Oddfellows in More Ways Than One

We heard about a new burger place here from some friends.  They said "it is the best burger place in town!" 

A couple of weeks ago my friend Linda was in town for part of the day.  I have to tell you I met Linda in 1983 - that was 29 years ago!  AHHH!  How is that even possible??  We have been great friends ever since.  She took care of Liz when Tom was born.  Two of our kids have the same birthday (but different years), and the other two kids are the same age.  We both did daycare at the same time.  We would put our kids in the cars, buckle them all in (as was the law "back then"), and convoy to the store.  We would go shopping with kids hanging off the carts, finishing up our shopping trip by a trip to the snack bar to treat them all.  We and our kids (our own and the daycare kids) had a blast. 

Linda and I both love animals.  We go to stores, stand in the card aisle and read cards, and laugh hysterically, saying "Read this one!" and swapping cards.   

Pretty typical friend stuff.  Even though we live an hour apart now, it hasn't changed our friendship one bit.  We always pick up right where we left off when are able to get together.

So with Linda in town one Saturday we did the usual - visited, caught up, talked about our families...and got hungry :)  We were going to do some shopping but decided to have lunch first.  For decades we have struggled with deciding where we were going to eat.  In the past, when we lived in the same town, we would get together every week and go out to dinner and shop - just a girls' night.  And it always went like this - verbatim:

"Where do you want to eat?" 

"I don't care, where do YOU want to eat?" 

"I don't care.  You pick."

"No, YOU pick." 

"No, I'm driving, YOU pick."

Seriously - this was the scenario week after week, month after month and year after year.  This would go on for about 10 miles... until we found ourselves driving past restaurants with no clue where we were headed.   If I had $1 for every time this conversation has taken place .... well I would have $1 for every time this conversation has taken place!  No seriously,  I would have a lot of money...

LOTS. 

Then finally we came up with a solution:  the passenger had to decide where to eat because the driver was driving.  It may not make sense, but it works for us!

So with Linda in the driver's seat on our most recent outing I had to decide where to eat.  I was trying to think of a restaurant that she doesn't have in her area.  Then it hit me - the new burger place!  I told her it was in Somerset (a section of town north of campus). So off we went in search of this awesome burger place which I couldn't remember the name of.   

(This doesn't sound very promising does it?) 

We drove around Somerset several times (it isn't a big area)... and we really couldn't see a burger place that sounded like the right name.  Since I had forgotten the name of the place I was relying on something that would jog my memory

(yeah good luck with that). 

Finally, out of frustration we gave up and decided to go find something by the mall, so we could shop after having lunch.  So we headed to the Northern Lights shopping area.  I had remembered a cafe, what I call a "foo-foo" place that had been in that area.  To me "foo-foo" restaurants carry unusual food but I figured it would be unique. 

As we pull up to where the cafe should be... what was there?  Oddfellows Burgers!  I pointed and said in amazement, "That's the burger place!!!!"  As Chevy Chase says in Christmas Vacation, "I couldn't be more surprised if I woke up Christmas morning with the carpet stapled to my head." 



(or something like that)

As you can imagine we got the giggles over this.  Seriously... how funny was that?  We couldn't find the burger place for the life of us, then accidentally stumble on it!

Remember in my memory blog when I said God takes care of peri- and postmenopausal women?  Well He had two to deal with here so He knew we needed all the help He could give us.  He does amazing work :) 

Oddfellows is a very different burger place.   One burger has a glazed doughnut for a bun.  A double cheeseburger has a grilled cheese sandwich in the middle of it.  Oh, and most of the sandwiches come with tator tots. 

(Obviously this customer did NOT want the tator tots!)

 Linda ended up getting spicy macaroni and cheese cakes (an appetizer) and I got a grinder type sandwich (sans bun). 

I'll be honest. 

The food was just okay in my opinion.  My "grinder" was actually a huge whole Italian sausage patty (I prefer it chopped to smithereens as it is easier for me to eat).   While I would love to eat a burger surrounded by a glazed doughnut, or one surrounding a grilled cheese sandwich,  it just isn't gonna happen.  Maybe I would have been a little more enthusiastic about the unique menu if those had been possibilities.  And my all-time favorite, chicken strips or boneless wings, wasn't on the menu.

BUT...

 the route we took to find the place was memorable

the company awesome

and the chance to add another fun story to almost 30 years of friendship

...priceless.