As part of my weeklong tour of my home state, my job has me visiting Chattanooga, the city where I first set up my post-college life, for the next few days. It’s a funky weird town, progressive in some ways, regressive in others, but with a good overall vibe that is distinctly Southern.
In the middle of my piles of work to be done today, I managed to find some time to sneak off to what was one of my favorite restaurants while living here. Southern Star is a sort of upscale meat-and-three place minus the grit that usually comes along with such greasy spoons.
I had a delicious dinner of fried chicken, creamed corn, green beans, mashed potatoes and gravy, cornbread and, of course, iced tea (God, I hope my Weight Watchers leader is not reading this. If she is — I plan to go on a super-long walk tomorrow to work all of that off.)
When it came time to go, the server asked if I’d be needing a box for that second piece of chicken I didn’t bother tackling. No, I said, I’m staying at a hotel and have no place to put it. Well, he said, how about some banana pudding? I’ve got some in to-go cups that you can eat back at your hotel.
Sounded good to me, the company was paying for it anyway.
He came back with a to-go banana pudding in a bag with plastic silverware and a to-go cup of tea with a lemon in it. Noticing my spent packages of Equal on the counter next to my tea glass, he grabbed a few packets of Equal off the counter and threw those in the bag too with a straw.
Now, I don’t expect much when it comes to restaurant service. I just want you to be efficient, friendly without being over-the-top and get my order and my check right.
The extra gesture of the to-go iced tea and the Equal in the bag? Well now, that was perfect.
That’s so sweet!
The first time, as a teenager, driving through and around Chattanooga on the way to the Keys, was fun. It was cute and quaint and there’s people there. I should move…
yeah, he deserves a nice tip!
I love good southern places like that. Just reading about your dinner has me craving iced tea and cornbread.
This is the part where I gush about my hometown… to do so, I shall recite the lyrics from the mid 90’s tourism commercials for the Scenic City of the South (aka the Dynamo of Dixie):
Too much to do in just one day, spend the night two hours away,
in Chattanooga… this weekend!
Okay, I’m done now.
What service! I’ve not been to that establishment in ‘Nooga, but I will have to give it a shot.
When I was in the business we called that kind of service lagniappe, giving the extra, unexpected goodness that keeps people coming back.
‘Nooga is a good city for long walks, too, so you’re all set.