:52 PM

Since the Rombo's McGill has been mentioned at least twice on this thread, I guess I should post a link to this famous Orillia landmark...

Rombo's... Now I ask you, does that look like a greasy spoon?

Rombo's famous McGill... Well, yeah, I guess maybe only a greasy spoon would be decorated like that...

Subject: RE: BS - Ye Olde Greasy Spoon Revisited
From: Little Hawk
Date: 19 Apr 01 - 05:01 PM

Nice pictures, Carol. Y' know, only a dummy would use a McGill that's mounted 10 to 15 feet above a parking lot, with no stairs leading down... :-)

Bizarre, isn't it? I wonder who he got up there in the first place? I wonder how it got up there? So many questions and so little satisfaction...

- LH

Subject: RE: BS - Ye Olde Greasy Spoon Revisited
From: CarolC
Date: 19 Apr 01 - 05:11 PM

Well, you know how it is in Orillia, Little Hawk. Crop circles, Jonny Death, episodes of spontaneous levitation...

It's a hotbed of unexplained and unexplainable phenomena.

Subject: RE: BS - Ye Olde Greasy Spoon Revisited
From: Hollowfox
Date: 19 Apr 01 - 05:16 PM

It's suppertime, and this thread's making me hungry/nostalgic. In Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, the Original Hot Dog Shop, also known as the Big O and the Dirty O (it's not dirty, though). Beside the hot dogs, there's a mind boggling variety of variations on the hamburger. And the container for a large order of fries (chips to the Britishly inclined) can be used afterward as the manger in a Christmas pagent, it's that big. Really.< In Kent, Ohio, there's Mike's. It's the one with the Star Wars x-wing fighter out front and the drawbridge around back. the food is good and generous, and the menu is worth the trip in itself.
Also in Kent, but only in the evenings, is Taco Tonto's, in the basement of the Loft Tavern (it's only one story high, go figure). they don't make tacos, but rather burritos as big as my forearm, and done well. Thwere used to be a couple of other good greasy spoons in Kent, but they either shut down or went upscale. Sigh.

Subject: RE: BS - Ye Olde Greasy Spoon Revisited
From: mousethief
Date: 19 Apr 01 - 05:47 PM

So where the Hell is Annapolis, Washington? Anybody?

Alex

Subject: RE: BS - Ye Olde Greasy Spoon Revisited
From: Don Firth
Date: 19 Apr 01 - 06:56 PM

Me too, Alex,

I eyeballed several Washington State maps and came up empty. For kicks, I pulled up MapQuest, typed in "Annapolis, Washington" and this is what popped up. Not too revealing. But then I zoomed in, and something labeled "Annapolis" showed up dead center. In or near Port Orchard, but it looks like it can't be much larger than about thirty-six square feet. Dunno if this is what's being referred to or not. I guess we'll have to wait until Deckman again comes on deck. Or maybe Bruce O. will cast light upon our ignorance.

By the way, you wouldn't believe how long those URLs in the blue clicky things are -- 266 characters each!

Don Firth

Subject: RE: BS - Ye Olde Greasy Spoon Revisited
From: mousethief
Date: 19 Apr 01 - 07:06 PM

Boy, that's a pretty small something, whatever it is.

Alex

Subject: RE: BS - Ye Olde Greasy Spoon Revisited
From: Don Firth
Date: 19 Apr 01 - 10:00 PM

Well -- it looks like that's it. I pulled up google.com, went to "Advanced Search," and tried various combinations of "Annapolis," "Port Orchard," and "Washington," and came up with quite a bit of stuff. Some of it is on-line bus schedules and ferry schedules (apparently the passenger ferry between Port Orchard and Bremerton takes off from there), some genealogical info (so I guess people actually live there), and shoreline and water-quality stuff.

On placesnamed.com I found this: Annapolis, Washington, United States [Place] is in Kitsap County; location is 47°32'52"N 122°37'10"W [Source GSP] -- which, I guess, ought to pin it down fairly well. This is probably what Bruce O. was referring to, located here, just a little way up the pike from Annapolis. Oh, yeah, Bruce, what was the name of the greasy spoon? By the way, the zip-code for Annapolis, WA is 98366.

I've really gotta get a life! I think I'll go watch some TV. . . .

Don Firth

Subject: RE: BS - Ye Olde Greasy Spoon Revisited
From: Deckman
Date: 20 Apr 01 - 12:10 AM

GOOD GRIEF YOU GUYS! What with all the high tech whiz bang stuff out there, how is a person supposed to keep a good secret? Yes, it is SMALL, and that's only part of it's charm. CHEERS, Bob (deckman) Nelson