Speaker 1: Hello, and welcome to save your prediction of iHeartRadio. I'm
Speaker 1: Annie Reeve.
Speaker 2: And I'm Lauren Vogelbaum, and today we have an episode
Speaker 2: for you about Southern style cafeteria dining.
Speaker 1: Yes, yes, and we had to be specific because there's
Speaker 1: a lot of different types of cafeteria dining.
Speaker 2: Yes, absolutely, and this is a kind of particular one,
Speaker 2: and we figured it's worthy of its own of its
Speaker 2: own episode. Yeah.
Speaker 1: Yes, And I, even though I already know the answer,
Speaker 1: I asked the question, Lauren, was there any reason was
Speaker 1: on your mind?
Speaker 2: Well, you suggested it.
Speaker 1: Yeah, here we go.
Speaker 2: So Father's Day just passed this past weekend, and so
Speaker 2: I was asking Annie if she had any Dad related
Speaker 2: still that she might want to talk about, and she
Speaker 2: she mentioned, did you mention a specific one or just
Speaker 2: like just like cafeteria style restaurants in general?
Speaker 1: Yeah, I just said cafeteria style. But then you followed
Speaker 1: up and I was like, these are the two which
Speaker 1: I now know. The other one was that I couldn't
Speaker 1: remember the name. These are the two that I associate
Speaker 1: with my dad.
Speaker 2: Yes, yeah, yes, I, perhaps perhaps embarrassingly, have spent twenty
Speaker 2: years in Atlanta and have never been to any of
Speaker 2: these to any of the chains of these places. I
Speaker 2: still have never set foot in a Piccadillys, but but
Speaker 2: I have been many times to like like privately owned
Speaker 2: independent ones. So here we are.
Speaker 1: Yeah, and that that totally counts. Yeah, And it was
Speaker 1: really interesting to read about. And I there are some
Speaker 1: things that I've just never considered that they were, like
Speaker 1: the invention up the tray. Yeah, okay, I haven't thought
Speaker 1: about that. My dad, It's funny every time you ask
Speaker 1: me and I send you a bunch of topics, and like,
Speaker 1: all but two of them are very southern. He was
Speaker 1: a very he loved Southern food, and when we were
Speaker 1: growing up to celebrate things, he wanted to go to
Speaker 1: what was at first a Morrison's and then became a Piccadillies,
Speaker 1: which we will talk about, which to me is a child,
Speaker 1: I was a little I don't want to say condescending,
Speaker 1: but I was like, we could go anywhere, and we're
Speaker 1: driving thirty minutes to this cafeteria and I've confessed before,
Speaker 1: I'm really nervous holding the tray. Oh sure, yeah now,
Speaker 1: and then even as a kid, I was like, I
Speaker 1: can't do this.
Speaker 2: I'm gonna drop it.
Speaker 1: Do you know how clumsy I am. A real nerve
Speaker 1: wracking experience for me, But I do get like he
Speaker 1: loved it. He I've also said he loved liver and onions,
Speaker 1: and you couldn't get that in too many places, but
Speaker 1: a lot of the cafeterias had it. But he just
Speaker 1: I think he loved the affordability of it. He grew
Speaker 1: up in that mindset of like you're getting this price,
Speaker 1: and he loved that there were all these options. And
Speaker 1: you know, even me as a kid who was like
Speaker 1: we could have gone somewhere else, I did like like
Speaker 1: it was sort of fun to see like, oh look
Speaker 1: at all these options.
Speaker 2: Yeah damn, what will it be? And I get to
Speaker 2: pick exactly what I want and it's not like yeah yeah,
Speaker 2: sure yeah.
Speaker 1: And I did like the food. It was just sort of,
Speaker 1: I guess for some reason, to.
Speaker 2: Me, I was like, this is not fancy, like we
Speaker 2: were talking about it. This is normal, This is normal. Yeah,
Speaker 2: what is fancy about this? I see you.
Speaker 1: Yeah, he loved it. He loved it. Well, yeah you
Speaker 1: can see. I mean, we're going to talk about a
Speaker 1: lot of the are mentioned, at least a lot of
Speaker 1: the foods featured at these types of establishments here, but
Speaker 1: a lot of Southern foods.
Speaker 2: Yeah, yeah, right, it's I list a lot of them.
Speaker 2: Just kind of take it from there.
Speaker 1: Oh yeah, in automats.
Speaker 2: Oh and automats definitely sure.
Speaker 1: The automat episode. Okay, So this brings us to question
Speaker 1: Southern style cafeterias. What are they?
Speaker 2: Well, American Southern style cafeterias are restaurants where you typically
Speaker 2: order by going up to a series of stations inside
Speaker 2: the restaurant and picking a number of dishes to make
Speaker 2: up your meal you have and workers will add the
Speaker 2: dishes to your tray or scoop them onto a plate
Speaker 2: on your tray, which you then take, hopefully safe and sound,
Speaker 2: to a table in the dining room where you eat
Speaker 2: your meal. You pay at the end of the line
Speaker 2: when you order, and can add a beverage, which might
Speaker 2: be handed to you or brought around to your table
Speaker 2: by an attendant, or might be self serve. Something like
Speaker 2: a yeast roll or a piece of corn bread is
Speaker 2: usually included, and you can usually add a dessert like
Speaker 2: a pie or a banana pudding to your order. The
Speaker 2: dishes tend to be local Southern style comfort foods, proteins
Speaker 2: might be roasted or barbecued or breaded and deep fried.
Speaker 2: Sides might be a stewed veg or bean dishes, cast
Speaker 2: rolls of various kinds pastas like spaghetti or mac and cheese.
Speaker 2: Sometimes spaghetti and meat sauce is considered a protein that's
Speaker 2: a little bit granular. For this episode, I needed to
Speaker 2: mention it out loud, but anyway, the concept is sometimes
Speaker 2: called a meat in three because the typical order is
Speaker 2: a meat in three sides, though many as often do
Speaker 2: have pricing for like a meat in two, for a
Speaker 2: play of four sides, or for ordering things a la carte.
Speaker 2: The concept is considered a little nostalgically old fashioned, and
Speaker 2: a lot of the dishes tend towards a little old
Speaker 2: fashioned like kind of heavy and salty and soft, really
Speaker 2: stick to your ribs satisfying sort of things. Though. This
Speaker 2: style of restaurant is really homey but also really structured.
Speaker 1: It's a it's a.
Speaker 2: Choose your own adventure book but for but for eating.
Speaker 1: Yes, And I have to say, my dad was not
Speaker 1: the only fan like people have such nostalgias.
Speaker 2: Oh yeah, oh yeah, uh.
Speaker 1: So my condescending child, I understand and now I want
Speaker 1: to go back and try to.
Speaker 2: Get Yeah, yeah, I was. This was a very hungry
Speaker 2: episode for me. I was really mad that I wasn't
Speaker 2: eating everything I'm about to talk about. Yes, anyway, okay,
Speaker 2: acknowledge here at the top that yes, there are other
Speaker 2: types of cafeterias out there. They have the same route
Speaker 2: and the same style of service, but evolved into their
Speaker 2: own thing, you know, like a cafeteria at a school,
Speaker 2: a hospital, prison, office building, shopping mall ikea, or like
Speaker 2: a fast casual concept like a Boston Market or Chipotle.
Speaker 2: Those are different than what we're talking about today. We
Speaker 2: do absolutely want to hear about other cafeterias, right in.
Speaker 1: Let us know.
Speaker 2: Do you have a local one that serves specific local things. Yes,
Speaker 2: tell us about it, please, thank you. Also, not all
Speaker 2: meet and threes have cafeteria style service. Some do table service,
Speaker 2: some are buffets. But yeah, here we are so all
Speaker 2: that being said, Southern style cafeterias tend to be places
Speaker 2: you would go for lunch specifically. Some are open for dinner,
Speaker 2: maybe brunch on weekend. A lot of the chains, especially
Speaker 2: are very bright and like sterile feeling, maybe a little institutional,
Speaker 2: But some of the independent ones are either fancier or
Speaker 2: kind of dive heer. There's often an egalitarian sort of
Speaker 2: feel to them these days. You know, at the table
Speaker 2: next to you, you might see folks you know or
Speaker 2: folks from a completely different walk of life. There's usually
Speaker 2: a kitchen in the back where they prepare the food,
Speaker 2: often inan like big service tubs, and then either like
Speaker 2: a bar, or a number of separate stations with warming
Speaker 2: trays or warming lamps where you can look at the
Speaker 2: dishes on offer and pick what you'd like, like a buffet,
Speaker 2: but each station has an attendant who is serving you
Speaker 2: rather than you serving yourself. Traditionally, anything that can be
Speaker 2: served with an ice cream scoop probably is, and the
Speaker 2: dishes often rotate, with different things on offer every day,
Speaker 2: sometimes on a schedule, like meat loaf is on Mondays,
Speaker 2: fried catfish is on Tuesdays, that kind of thing, But
Speaker 2: the dishes really can vary based on where you are
Speaker 2: and like the general price point of the restaurant in question,
Speaker 2: Like there are absolutely cafeterias that will serve you a
Speaker 2: slice of prime rib or some nice roasted trout or
Speaker 2: like sautage shrimp. Mouse cafeterias are on the more affordable side, though,
Speaker 2: and serve less expensive proteins like lots of chicken and pork.
Speaker 2: So you've got you know, your fried chicken, chicken, fried steak,
Speaker 2: fried pork chops, fried catfish or cod or whiting. Maybe
Speaker 2: honey baked ham, roasted chicken, roasted turkey, non fried pork chops,
Speaker 2: they do exist, blackened fish, barbecued pork ribs or pulled
Speaker 2: chicken or pork. Maybe some meatloaf, chopped steak, beef tips,
Speaker 2: pot roast. Also Okay, I didn't know exactly where to
Speaker 2: put this note, but I need to inform you that
Speaker 2: gravy can and will be ladled on top of any
Speaker 2: protein or starch. If you're fancy, you got a choice
Speaker 2: between your white gravy and your brown gravy.
Speaker 1: That is your own adventure.
Speaker 2: Indeed, that is up to you. Cheese Wisely, the sides
Speaker 2: are often the kind of things that take a long
Speaker 2: time to cook but are easy to batch, the sort
Speaker 2: of things you might otherwise see at like a family
Speaker 2: supper on a nice Sunday or at a Thanksgiving or
Speaker 2: maybe a good cookout, So like collards or mustard or
Speaker 2: turnip greens cooked down with hot pepper and vinegar until
Speaker 2: they're just silky, creamy squash or broccoli casserole topped with
Speaker 2: bread crumbs and plenty of melty cheese, baked beans in
Speaker 2: a sauce of brown sugar and tomato, or maybe some
Speaker 2: lighter hop and john or like just simple stewed butter
Speaker 2: beans or black eyed peas, soufflated sweet potato or carrot casserole,
Speaker 2: or stewed apples, also sugary that they should probably be
Speaker 2: classified as desserts, but they're not. Green beans stewed within
Speaker 2: an inch of their life, probably with pork product in.
Speaker 2: They're always ask if you're vegetarian, stewed or fried okra,
Speaker 2: creamed corn, corn on the cub, potatoes mashed or baked
Speaker 2: or French fried, or hash browned ice play in our
Speaker 2: seasoned hush puppies, which if you have never been to
Speaker 2: the South and have never had there, these like savory
Speaker 2: fried dumplings, and you should come to here and you
Speaker 2: should eat them because they're so good, really important, very
Speaker 2: usually some kind of like super stew like maybe chili
Speaker 2: or brunswick or chicken and dumplings, a side salad, a
Speaker 2: jello salad, a potato or macaroni salad, cole slaw, tomato
Speaker 2: and cucumber salad. Desserts could include like a scoop of
Speaker 2: cobbler or a slice of pie, a big ol' wiggly block,
Speaker 2: or maybe some cubes of jello, puddings of various flavors,
Speaker 2: maybe layer cake or strawberry shortcake. Like, the South is
Speaker 2: big and there are lots of local specialties. For example,
Speaker 2: if you're in Texas, you might get enchiladas. If you're
Speaker 2: in Louisiana there might be gumbo. If I have not
Speaker 2: mentioned your favorite menu item, it is not a personal
Speaker 2: slight except for you. You know what you did? No no, no, no,
Speaker 2: no no no.
Speaker 1: I love you.
Speaker 2: I love you. Please write in, please wad in. In
Speaker 2: terms of beverages, fancier and or dive, your joints might
Speaker 2: serve beer and wine, but the drinks are generally non
Speaker 2: alcoholic soft drinks, iced tea, have hot tea, hot coffee.
Speaker 2: You know, I highly recommend getting yourself a sweet tea
Speaker 2: and just seeing God through the sugar rush.
Speaker 1: Yes, yeah, gets your hush buck, get your sweet tea.
Speaker 1: I have to say, you know, looking back to as
Speaker 1: a child, I didn't know half the things work, huh.
Speaker 1: But the jello. I love how so many people brought
Speaker 1: up the jello because you could see it just.
Speaker 2: Shining and gleaming.
Speaker 1: Yeah, you knew it was coming. Yeah, yeah, all these
Speaker 1: choices you had to make. Well, speaking of what about
Speaker 1: the nutrition.
Speaker 2: Really depends, really really depends.
Speaker 1: That's up to you, buddy. Yep. Indeed, well we do
Speaker 1: have some numbers for you.
Speaker 2: Yeah, okay. So this type of restaurant is rare enough
Speaker 2: these days that market reports on the American restaurant industry
Speaker 2: do not always include standalone cafeterias as their own category.
Speaker 2: In fact, most of the reports that I saw did not. So, however,
Speaker 2: there certainly are still chains and independence in operation. At
Speaker 2: one this family owned Houston cafeteria called Cleeburn, they estimate
Speaker 2: that seventy percent of their customers are regulars.
Speaker 1: Yes, And I was actually watching a kind of mini
Speaker 1: documentary about it before this, and it was really sweet
Speaker 1: because they were just kind of walking around and interviewing
Speaker 1: people and they're like, yeah, I've been coming here with
Speaker 1: my family for x amount mini generations.
Speaker 2: Every week or even every day.
Speaker 3: Yeah.
Speaker 1: Yeah, And some people would come you know, lunch in
Speaker 1: dinner or like they I think they referred to it
Speaker 1: at one point as like the dining room.
Speaker 2: But yeah, yeah, people treating it like their own home.
Speaker 1: Yeah yeah, in a nice way, in a friendly way.
Speaker 1: Yeah yeah, definitely, definitely. Well, we are going to talk
Speaker 1: more about Cleveborn and some other places because there is
Speaker 1: quite a history here to one.
Speaker 2: Pack there there is, and we are going to get
Speaker 2: into that as soon as we get back from a
Speaker 2: quick break.
Speaker 3: For a word from our sponsors, and we're back.
Speaker 1: Thank you, sponsor, Yes, thank you. Okay, So, as we said,
Speaker 1: we are focusing on Southern style cafeteria dining for this episode,
Speaker 1: but briefly, according to several sources, the idea of cafeteria
Speaker 1: style dining like this was introduced at Chicago's Columbian Exposition
Speaker 1: in eighteen ninety three by John Krueger, and Krueger was
Speaker 1: inspired by Sweden's Schmorgasbors, so he set up a restaurant
Speaker 1: to showcase where he thought this type of dining could go.
Speaker 1: In Kruger's mind, this type of restaurant should serve affordable,
Speaker 1: light foods, and he called them cafeterias. Millions of people
Speaker 1: attended this event, and we're exposed to this idea, and
Speaker 1: after this we see the branching of two interpretations of
Speaker 1: this idea, the automat and the cafeteria. In eighteen ninety eight,
Speaker 1: William and Samuel Childs introduced the tray and trey line
Speaker 1: format at one of their New York restaurants. And this
Speaker 1: is where I was like, I've never thought about who
Speaker 1: invented the tray, but I'm not saying they did. But
Speaker 1: I was like, I've never even considered this, and I
Speaker 1: should have. Share. Customers liked trays because in their minds
Speaker 1: it was cleaner. The whole concept of this style of
Speaker 1: dining may have been in part popularized by Henry Ford
Speaker 1: of Ford Motors, who really sold this idea of assembly
Speaker 1: style production. In the nineteen tens, cafeterias modeled after this
Speaker 1: one started opening around the country, but they particularly took
Speaker 1: off in the South. The Southern style cafeteria was popular
Speaker 1: for restauranteurs for many reasons similar to what we discussed
Speaker 1: in our automatic episode. It was an example of cuisine
Speaker 1: that was consistent, efficient, and in this case, fairly cheap.
Speaker 1: On top of that, this was a time of a
Speaker 1: lot of industrialization and an evolution of what work looked
Speaker 1: like a lot of folks were moving from farming to
Speaker 1: working in a factory. In some fields, people had perhaps
Speaker 1: had the time to go home for lunch, but they
Speaker 1: didn't have that time anymore. On top of this, more
Speaker 1: and more people were moving to cities, but they may
Speaker 1: have still craved the homie food from the more rural
Speaker 1: areas that they grew up in, or even from going
Speaker 1: home for lunch. Restaurant purveyors saw an opportunity in that
Speaker 1: to cater to all of this, some cafeterias started opening
Speaker 1: and offering something like a meat and three plate. It
Speaker 1: was quick, affordable, clean, and offered many options for workers
Speaker 1: on their lunch break.
Speaker 2: And part of the draw here, especially during the leaner
Speaker 2: times of like the nineteen teens and twenties, was this
Speaker 2: baked and emphasis on minimizing expensive meat and filling up
Speaker 2: on generous portions of vegetable and starch based sides. Nutritional
Speaker 2: science was also kind of starting to happen around this
Speaker 2: time and was recommending this style of plate building.
Speaker 1: That's interesting, okay. The food itself was very traditionally Southern,
Speaker 1: very homey, comforting. Perhaps, as discussed, a lot of these
Speaker 1: dishes trace back to the recipes and influences of enslaved
Speaker 1: West Africans.
Speaker 2: Also important to note these are places that were most
Speaker 2: likely segregated before up until the Civil Rights Act of
Speaker 2: nineteen sixty four.
Speaker 1: So yes, okay, So a lot of the big chains
Speaker 1: when we're talking about this category started opening in the
Speaker 1: nineteen twenties. If I don't mention your favorite, I'm sorry
Speaker 1: and write in Also, these are abbreviated histories, otherwise this
Speaker 1: episode would be ridiculously along.
Speaker 2: Yeah, at least a few of these. We could go
Speaker 2: on for a whole, solid, normal, forty five minute episode about.
Speaker 1: Yes, but I was starting to feel fear in my heart.
Speaker 2: So certainly, if we ever get around to traveling again,
Speaker 2: I would love to, you know, do some oral history
Speaker 2: with some locals about you know, whichever whichever chain is pertinent.
Speaker 2: But anyway, here we are, Yes, here we are. So.
Speaker 1: One of the first was a chain called Morrisons that
Speaker 1: popped up in the nineteen twenties. It was first opened
Speaker 1: in Mobile, Alabama and founded by Ja Morrison. This restaurant
Speaker 1: aim to provide these fresh, homey, pre cooked options that
Speaker 1: were financially within reach, and people really took to it,
Speaker 1: and over time the chain balloon to one hundred and
Speaker 1: fifty locations across the United States. Each of them offered
Speaker 1: over one hundred items that were made that day, and
Speaker 1: many of the offerings were based on region. This chain
Speaker 1: remained popular until the nineteen eighties, which you might hear
Speaker 1: see you might see a eighties come a lot. We'll
Speaker 1: talk about that later. Most of their locations were eventually
Speaker 1: bought by competitor Piccadilly, Inc. There is one still operating
Speaker 1: under the name Morrison's Immobile, and you can actually find
Speaker 1: a lot written about it, and a lot of it
Speaker 1: is really endearing, so recommend but that that is That's
Speaker 1: definitely what happened. When I was missing to you, I
Speaker 1: was like, I know it used to go buy one
Speaker 1: name and it went by a different name. It was
Speaker 1: this there you go which speaking of Thomas J. Costas
Speaker 1: opened a small cafeteria in Baton Rouge, Louisiana called Piccadilly
Speaker 1: in nineteen thirty. Two years later, in nineteen forty four,
Speaker 1: a businessman who had experience working in the cafeteria business
Speaker 1: named Tandy Hannibal Hamilton purchased this cafeteria.
Speaker 2: Good name, Oh Southerners with their names like that, miled.
Speaker 1: Tandy is in quotes and everybody refers to him as Tandy,
Speaker 1: and I'm like, I don't know him that way. I
Speaker 1: can't refer to him as Tandy, So I'm referring to
Speaker 1: him as Hamilton. Yes, but I understand that. I guess
Speaker 1: Tandy is what he really went by anyway. Hamilton had
Speaker 1: worked and learned as a chef previously during his time
Speaker 1: as a soldier in France. In nineteen eighteen, when he
Speaker 1: returned to the United States, he started working as a
Speaker 1: Sioux chef in Texas. According to some sources, the lack
Speaker 1: of affordable housing caused by the oil boom and the
Speaker 1: state meant that he and his wife lived in a
Speaker 1: tent city and gave birth to their daughter there. They
Speaker 1: then moved to Kansas City, where Hamilton got a job
Speaker 1: with the chain The Forum Cafeterias, eventually rising up to
Speaker 1: earn a position as a chef and later the general
Speaker 1: manager of the chain. Inten thirty four, a little less
Speaker 1: than a decade later, he felt limited in his job
Speaker 1: growth opportunities, so he decided he wanted to see about
Speaker 1: starting his own cafeteria style restaurant. Its purchasing Piccadilly. Despite
Speaker 1: wartime rations of the time, Hamilton tapped his friends and
Speaker 1: set to work expanding, opening restaurants in various states, and
Speaker 1: like we see so often in these episodes, he was
Speaker 1: really big on consistency and he tested a lot of
Speaker 1: the recipes himself. But he was also big on incorporating
Speaker 1: local taste. He really wanted franchises to have their own input.
Speaker 1: Once submitted, if approved, the recipes they might send would
Speaker 1: be used at every restaurant. They even developed this whole
Speaker 1: system based on minimizing food waste and cost. They got
Speaker 1: pretty specific, like how to cut meat. There's actually a
Speaker 1: really long paper you canus that I appreciate and enjoy.
Speaker 1: But they got they really got down to the nitty
Speaker 1: gritty of the whole thing. Their growth in the South
Speaker 1: really expanded in the nineteen fifties and in the sixties
Speaker 1: they were operating as far as Arizona. The fortieth Thiccadillies
Speaker 1: opened at Decatur, Georgia's South to capmol And nineteen seventy one.
Speaker 1: When I read this, I was.
Speaker 2: Like, oh, oh, yeah, that's just right down the street.
Speaker 3: Yeah.
Speaker 1: Sure. The number of locations doubled by the eighties. Well Yes,
Speaker 1: here's another one. In the nineteen forties, Bob Louby established Looby's,
Speaker 1: which went on to become one of the country's first
Speaker 1: cafeteria chains. His father, Harry had opened New England Dairy
Speaker 1: lunch Cafeterias Missouri in nineteen eleven. After Bob took over,
Speaker 1: the chainsaw a lot of growth, first in Texas and
Speaker 1: then elsewhere. By the eighties they had sixty three locations,
Speaker 1: primarily in Texas. And people are so they remember this
Speaker 1: so fondly. Absolutely, Yeah, yes, But unfortunately we do have
Speaker 1: to mention in nineteen ninety one there was a mass
Speaker 1: shooting at a Luby's, including Texas. It was the most
Speaker 1: fatal mass shooting in the US until two thousand and seven.
Speaker 2: Yeah, which, at a certain point, I guess speaks to
Speaker 2: the way that these sorts of places can become centers
Speaker 2: of community. Unfortunately, in terms of a tragedy like that.
Speaker 2: Lubies celebrated their seventy fifth anniversary in twenty twenty three, though,
Speaker 2: and put out displays in some locations of vintage cookwear
Speaker 2: and photos of their staff and customers from years past.
Speaker 1: Yes, and I don't think we've mentioned but a lot
Speaker 1: of people have discussed how they have like Thanksgiving meals.
Speaker 1: You can have a Thanksgiving meal at a lot of
Speaker 1: these places. Yeah, yeah, a lot of people fondly remember
Speaker 1: Louvie's Thanksgiving mill. I love that. Greek immigrant Nick mckellis
Speaker 1: purchased a cafeteria in Houston in nineteen fifty two, allegedly
Speaker 1: at the behest of his wife. According to some, he
Speaker 1: originally wanted to turn it into a barbecue joint, but
Speaker 1: a bunch of the regulars really pushed back. We're like, no, no, cafeteria,
Speaker 1: you will not be doing that. So he's stuck with
Speaker 1: the idea he learned from the original owners and Cleveborne
Speaker 1: Cafeteria became incredibly popular. It already was, but it really
Speaker 1: took off. People love it, and again, they just have
Speaker 1: these fun memories of it. It's really beautiful to hear
Speaker 1: people talk about it. Yeah. Yeah. And in twenty sixteen,
Speaker 1: the restaurant burned down and a huge outpouring of support
Speaker 1: followed and they reopened more than a year later, and
Speaker 1: they were all these interviews with people who were so
Speaker 1: relieved that it really Yeah, and this was the second
Speaker 1: time the restaurant had been devastated. By a fire and
Speaker 1: had kind of the community support come around and helped
Speaker 1: them build back up. Yeah, but, as we've been mentioning
Speaker 1: alluding to, this style of dining did go downhill. It
Speaker 1: became less popular, at least widely in the mainstream, and
Speaker 1: a lot of things contributed to that. The introduction and
Speaker 1: proliferation of fast food restaurants started chipping away at the
Speaker 1: popularity of cafeteria style dining beginning in the nineteen sixties.
Speaker 1: By the nineteen eighties, Americans started viewing this style of
Speaker 1: dining as old fashioned and not in the fun way.
Speaker 1: I guess. Not only that, but over the next few
Speaker 1: decades we saw the rise of fashion casual dining, which
Speaker 1: some argue was just another iteration of cafeteria style dining
Speaker 1: in some cases, at least since a lot of the
Speaker 1: restaurants were located in malls. The decline of the mall
Speaker 1: didn't help either. The one we went to was in.
Speaker 2: A mall, yeah, in or sometimes in the same like
Speaker 2: lot ash.
Speaker 1: Yeah, but they are not all gone, and in a
Speaker 1: lot of places they're going strong still. Even if it
Speaker 1: is just a single local restaurant like Cleve Burn's, that
Speaker 1: place is going yeah.
Speaker 2: No forever. Yeah, in some chains during this general time period,
Speaker 2: like Loubi's and Morrison's got into institutional dining, like cafeterias
Speaker 2: at universities or hospitals or corporate parks, so pivot, pivot.
Speaker 1: Yeah. Piccadilly filed for bankruptcy twice in the early two thousands.
Speaker 1: They tried it to go concept that never really seemed
Speaker 1: to take off as early as the nineteen nineties, and then,
Speaker 1: as you might imagine, COVID hit this style of restaurant
Speaker 1: pretty hard.
Speaker 2: Yeah, I mean, you know, COVID hit the whole restaurant
Speaker 2: industry pretty hard. Interestingly, some buffets switched to cafeteria style
Speaker 2: service during the pandemic in order to like minimize customer
Speaker 2: interaction with with serving utensils and to be able to
Speaker 2: install like full guards instead of just sneeze guards. But yeah,
Speaker 2: you know, it's partially due to all the reasons listed
Speaker 2: above about fast food, fast casual chains stuff like that,
Speaker 2: and also some of the people for whom this has
Speaker 2: been a big nostalgic thing are getting older and maybe
Speaker 2: not going out as much. But some cafeterias have like
Speaker 2: opened up online ordering and take out and delivery options
Speaker 2: or have moved into catering or doing like mobile pop
Speaker 2: ups stuff like that to try to attract newer audiences.
Speaker 2: It's I feel like I was like, oh, back to
Speaker 2: Lauren's Killjoy Corner over here. So, like a larger issue
Speaker 2: in the restaurant industry is profit margins and the rising
Speaker 2: costs of ingredients and overhead, especially like energy and rent.
Speaker 2: You know, because like restaurants and especially independent joints are
Speaker 2: expensive to run, and they are difficult to work, and
Speaker 2: they don't typically make a lot of money. Yet you know,
Speaker 2: they are a vital joy in a community, gathering places
Speaker 2: and incubators of culture. So yeah, when you can support local,
Speaker 2: if there's a place that you have nostalgia for, go
Speaker 2: go there. Eat some hutchpipies.
Speaker 1: There was one There was one mom and pop version
Speaker 1: of this that my dad really loved, and it was
Speaker 1: in Cleveland, which was also like a thirty because.
Speaker 2: I Georgia, not Cleveland, Ohio to be specific.
Speaker 1: Yes, but I didn't mention, but I grew up where
Speaker 1: I grew up. When I was growing up, there was
Speaker 1: we had to drive a long time to get to
Speaker 1: these restaurants. That was part of the reason I was
Speaker 1: kind of like why, but he really loved this one
Speaker 1: in Cleveland, and it was it was you could tell
Speaker 1: it was a place people came like they had their
Speaker 1: regulars and they knew what the specials were every day,
Speaker 1: and there was something about it that just felt like, oh,
Speaker 1: i'd somebody. There was a quote I read somewhere that
Speaker 1: was like, it feels like my grandmother's in the back cooking. Yeah.
Speaker 2: Yeah, yeah, And I like a lot of the things
Speaker 2: that I read from people who opened one of these
Speaker 2: however long ago, or who took over from from a
Speaker 2: parent said but you know, they wanted to keep doing
Speaker 2: it because they wanted to cook like their grandparents cooked,
Speaker 2: and they wanted to keep that style of food alive.
Speaker 1: Yeah.
Speaker 2: Yeah, I do recommend what one of the little indie
Speaker 2: places that I have been to a lot back when
Speaker 2: our offices were in Pont City Market here in Atlanta
Speaker 2: is a place across the street called Eats, which is
Speaker 2: just lovely, lovely.
Speaker 1: Yes, And it's also a place that like people who
Speaker 1: have been or like you get the cheer wine or
Speaker 1: you have all these like specific right. Yeah, it was fun.
Speaker 1: That's a good one. Yeah, But we would love to
Speaker 1: hear from you listeners any thoughts about this, And as
Speaker 1: we said, we were focusing on this specific style, but
Speaker 1: we know it exists outside. Oh yeah, so anywhere right in? Yeah,
Speaker 1: let us know, Oh please please please.
Speaker 2: Meanwhile, I think that is all that we have to
Speaker 2: say about Southern style cafeterias for now.
Speaker 1: It is, But that does bring us to listener mail.
Speaker 1: We have already received.
Speaker 2: It does, and we are going to get into that
Speaker 2: as soon as we get back from one more quick
Speaker 2: break forward from our sponsors.
Speaker 1: And we're back.
Speaker 2: Thank you, sponsor, Yes, thank you, and we're back.
Speaker 1: With listen lot. Oh, we didn't even talk about trey etiquette.
Speaker 2: That's sorry, that's my bad. That should have been in
Speaker 2: the about section at the top. There there is deep
Speaker 2: tray etiquette about, like like, you know, making sure how
Speaker 2: you face yourself in the tray line next to other customers,
Speaker 2: about how you jostle and handle your tray so that
Speaker 2: you're not because it's usually on these little metal rails
Speaker 2: and you don't want to jostle too hard so that
Speaker 2: you make a bunch of noise. If you pass the
Speaker 2: station and you decide you wanted something from there, I
Speaker 2: think it's gone. I think you have to It's forward
Speaker 2: only it's like any S games and you're Mario. You
Speaker 2: have to keep going. There's no going back.
Speaker 1: Yeah. See can't you see why an anxious child we
Speaker 1: view this as such a shore. Yeah? Yeah, I was
Speaker 1: so nervous. My dad's having the time of his.
Speaker 4: Life anyway, Okay, Ramble wrote, Hi, all, Your Dorito's episode
Speaker 4: brought to mind a wonderful karma memory.
Speaker 1: I had a truly a whole boss showed up to
Speaker 1: an art opening. This was in the early nine and
Speaker 1: he was wearing his new white suit. Oh no, he
Speaker 1: was double fisting doritos and cheese curls and discovered there
Speaker 1: were no napkins or public restrooms. After seeing that his
Speaker 1: hands were orange and he was wearing a white suit,
Speaker 1: he spent the rest of the opening with his hands
Speaker 1: away from his body. I so enjoyed that. Thank you, Doritos. Wow,
Speaker 1: a white suit.
Speaker 2: Wow.
Speaker 1: A lot of mistakes were made here.
Speaker 2: Yeah that's uh yeah, being a guy wearing a white
Speaker 2: suit and double staying doritos and cheese and that is bold.
Speaker 2: That is a number of bold choices to have made,
Speaker 2: and it sounds like he really deserved it.
Speaker 1: So Also, it sounds like somebody might have set this up,
Speaker 1: because if there are no napkins, somebody either was like,
Speaker 1: I'm going to get some people, or it's like a
Speaker 1: a mishap happened, something fell through the cracks. But I
Speaker 1: don't know. Maybe this smith this was a setup. It
Speaker 1: could be.
Speaker 2: It could be a total coincidence. It could be a
Speaker 2: setup from the universe. You never know.
Speaker 1: I do think double fisting, like I would I get
Speaker 1: like one if I had a fistful, But if I'm
Speaker 1: going for both, that's really yeah, that is that's flying.
Speaker 2: Right there. Yeah yeah, Oh the cheesy son. It's my
Speaker 2: favorite son to fly too close too. Tracy wrote, I
Speaker 2: just finished putting together and a low Ta pasta salad
Speaker 2: as I wrote in about potato salad, and felt morally
Speaker 2: obliged to write to you about pasta salad. I agree
Speaker 2: with Lauren. As a pasta lover and a exture first person,
Speaker 2: there is a lot that can go wrong with pasta salad.
Speaker 2: The tip about overcooking the noodles is one hundred percent effective.
Speaker 2: I suggest at least one minute beyond the box instructions,
Speaker 2: here are a few other tricks to improve the pasta
Speaker 2: salad experience. First, make the dressing in a large bowl
Speaker 2: and pour the hot, freshly drained pasta into the dressing.
Speaker 2: It will absorb the dressing, preserving flavor and improving texture.
Speaker 2: Wants the pasta cools. This is best for vinegarette, but
Speaker 2: with a mayo based dressing. Let the pasta cool for
Speaker 2: a few minutes before adding it. Second, save some pasta water.
Speaker 2: As with any good pasta dish, saving some of the
Speaker 2: warm water filled with starch granules and adding it to
Speaker 2: the pasta when tossing it in the sauce will help
Speaker 2: thicken the sauce and with adherence to the noodles. I
Speaker 2: do this with pasta salads too. When the pasta is
Speaker 2: cooling and absorbing the dressing, it will help keep things smooth.
Speaker 2: I don't know if there is a scientific reason why,
Speaker 2: but I just applied the pasta logic and it worked,
Speaker 2: so I kept doing it. Third, a minimum of four
Speaker 2: hours in the fridge before serving is essential for flavor melding. Last,
Speaker 2: if serving at a cookout, keep the salad in an
Speaker 2: insulated bag or cooler on ice. No one wants a
Speaker 2: warm snack or food poisoning, so keep it chilled. Side
Speaker 2: note balsamic vinegar is a great topic suggestion. Apparently white
Speaker 2: balsamic is not really balsamic in the dop definition yeast
Speaker 2: poop and legal semantics. Sounds like a great episode to me.
Speaker 2: Thank you for giving me an excuse to go through
Speaker 2: my mom's recipes. It brought me a lot of joy,
Speaker 2: as do all of your episodes. Wishing you and your
Speaker 2: team well in these weird times. And Tracy also sent
Speaker 2: in recipes for Greek pasta salad and tortellini pasta salad.
Speaker 2: If anyone would like them, yes.
Speaker 1: Just contact us. They sounded delicious and I do love
Speaker 1: the tortellini pasta salad was just her mom's shorthand, and
Speaker 1: I think it was for like one hundred and eighty people.
Speaker 2: Oh my heck yeah.
Speaker 1: And so she was like, here's how you cut.
Speaker 2: It down to, you know, a normal human size.
Speaker 1: But it was funny because there's a picture of it.
Speaker 1: I was reading it like, I don't know what, I
Speaker 1: don't understand. I can't comprehend.
Speaker 2: Uh, it's too many tortellini, but.
Speaker 1: It's fantastic because my mom does that too. And I
Speaker 1: read it, I'm like I think she.
Speaker 2: Yeah, yeah, I mean, you know, if you're only ever
Speaker 2: making it for a whole cookout full of people, then
Speaker 2: why would do you need it for a four person serving.
Speaker 2: That's the ridiculous part.
Speaker 1: I think it was twelve packs of tortellini hoofda, it was.
Speaker 1: It was it was the serious business.
Speaker 2: I'll say, all of this sounds like serious business, so
Speaker 2: it does.
Speaker 1: I love the tips. Very professional makes sense to me.
Speaker 2: Yeah.
Speaker 1: We've also heard other people about their their pasta salad
Speaker 1: techniques and recipes, and there's just such a huge range
Speaker 1: and I kind of adore it.
Speaker 2: Oh yeah, it's yeah. As as I was saying in
Speaker 2: that one, you know, like at a certain point I
Speaker 2: was just listing foods that can go into anything. I
Speaker 2: was like, I have I have to stop because otherwise
Speaker 2: I'm just listing literally every food on the planet.
Speaker 1: But Super Producer Andrew chimed in with the caesar pasta salad.
Speaker 2: Yeah, yeah, with a good caesar dressing.
Speaker 1: Sure I can see that. Also, Yes, I feel like
Speaker 1: assamic vinegar is up there with olive oil in terms.
Speaker 2: Of hey, i think we've been avoiding it.
Speaker 1: Nerves that I think about it, but.
Speaker 2: I think I think that it would be a little
Speaker 2: bit more contained there are a bunch of different varieties
Speaker 2: that yeah but yeah absolutely when of one of my
Speaker 2: favorite things on the planet, so tasty, so good.
Speaker 1: Yeah ma too these poop and legal semantics you know
Speaker 1: how win is over not know here here we are
Speaker 1: on board. Well, Thank you so much to both of
Speaker 1: those listeners to writing in. If you would like to try
Speaker 1: to us, you can our emails hello at saborpod dot com.
Speaker 2: We're also in social media. You can find us on
Speaker 2: Blue Sky and Instagram at savre pod, and we do
Speaker 2: hope to hear from you. Save is a production of iHeartRadio.
Speaker 2: For more podcasts from my Heart Radio, you can visit
Speaker 2: the iHeartRadio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you listen to
Speaker 2: your favorite shows. Thanks as always to our super producers
Speaker 2: Dylan Fagan and Andrew Howard. Thanks to you for listening,
Speaker 2: and we hope that lots more good things are coming
Speaker 2: your way.