Food, American Food

I will probably have quite a bit to say on this topic. Where do I begin? Let’s start with Sizzler because it fed right into the stereotype that the rest of the world has about how America eats. Sizzler is still alive and kicking in the American West. I remember when it first arrived on the scene, a step up from Ponderosa. H loves a good salad bar and suggested we go there for an early dinner on our first weekend. It’s funny how at that place, even though there have been tons of additions to the salad bar that make it a sufficient dinner option all in itself I found myself making the same salad I made when I ate there in say 1984, lettuce, a few tomatoes on the side, some blue cheese dressing and sunflower seeds sprinkled over the top. I noticed a table sitting nearby who came back to sit with huge salad mounds like four inches tall at least on their plate all dripping with dressing so there was no recognizable vegetable, sides of wings, asking for extra Texas toast and drinking huge endless glasses of soda. This was all before their meals arrived. It made me sick just watching it. H came back from the salad bar with a salad on his plate and some guacamole on another plate and said that while he was up there, even though they had guacamole on the salad bar a woman reached up and grabbed a whole avocado from the veggie display around the salad bar and put it on her plate. I couldn’t get over that.


But falling into a stereotype myself (Americans only eat burgers). We live close to a local institution, a burger stand called Hire’s Big H. They have a dining room or you can park and flash your lights and get car service. H & A had visited before I did and raved about it. Finally a few weeks ago we all visited. The first thing A said was, “they’ve got the good ice”. They serve their drinks with that ice that’s small and kind of like gravel. The burger was rich and divine. I got it with all the fixins including sautéed onions, lettuce, tomato, cheese, and fry sauce. Fry sauce is a unique Utah condiment, a mixture of ketchup and mayo. It’s so rich it’s up there in the top ten of burgers, but it’s also a once in awhile treat. I’ll be planning my next visit soon.