Restaurant

Restaurant

We all have that favorite place to eat. Like when we are in a hurry when we just do not have a lot of time. When you are at work and you only have 1/2 an hour to eat you really must scramble. When you are playing daycare and you have four of your grandchildren for the day, fast food is the way to go.

Even though we do not like to admit it we all have our favorite food from the fast-food chain that we like to order. If we are in a hurry and we are hitting the drive-thru in McDonald’s, my wife loves the Big Mac I like the spicy chicken sandwich.

If it is Wendy’s, she likes the chili I like the fry and a chocolate frosty. If we are hitting the drive-through at the Dairy Queen, then we both like the chicken strips and gravy, she gets the small Oreo Blizzard I get the large grape Mr. Misty freeze.

Kentucky fried chicken is extra crispy for us. And we all know you cannot do Popeyes without red beans and rice it is a must. Burger King drive-thru is plain cheeseburgers or chicken fries. Onion rings and roast beef from Arby's you cannot go wrong.

Usually, to hide your guilt from eating so bad all week, we will slide into the subway, grab are self a meatball sandwich. If we feel guiltier then that we will grab the chicken breast sandwich loaded up with vegetables and think to ourselves, yes that is healthy.

That is our everyday life when it comes to eating fast food, and that is what we call fast food. Many within the fast-food industry like to think that they are a restaurant but, in our minds, they are fast food, plain and simple.

I am not knocking fast food; we all eat it whether we agree we eat it or we do not eat it I know I did not give them a billion dollars last year on my own, but they did over a billion dollars. Which means we all eat it rather we agree or not that we do?

The one thing that we all agree on is that it is fast food, they may label themselves a restaurant. But we the people who spend our money in that establishment, considered it to be nothing but fast food. Restaurants in our minds are in a different category.

You do not go to Wendy's for a romantic dinner. You will never hear what I proposed to my wife under the soft lighting from the menu board at Burger King. Nor will you ever hear I remember our first anniversary and the dinner we shared at McDonald's.

You are never going to hear a woman telling her friends how her husband proposed to her in the Dairy Queen, and it was so romantic she will never forget it. The way he sipped on his vanilla shake and whispered those words will you marry me.

In every one of our communities around the country there is that little family-owned restaurant. You go too on your first date so you can impress her or him. The atmosphere the soft music playing, the service, the glass of wine with your meal that is what we call a restaurant.

When you look around the room and you see the couple celebrating their 30th wedding anniversary. The girls taking their friend out to celebrate she is going to have a baby. The family in the corner booth celebrating their son's graduation from college.

The couple holding hands, and they just needed a night out after six months of fighting cancer. The husband and wife raising three children and they just treat themselves once a month to a romantic dinner. The man down on one knee about to ask the person he loves to marry him.

That is a restaurant. When you walk in and you look around and you can see the room filled with memories. When it is not just about eating. When you enter that little hometown restaurant, and you look around the room, you can see the celebration of love at every table.

Restaurants are way more than just eating. They are a part of our community, that cannot be replaced. Theo Yanni’s a Greek restaurant is living up to that tradition. It is truly a restaurant for the community in every sense of the word.

Yes, we have plenty of fast-food places to eat at but when it comes to building memories that will last a lifetime you need a restaurant just like Theo Yanni’s in my hometown. The next time you are hungry do not just eat make some memories.

The next time you want something to eat, and you are thinking I need something more than just fast food. Go to your local hometown restaurant and build some memories. Just like Theo Yanni’s. Remember restaurant memories will last you a lifetime.

By David F Anderson