rev:text
| - My husband arrived home on Friday night after a long, hot day at work. He looked sad and I started to feel bad that I hadn't cooked him dinner (I thought we'd get take-out). He reminded me that we had mentioned going to A&W on Tallmadge Circle earlier in the week. I HAD forgotten, but I couldn't wait to get there!
I grew up in the Firestone Park area of Akron, Ohio. Akron was inundated with amazing curb-serviced/car-hopped drive-ins that sold any manner of sandwiches, burgers, fried food, floats and shakes! One of my happiest memories from high school was getting car-side from the A&W restaurant on Waterloo Road. 30 years later I can still have the same experience on Tallmadge Circle!!
The sun was beginning to set when we pulled into an empty parking space. The place was bustling with patrons and car-hops. Though busy, our waitress bopped over and gave us menus. I had a few questions about the menu which she answered like a pro! The kids running their butts off were obviously high school kids making money in the last days of late summer.
We listened to the beginning of the Indians game while waiting for our cheeseburger, crinkle-cut french fries, coney dogs and root beers. Our take-home dinner was delivered to us in a white box (which fit perfectly on my lap for the ride home). We didn't spill anything.
We ate dinner on TV trays watching the baseball game that night. We snapped open red and white packets of salt and sprinkled them on our crinkle-cut fries, my husband remarked, "you drank all of your root beer before we got home!" We scooped up the tiny bits of onion that scattered from the tops of our foot-long coneys as if we were mining for gold.
My cheeseburger was encompassed by a sesame-seeded chewy, soft bun - appointed with mustard, ketchup, pickle, and a smattering of onions - the cut of which I cannot re-enact in my own kitchen!
Time has paused at A&W Root Beer Stand. Life is happy here!
|