Saturday Night Outing--after 55 Straight Nights At Home, We'll Take It!

This past Saturday evening Mr. Sandi and I had our first "date night"--one out of the house and yard anyway! He had read about Little Anthony's Diner's plans for reopening safely and suggested we go check it out. Little Anthony's is a '50's themed restaurant and they turned the parking lot into a car hop area. It proved to be great fun and was the first time we've done something that even approached feeling "normal" in nearly two months. Mr. Sandi and I both thought the staff there did a terrific job of using safety measures (and correctly!) but also making the whole experience feel fun and not too weird.

I took this first photo from the passenger seat of Mr. Sandi's truck. There were two entertainers for the evening, one an Elvis impersonator and one posing as Marilyn Monroe Both were young adults--probably unemployed from the live theatre company just around the corner. When they weren't singing, they had on masks as did every staff person that we saw from our truck. The management clearly didn't require customers to wear masks but tables were spaced out and, from what we could tell, there was no indoor seating.




Orders were "touchless" with our car hop explaining to us how to get on their web site and download the appropriate app. I'd estimate there were probably about a dozen cars in the car hop area and three or four outdoor tables with customers seated at them.



Marilyn and our car hop posing for my camera--the one time I got out of my car. Yep, with my mask on.



Some customers were in convertibles and there was a lone motorcyclist. It was absolutely perfect weather for both!





Mr. Sandi had a hot dog and fries and I had a delicious reuben sandwich with a side of cole slaw. All that was missing was a beer. But I have lots of those in the fridge at home. I'll settle for a Pepsi for a night out!

 

It was really a fun evening, DD! I love the 50's Rock n Roll stuff, too. If my mom and dad were still around, I'd ask them their thoughts on that era as I'm sure that it's not quite like the movies and TV shows like Happy Days. But some cool stuff definitely came out of that decade.

 

Very cool that there's a drive in movie theater in your area, @Old dumb arse! Those may make a comeback in the age of COVID. We have Sonic drive-ins in Tucson too--you're right, car hops yes but roller skates no. Probably a liability issue.

 

Ahhh, yes, all the classics! Although we never had the pickled eggs on the menu. For me if it's a movie it's gotta be popcorn and a soda. Or pop. Depending on where you live.

 

I think lots of folks are going to remember how restaurants (and other businesses) did business during the pandemic and the shutdowns. We were impressed how Little Anthony's functioned and will definitely start patronizing them in the future. As restaurants go, this one is pretty much out of the way for us but I think we'll make a point of going back. Plus it'll be fun to do a night ride there. @Old dumb arse mentioned rod meets at the Sonic drive-ins. Little Anthony's typically does a whole series of car shows (plus some motorcycles) in the fall when the temps cool down a bit. We'll see if that happens this year.

 

Oh, boy, @Privateer. I LOVE reuben sandwiches! My #1 favorite sandwich of all sandwiches is the Everything Reuben at a local place in Tucson called Beyond Bread. They put it on their pretzel bread and they only serve it on Saturdays. Here's a photo of their "everyday" reuben. Now I'm starting to drool! I have a gift card on the counter for Beyond Bread so may need to do an essential run.

 

Your description of every day feeling like groundhog day hits the nail on the head, Billy! It's a very weird feeling so, yes, was very nice to do something more normal and different from the daily routine of the past two months.

Speaking of a burger & fries, I just had a terrific version of both a few days ago. Our cul-de-sac has turned out to be the perfect outdoor spot to entertain a couple of friends some evenings. There's a restaurant around the corner from us called ZinBurger and burgers are their specialty--and it shows. Yum! So a couple of times we've invited another couple over to our cul-de-sac and gotten curbside takeout at ZinBurger and had a lovely dinner--though socially distanced--in person. It makes us all feel a little more normal and a bit more human again.

 

Oops! Forgot to post the photo of the standard reuben sandwich, @Privateer. Here it is...

 

@Shaun42, I really enjoy Diners, Drive-in, and Dives too! I love Guy Fieri. What a job he has, eh? Restaurants in Tucson have been featured multiple times on the show. Interestingly, although these are great restaurants, they aren't the ones that I'd think would be on this particular show.

 

We did not, @Old dumb arse, but that's a great question. I love root beer--especially in a "frosty mug" ala A & W in the old days--and tater tots are flippin' awesome! Especially on their own with some ketchup and not on top of a Minnesota "hot dish". Root beer floats are da bomb!