One of the joys of living in Alabama
is the meat-and-three. It is a special kind of lunch-only cafeteria-style
restaurant. You grab a tray and then choose your meat and three sides from a
rotating menu. They throw in some cornbread or a roll and, if you’re so
inclined, you might grab a serving of banana pudding to top it off.
On my latest outing to one such eatery, I indulged in a fried pork chop, mac-and-cheese, collard greens, coconut cream pie, and fried green tomatoes.
The tomatoes were the star that
day, because I enjoyed this particular lunch at the Irondale Cafe, immortalized
by Fannie Flagg in her novel Fried Green Tomatoes at the Whistle Stop Cafe.
Flagg’s great-aunt was a long-time co-owner of the Irondale establishment, which dates back to 1928, and the author used it (renamed) as the inspiration for her book about the women of a small Southern town. Published in 1987, it spent 36 weeks on the New York Times bestseller list before being adapted into the 1991 film Fried Green Tomatoes. Flagg received an Oscar nomination for her work on the screenplay.
It was the first time I had eaten in
a place that had a parallel fictional life. I enjoyed both the food and the
accompanying thrill of feeling immersed for a moment in the world of a novel. And
now I’ve got some similar experiences in my sights. Despite having made a
couple of trips to Edinburgh, I still have not visited the Oxford Bar, the very
real pub that is the favorite watering hole of Ian Rankin’s fictional detective
Inspector John Rebus. In a blurring of the lines between fact and fiction, Rankin
even swings by the bar to pick up the fan mail addressed to him there.
I would love to, like both Agatha
Christie and her creation Hercule Poirot, enjoy a meal in the dining car of the
Orient Express someday (sans murder, of course). I would need to save up for it,
though. A five-night journey from Istanbul to Paris runs about $22,000. For
now, I’m sticking with the meat-and-three. But who knows how my story will end?
Have you ever frequented a literary haunt? Is there one on your bucket list?
While in Scotland, we visited some of the sites connected to the Harry Potter books (the cafe in which the author wrote most of the first book, the railroad station used as the Hogwarts stop.) I would have loved to visit the castle. I know there are tours specifically geared toward Harry Potter fans; that would be fun.
ReplyDeleteJust walking through some places, like Paddington Station, conjure up characters from books. Who cold forget Paddington Bear, who had tea with the late Queen Elizabeth shortly prior to her death?
When I lived in Edinburgh, I lived in a third floor, walk-up flat on the next street over from Rebus. If my window had looked in that direction, I could have seen his flat and waved.
ReplyDeleteBefore I left New York City, I made it a point to have lunch at the Algonquin Hotel. If I remember, the restaurant was called The Round Table, but whether it was the same space as the one occupied by THE Round Table, I don’t know. Do you know that the hotel discounts writer’s rooms in exchange for an autographed copy of the writer’s book, and gives discounted rates to writers experiencing writer’s block? Who wants to come with me to NYC? LOL
ReplyDelete