Happy Birthday. Drive 'Round, Please.
Oct. 1 marks the 100th birthday of the Model T Ford. Originally priced at about $850, Tin Lizzy ushered automobiles into the mainstream and helped shape a world of $4 gas, gridlock, cheesy bumper stickers and drive-time talk radio.
On the upside, we’ve got Henry Ford’s mass-produced invention to thank for many happy hallmarks of modern culture, including drive-in movies, tailgating, sex-steamed windshields, and 24-hour fast food.
In honor of Tin Lizzy’s centenary, I’m planning to pick up dinner at a drive-through. Hell, we might even eat in the car. The kids will lobby for Taco Bell, but I lean toward Krystal, or maybe that chicken place on Thompson Lane, if it still has its drive-through deal. Any other suggestions?
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Chicken place on Thompson Lane? Is there a family dining emporium that I don't know about???? I'm facing 5 days solo with the kids so you better spill any kid-friendly secrets or we're coming to hang out at your house.
Posted 10/01/2008 at 09:02:38 AMChicken place on Thompson Lane? Is there a family dining emporium that I don't know about???? I'm facing 5 days solo with the kids so you better spill any kid-friendly secrets or we're coming to hang out at your house.
Posted 10/01/2008 at 09:10:06 AMThe Popeyes chicken on Jefferson. But it has to be the one on Jefferson.
Posted 10/01/2008 at 10:22:49 AMI'm a big fan of drive-thrus. While I've accepted that my ultimate fantasy of having healthy catered food everywhere I go will likely never come true, I'm still holding out for my runner-up dream, reasonably healthy fast food you can pick-up in a drive-thru.
Sam & Zoe's on Thompson Lane was a serious contender. You could get breakfast, bagels, and coffee-shop style sandwiches any time of day until about 7 p.m. in their drive-thru. Recent management changes have reduced drive-thru hours so they don't interrupt Baja Burrito's parking spaces. So now you can only pull up and order until 11 a.m. You can call it in first and then pick it up in the drive-thru after 11. And though that's perfectly convenient all things considered, it still seems to fly in the face of the traditionally lazy and therefore desired approach.
But if your typical trans-fat-infused fast food is what yer after, the most efficient drive-thru ever is Wendy's on Thompson Lane. I've gotten through a line of cars out to the street in mere minutes. Tight ship over there, folks. Tight ship.
P.S. I'd go nuts for drive-thru sushi, drive-thru Qdoba and drive-thru Panera for my basic salad and quesadilla needs, though.
Posted 10/01/2008 at 10:28:45 AMI am holding out for a drive-through convenience store where you can get diapers, toilet paper, instant mac-and-cheese and baby Tylenol without having to get your kids out of the carseat.
Posted 10/01/2008 at 11:49:11 AMI'm hard pressed to go anywhere but Fat Mo's when I'm in drive-thru mode. My last drive-thru experience was Itza Pizza in East Nashville (on Gallatin right across from the Eastland Kroger) - great wings and wonderful service!
Posted 10/01/2008 at 02:08:22 PMmy only drive-thru exception is sonic
and the only thing i ever get is: a diet dr. pepper float.
Posted 10/01/2008 at 03:09:10 PMI used to love going to the drive-thru of the now-gone (and admittedly mediocre) Sala Thai on West End - it was funny enough that you had to lean over your passenger seat to get to the food window because it was on the wrong side of the building ... but also, Thai is just so easy to eat in the car, what with the soups and the sauces and all. The whole thing was crazy.
Posted 10/01/2008 at 03:45:32 PMRiddle me this: If restaurants base their drive-through business on fat-ass minivans full of kids trundling through to pick up food, why is the turning lane so freaking narrow that a Mini Cooper can barely make it around without sideswiping the microphone? (I'm looking at you, Green Hills Krystal.)
Posted 10/01/2008 at 04:22:37 PMI can't believe you haven't made the acquaintance of Chick-fil-A, C. It's toddler crack.
The height of decadence: pulling into a Starbucks drive-through for the Sunday New York Times.
Posted 10/01/2008 at 06:02:01 PMI actually quite liked SalaThai and didn't find it mediocre at all though I will say that's based on the limited portion of the menu I had to choose from. They had this really great peanut dressing for the salads, though. That alone made it worth the trip. But I never used the drive-thru.
Arkansas has (or had?) drive-thru liquor stores. Awesome.
Posted 10/02/2008 at 12:23:02 PMLouisiana open container law: That piece of paper they put on the top of your straw is a viable 'seal.' No joke.
Posted 10/02/2008 at 03:29:14 PMThe new QSR magazine survey just released has Chik-fil-A at the top of the drive-through list again.
Posted 10/02/2008 at 04:16:39 PMYeah, SalaThai rocked. I miss that place. there's a place near opry Mills (right by a go-cart track) called Sukko Thai (sp?) that is very similiar.
Posted 10/06/2008 at 01:59:56 PMThat's funny that you mention Suko Thai because I have the same exact issues with it that I did Sala Thai - I think everything's too sweet. I do occasionally like to take fancy out-of-towners there though, especially when the Go-Karts are zooming by. It seems very Nashville somehow.
Posted 10/07/2008 at 10:48:07 AMSalathai had the best fish sauce I have ever had, by far.
It's still hard to believe that place started out as Kenny Rogers' Roasters. Sometimes the food gods do get things right, I suppose...
Posted 10/07/2008 at 11:26:31 AM