Post Thanksgiving: We Ate at a Drive Through Steak and Sushi Restaurant
After 12 hours on the road, our guard was down
I’m seated in a booth just off the lobby. The designated breakfast area. I am at a Marriott affiliated hotel and it’s just after 7 a.m today, a Tuesday morning.
I am quietly eating my breakfast. Alone. Debbie remained behind in the room, cozy in bed. I have been up for a while. My breakfast consists of a vanilla yogurt, a small cheese omelet and a toasted plain bagel with cream cheese (cheam creams). Standard stuff.
Two sales guys are sitting in the booth next to me. I hear the older man rattling off a barrage of appropriate industry buzz words to his protege sitting across from him. The younger, bearded man, is trying to verbalize his worth as the two exchange information and strategies.
Blah blah blah.
Blah blah blah.
Welcome to Belmont, North Carolina, about a stone’s throw from Charlotte, NC.
This is how we got here.
Debbie and I departed from Westchester County, New York, yesterday and spent the entire day, 12 hours or so, on the road. We counted seven states we drove the SUV through until we settled in for the evening.
On the way to dinner, after nearly 700 miles stuffed in a vehicle, we exited the 85 freeway. We casually drove past a Japanese Steakhouse and Sushi restaurant called Sake Express. With a drive through no less.
A sushi place with a drive through? I was not sure I believed it either.
The line of cars waiting for their to-go orders could have easily been mistaken for a busy In-N-Out Burger. It wrapped around the corner.
As we took in this sight, Debbie’s sister Sue, who was speaking to us on the car phone, pleaded with us to find a proper restaurant to sit down and eat.
Obviously, she hadn’t been on the road with us all day. We just wanted to eat, check in at the hotel and sleep. Simple needs.
Seeing the crowd cars in line at the drive through, demanding dinner, we immediately changed plans. We parked and ventured inside to see what all the commotion was about.
We were not disappointed.
Now, I don’t know much about sushi in Belmont, North Carolina. At that moment, I was not up for finding out. So, I took the conventional path and ordered the chicken and steak combo. For $13.99. It came with rice, mushrooms, sweet carrots, onions and broccoli (which I passed on).
The long line of cars outside provided us with an important clue. It was the right choice. By the end of our meal, Debbie verbalized what I was thinking. “How do you secure a franchise for something this good?”
This was post-Thanksgiving on a Monday night.
Speaking of Thanksgiving last weekend, it seemed like a non-stop food eating contest for four days. It was exactly what we needed. We had gathered in New York with most of our combined family, including all four of our adult kids.
In preparation for the big turkey meal, we continued a tradition we started last year. We took time out to paint.
Clearly some of us were better than others.
As for me, I’m learned I’m sticking to photography.
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Thanksgiving dinner was as good as it gets. Twenty four of us sat at two connected tables. Dan, Debbie’s brother, was masterful in the kitchen. Sue and her husband Dean and their three kids arrived with what seemed like a truck load of food and desserts.
No family drama. Lots of laughs. And one very happy blended family.
Onward!
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