Hold the meat!

What an interesting night! The girls and I decided two weeks ago that we were done with our regular Friday night haunt, "The Shack" in Superior, Wisconsin where the food is great, but the service is absolutely terrible. This has gone on all summer, but we love sitting on the deck, happy hour at the attached liquor store, and then of course there was Skippy. I don't know if I mentioned it in the blog, but some weeks back Skippo moved on to bigger and better things. He is now a used car salesman. :) So we're hittin' all the hot spots trying to find a new home. Last night ruled out a few.

I met the girls out in my old neck of the woods, at Gronks. It's close to where I lived in Itasca (we name the hoods here) from '93 to '02. I arrived, starving to death, to women who had a head start on the drinks, and confusing the waitress. How to explain this business.... Lisa does not eat meat. Kerri sometimes doesn't, although she was trying to order bacon on her meatless cheeseburger, if it didn't cost extra. It did. They had a coupon for buy one burger get one for a dollar. They wanted to substitute grilled cheese, which is a cheaper deal for the restaurant, but Gronks wouldn't do it. So they didn't order anything. I missed this part. Mary, an older co-worker of Lisa's must have stopped in for one before going home and was a party to it. They were crabby, and she kind of looked like a deer in the headlights. I can only imagine.....

So right off the bat the waitstaff are ignoring the table. I want a drink, and I'm beyond hungry. Lisa and Kerri wanted to go to the Choo-Choo across the street. Do you know what it's like to try and cross highway 2 at rush hour??? We decided to stay, flagged down the waitress, got my rum and coke, ordered my chicken sandwich, and a meatless cheeseburger and a meatless California burger. Mary left before dinner arrived, and Shelly joined in about half way through.

The food was so-so, and the cook put piles (three inches thick I kid you not) of grated cheese on the girls sandwiches. Perhaps trying to make up for charging for meat that wasn't there......perhaps some other statement? Anyway, not the place for us. Nice remodeling job though.

We all pile in to Lisa's Cherokee to zip across the busy highway to the "Choo-Choo" bar. Ok, first off, WHERE is the train? It's now a white rectangle. All around outside they are setting up for a street dance tomorrow night. The inside is dark, pretty much as I remember it, but there is this awful smell I can not place. Yes, I smell the fish fry. That's not it. It's making me nauseous, kind of like really strong b.o. So we hike it up on the stools at the only available table and start looking around. We find an older, rough looking crowd, 50 and up I would say. Not really our "scene". Then it happened.

The vegetarians had their back to the main part of the bar. Shelly and I saw it all. Let me state first that I love bacon, and this did not in anyway affect me, and my love of meat. Shelly is soft hearted, and was sad for the pig. Lisa and Kerri........ perhaps therapy will help. Two men come out of the kitchen carrying a pig. A huge, skinned for a pig roast, headless (thank God) pig by his stiff legs. Shelly gasps and says "DONT LOOK". I said "Seriously, don't look!" Of course they couldn't help but looking. Our time at the Choo Choo came to a quick end. Shelly and Kerri actually ran to the car. Lisa and I were laughing too hard. We drove away with Kerri sticking her head out of the window yelling "Wilber! Wilber! Wilbur!" At the top of her lungs.

Then I did something I regret. The saying "You can't go home again" is so true, and I should not have driven through my old neighborhood on my way to the next bar. Everything is so run down, including the home I poured my heart and soul into...... serious mistake.

The next stop was the East End Tavern. I thought it was in a different spot on fifth, you can tell I'm not a bar hopper. :) Locals reading this will wonder how I didn't know where it was. Ok, I actually worked right across the street from it at Lake Superior Chiropractors.... what can I say? I don't pay any attention to bars, or apparently anything else in my immediate surroundings if they don't pertain to me.

What can I say about EET? We walk in, and it's very dark, and yes kind of dingy. Sitting at a table where you can't hear anyone talk isn't really my idea of a good time. They have a Pac Man machine, but we couldn't get near it. That would have been fun! There is that smell again. It is awful! Sitting there unable to hear most of the conversations I figured it out. You can't smoke in the bars anymore, and Choo-Choo and EET haven't done anything to air them out. It's the years and years of smoke that are causing that nausiating odor! Then a guy jumps up and his bar stool crashes to the floor, breaking! This happens directly behind Kerri and myself and we scoot to the other end of the table to A. not get squished by whatever fight is about to break out and B. for a good seat! Unfortunately nothing happened. :( I left soon after, laundry to finish up you know. Three bars in one night is a pretty big deal for me, although I only had one rum and coke. lol

Next week we go back to C's. That is where we started all those years ago, but the smoke was just too intense for me. Now that everyone is smoke free perhaps we'll settle there again. They cater to the meatless ones, the dead animals stay in the kitchen, they really have excellent food, and excellent service. Hopefully *gag* they've done a little airing out!