Damn! WELL worth the wait!

[Thumper]

Lynn and I went to lunch at a place in Savanna that is a MUST DO if you're ever here. They're only open 11:00 am - 2:00 pm, Monday-Friday. EVERY DAY there is a 1 1/2 - 2 1/2 hour wait to get in! Trust me ... EVERYONE coming out that door as you're waiting to get in, will tell you the wait is well worth it! We got there at 11:30 and stood in line until 1:15! At 2:00 they go out and make a note of the last person in line at that point and cut the line off there for the day. If you're in line by 2:00, you will be served. Here we are in line: (we were told its like this every single day of the week regardless of weather)

wilkeshouse2.jpg

Trust me ... this place is worth it!

wilkeshouse1.jpg

http://mrswilkes.com/

[Arty]

This is NOT a thump story.
1) I didn't have to scroll down to read it.
a) not enough pics
4) no mention of HOW GOOD IT ACTUALLY WAS.
1.3) no pic of the food you ate.
G) you didn't mention eating the rest of Lynn's food.

I call bullshit.

IMPOSTURE! Where's the REAL KRIBBS?!?!

[airbud7]

Yep Thump....That's Mrs. Wilkes Dining Room....


A line gathers each morning at 107 West Jones Street. At 11 o'clock, the doors of 107 open and the lunch crowd finds seats at one of the large tables-for-ten shared by strangers. Tabletops are crowded with platters of fried chicken and cornbread dressing, sweet potato souffle, black-eyed peas, okra gumbo, corn muffins and biscuits. The menu changes daily so regulars can have something different every day. Stop by and enjoy the special pleasure of a meal shared with neighbors and strangers.

[Thumper]

Kinda short post 'cause we're pretty busy Arty. Believe it or not, we ran into friends here who are staying in a hotel 1 block from where we are. I'm pumped full of Percocet and have been running non-stop since we've been here. I figured the pics on the website (posted at the very bottom of the original post) would suffice. Funny, we sit at a table for 10 and they load the table with TONS of food ... just grab what you want and if you want more, they'll bring as much as you want.

Funny story (maybe I can turn this into a mini-Thump post afterall): We sat with a black couple on our left ... he was pretty quiet, but she was a real chatterbox. She went around the table asking everyone's names and where they were from. The couple on my right were Physicists and in town for a seminar of some sort. The black gal was fascinated by this and asked the woman what she does in her leisure time. Her reply was she reads "chick-lit". (A reader's version of a chick-flick) The gal asked what "chick-lit" was, and after the woman explained it, the gal said, "Oh! Like Harliquin romance novels!!" The intellectual type said, "Ummm, no ... not exactly." Then the black gal said, "Oh, you've probably read everything on Opera's book list, huh?" About this time I was even starting to get a bit embarrassed and was hoping the gal would just change the subject! The whole thing was eventually laughed off and the subject changed. It turned out to be a lot of fun and some BIG TIME good eats .... followed by homemade banana pudding that was a dead ringer for my grandmother's 'nanner puddin'! (yes, I asked for a second helping!)

Anyway, we hooked up with our friends this afternoon and hung around the riverfront all day. In fact we just returned from watching the fireworks over the river. We're back in the room to freshen up a bit, catch our breath for a few, then we'll be headed back out for as long as my back holds up ... or until the percocet wears off I guess.

To help me along a bit, Lynn surprised me with a 6-pack of my favorite beer in the whole world (from Laos). What's left of the beer is in the fridge ... but here's the pack.

beerlao.jpg

[Arty]

There... Now that's what I was expecting the first time!

Was that so hard!? Shhheez!


Glad you're both havin fun!

[Big Muddy]

Thump, during your trucking days, you may have heard of the "Roundtable Restaurant", down in Columbia, MS....sorta similiar to the place you ate at in Savanna....each big table is actually a huge lazy-susan, filled with copious amounts of southern soul food and delicacies....just spin the lazy-susan around, and fill your plate.

Sometimes they serve one of their specialties, which is fried rabbit....it is to die for !!!

table.jpg

JCmurvVsZpZ0kI.jpg

[Thumper]

Yeah Muddy, the same with this place. Some tables had the lazy Susan, but ours did not for some reason. Haven't been to the Round Table personally, but Lynn had a customer who told her about it. She said it WAS great, but has really gone downhill since it's recent change in ownership (no clue how recent that is). Have you been there recently? That was only one person whom we really don't know ... so who knows whether their opinion is worth a hill of beans?

[Big Muddy]

No, I haven't been down there in several years....so, a change in ownership may certainly have affected the quality.

There are several big rabbit farmers in that area who supplied them with the rabbits for their menu....totally different type meat from a wild rabbit....I remember the meat, being just as white as a chicken breast....I asked about that, and was told that their meat changes color, when fed a special diet of rabbit food, containing a lot of alfalfa, vitamins, and minerals.

I passed thru there, a few years ago, and stopped at a gas station....there was a guy at the next pump, pulling a gooseneck trailer, with cages that were absolutely packed with farm-raised rabbits....prolly 2 or 3 thousand of them....he said he sold them all over south MS and LA, and even supplied tons of rabbits to the Round Table.

I rate the meat above Popeye's fried chicken, and that's saying a LOT !!!

[Arty]

My parents used to take us to a place similar in style called Bea's when we were kids. It was in Chattanooga.
Every summer on our trip to Florida, we'd stop at Bea's. As a kid, we thought it was kinda weird sitting around a table with old people we didn't know!
No clue if it's sill around.

[Big Muddy]

This thread brings back memories....there was another one of these type eating establishments in Cleveland, MS, when I was in college up there, back in the early '70's.

It was called Ma Redmonds....she and her sister who were both old maids, and who loved the college and it's students, turned their boarding house into a lunch-only eating spot, just for the college students to get a hot, home-cooked meal, at least once a day for only a $1 dollar....it was a God-send to my po' young broke-azz....I was surviving on $34 dollars a week back then, mostly from part-time jobs.

They grew all of their vegetables in their big backyard, and only occasionally, there would be any meat....perhaps, a bit of chicken in the dumplings, every now and then....but, it was always delicious food.

There was only one HUGE table in the middle of her dining room, but at least 20 of us could hunker around it, and chow down at each sitting....we ate in shifts, and she would feed about 4 shifts of students each day, or until the food-of-the-day ran out....I worked part-time at the Union 76 gas station, right across the street, so I always managed to eat in the first shift.

[airbud7]

Good read Muddy^,Thanks... I remember Union 76 very well...Service came First.

I miss the good old days....