“If you are not completely satisfied, welcome to the real world.”
“The waitresses might not be Hot but the food is.”
“There are only two places in the world you can eat meat loaf, here and your mother’s.”
Signs like this and photos of Elvis welcome you to one of Valdosta’s oldest eateries — The King’s Grill.
Lately I have reestablished a routine of eating “real” food, instead of packaged and fast. Like the sign says you can have meat loaf (with peppers) there.
Since my mother died in the late ’80s, the happy times when meat loaf is on my plate has steadily decreased. One day recently stuffed bell pepper was on the one-meat, three-vegetable menus, another of my favorites. Growing up, I had a friend whose mother would cook stuffed bell pepper two or three times a month. Because his mother knew how much I enjoyed it, I often got an invitation for supper.
Another delicacy you probably won’t find at other restaurants is fried okra but without the batter. I first ate this when I got married. My mother-in-law cooked okra straight out of the garden during the summer vegetable season. She used an iron frying pan in the oven to “wilt” the okra. The cooks at the King’s Grill get it just right.
Enough about the food that is good for you, allow me to share thoughts of the desserts. While there are many desserts the regulars like, I have only one that will have me in lock-step to the KG. On Thursdays (it can change), when you push open the front door, you will see half-way down the counter, warm and fresh, a perfectly cooked banana pudding. A golden brown meringue with vanilla wafers popping through the top awaits all the dessert connoisseurs who enter. I remind you, it is “cooked” to separate the KG version from the premixed bright yellow variety. To a banana pudding purist it can only be cooked — no skimping allowed.
One regular to the KG eats a pudding before his one-meat, three-vegetable meal and one afterwards. He ranks high on the purist list and an example for us all.
As a newspaperman and particularly one who works for the VDT, I am drawn there by the ones who came before. On the shelf behind the cash register is a photo of Edith Smith, an employee of this paper for nearly 50 years. Standing there in her red dress, she looks right at you with her “I am glad to see you” look. We all know it and we all miss it.
Edith’s son-in-law and former city editor, Wink DeVane, was the nephew of the restaurant’s founder. Edith often told us that when The Times was an afternoon paper, the publisher and many of the staff would end up there for lunch. Everyone of that group is now deceased. When eating at King’s Grill, you can almost feel their presence. I suspect they all talked loudly and laughed the same way. I don’t know which day was puddin’ day then but I can close my eyes and see their smiles as they dipped into the bowl of bananas, meringue, vanilla pudding and vanilla wafers. AAAAAHHHH.
Sandy Sanders
King’s Grill is for the purist
- Sandy Sanders
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Think before you answer
I got an email this week where a writer of an online column tells the story of a young child in Sunday School. The writer says the little boy’s teacher asked his class ‘What’s the animal with a long, bushy tail that lives in trees?’ One child quickly answers while probably thinking about the usual answer to questions in his church Sunday School, ‘Jesus. Though it sure sounds like a squirrel to me.’
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Forgiveness, redemption go together
The news story on Friday read: “WASHINGTON — The House of Representatives voted overwhelmingly Thursday to censure once-powerful New York Rep. Charles Rangel for multiple ethical misdeeds — the first time in nearly three decades that House members have publicly rebuked a colleague.
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South Georgia roots run deep for these execs
David Ratcliffe and Mike Garrett, two highly respected executives with Valdosta and South Georgia ties, will be stepping down as leaders of two of the largest power companies in the nation by yearend.
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VDT ready with all-new digital edition
You can now go to the home page of our website (www.valdostadailytimes.com) and click on the link for our digital e-edition. You can sign up for a seven-day trial or, if you currently subscribe to the print edition, we will be glad to add the e-edition just by calling our office for details.
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We are losing our children and we are blaming ‘others’
Extinction! There are public outcries to save animals, bugs and reptiles while our own children are being lost to a new world order. In the past two weeks, I have seen two students, one high school, one middle school, with their parents blessing bring to the public area all the details of their student-teacher antics. Each student had been suspended from school and one was making his way to court.
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Do we want tax or football braggin’ rights?
A drop in our property digest seems evident and to maintain we will need a tax increase. We can recruit higher-paying jobs to the county and get more taxes that way but is that practical thinking for a quick adjustment in this economy?
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Blazer Zone moving into Drexel Park
Next Saturday, Blazer fan families will have a great opportunity for some pre-game tailgating fun. The university is turning Drexel Park into a mini carnival so families can spread out to enjoy an afternoon under the trees, as they get ready for the Blazers’ season opener.
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Maggots with your steak
Today, with online journalism on newspaper websites, readers are able to go online, read the story, post a comment and, within minutes, their comment (thread) is answered by another reader. The bantering can follow a positive line or it can quickly move to having all the attributes of a barroom brawl.
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Why do some children live in abusive houses?
As I have written many times in this column, I grew up in a small town. My father worked at Moody Air Force Base for 30 years and as he would recollect while laughing, “I ate a fried egg sandwich for lunch every day of those 30 years.”
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Turning 18 before the election board
When I turned 18 my father took me down to the courthouse one evening to go before the Board of Registrars so I could be qualified to vote. I was called into the room before three men. I remember being nervous. They asked me questions about residency and being an American before I was given their stamp of approval.
- More Sandy Sanders Headlines
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Think before you answer
