Schtick Restaurants -- was, Re: [Sca-cooks] Re: Pho

[Phil Troy / G. Tacitus Adamantius]

On Mar 28, 2006, at 9:03 AM, Elaine Koogler wrote:

> And then, of course, there's the bar in Alaska (not a Chinese  
> place, but good ol' English!) named "Tricky Dick's Half-way Inn"!   
> I really am not joking.  We were there several years back...it's  
> about half-way between Anchorage and Fairbanks.  When you visit,  
> you sign a dollar bill and it gets stapled to the ceiling or  
> wall...wherever there's room!
> Kiri

Your post has got me thinking of restaurants, bars, etc., with some  
odd traditions. Who's got accounts of those to share? Apart from the  
old Sloppy Louie's in New York, where you used to be able to sneak in  
through the kitchen door, see what looked good on your way to the  
dining room, and order accordingly, the entry that screams to be  
talked about is a place called, I believe, The Pinnacle Peak, outside  
San Bernardino, CA. I have no idea if they're still around, but it  
was considered sort of unofficially mandatory to A) understand that  
neckties were strictly forbidden, and B) to wear the most  
outrageously trashy tie you could find, because they would then have  
a little ceremony where they'd snip your tie off with a large pair of  
tailor's shears, and nail it to the beam above the bar.

As I recall, the menu consisted of the Cowgirl Steak (a T-bone/ 
porterhouse that hung over the edge of the plate), the Cowboy Steak  
(a definite porterhouse that hung off the edge of the table if you  
weren't careful), a burger for kids, although I STR it was probably  
at least 1/2 a pound of meat, pinto beans, sourdough bread, and some  
form of green salad. They might have had pies for dessert, but we  
never got that far.

As I say, I have no idea if they still exist, and I haven't been  
there since the mid-70's, but they were a lot of fun.

Adamantius





"S'ils n'ont pas de pain, vous fait-on dire, qu'ils  mangent de la  
brioche!" / "If there's no bread to be had, one has to say, let them  
eat cake!"
     -- attributed to an unnamed noblewoman by Jean-Jacques Rousseau,  
"Confessions", 1782

"Why don't they get new jobs if they're unhappy -- or go on Prozac?"
     -- Susan Sheybani, assistant to Bush campaign spokesman Terry  
Holt, 07/29/04