Bittersweet Times at Snappy Lunch

http://www.newsobserver.com/105/story/634582.html

Hard to think of anyone else flipping the chops.

Those pork chop sandwiches are great. I went there a few years ago, and I think they were selling for $3 bucks and change. What a deal.

True Roadfood. A sad passage. I am sure they will attempt to maintain Snappy Lunch as it has been.

I'll bet those Snappy Lunch sandwiches were good ! I've heard the name mentioned on the old Andy Griffith show...

The Dowell family is in our prayers.

Charles was quite the character, and those sandwiches make me salivate thinking about them.

quote:

Originally posted by iqdiva

I'll bet those Snappy Lunch sandwiches were good !

They are still good! They could pass for a very good Iowa pork tenderloin sandwich, dressed differently.

He was an institution. I remember travelling through there on a bike trip. After 4 days of camp out cooking with someone who couldn't cook over an open fire, we were starved and hit the place like a hoard of locusts. I ate 2 there and took 4 to go.

Oh man were they good.

quote:

Originally posted by CajunKing

He was an institution. I remember travelling through there on a bike trip. After 4 days of camp out cooking with someone who couldn't cook over an open fire, we were starved and hit the place like a hoard of locusts. I ate 2 there and took 4 to go.

Oh man were they good.

CK,

My first time at the Snappy was similar to yours. I had been fishing in SW Virginia for several days, and ate 2 at the counter. But, unlike you, I got about 30 miles down the road on my way home and said to myself "damn, I wish I'd bought a couple to go".

How sad! I was lucky enough to spend quite a bit of time with Mr. Dowell on my first visit to the Snappy Lunch in 2001.

My waitress noticed my Eat Your Way Across the USA sitting on my table. So, she asked if I wanted Mr. Dowell to sign it. Just to be polite, I said sure. After she brought it back signed, she said he was planning on coming over and saying hi as soon as he had the chance. Sure enough, as I was finishing, he came over and introduced himself.

Since the place was ready to close for the day, he asked if I would like to see how they make the pork chop sandwich. He took me in the back and showed me "the tenderizer", I think it was called, which he said was the secret to how good the PCSs were. Unfortunately, he said it was harder and harder to get parts to the ancient piece of equipment.

Mr. Dowell also gave me a tour of the rest of the building. And before I left, he gave me a free copy of Aunt B's recipe book, a menu and several postcards. I was really shocked by his generosity.

My visit and the time I spent with Mr. Dowell remains one of my favorite Roadfood memories. I can't imagine the place is the same without him in his usual role.