The Seventh Grade, E. Merle Smith Junior High School, 1961. There were several new things I experience when I entered Junior High School. One such things was wonderful and stayed with me not only, throughout my few years in Junior High, and High School but beyond. That was the experience of eating at Lands Drive Inn Restaurant.
Entering the seventh grade was cool. We had separate Teachers for each subject. A relative new School with Classrooms located along side what we called Ramps, each connected to a central ramp with student lockers at the end. I would later find that these ramps were a great place to skateboard. Being my Second Year Living in Sinton, they were just new to me, and extended the kind of a freedom felt, especially from one teacher, one class room of Elementary School.
There was a Cafeteria, which served good food for a good price. I think it was around 50 cents a meal. The meals were pretty tasty and one usually had a couple of choices of meat and more than a couple of choices for veggies, and of course the usual bread, ice tea, milk, etc. Now Mom would make sure we had money for the lunchroom, as we would call it. BUT since I did a bit of lawn mowing I had my own money to use, too. And that is exactly what I did.
At E. Merle Junior High there was an unwritten rule that we could not cross the highway, to eat at Lands Drive-In. I would say that there was several renegades which did so. I being one of them. The rewards were simple, just good food. The fact that my cooler upper classmates were doing the same would imply the same.
Lands Drive Inn was a restaurant built on a corner lot. Its main building was set back far enough so that there was room for customers, mostly teenagers, to park their cars. This parking formed a Large ‘L’. One leg of the ‘L’ was in front of the building facing the highway, and the other along the buildings left side from the corner to just past the building’s left side (as you are looking at it). The parking was covered, and each space had a two way speaker system setup to take orders. There were a handful of carhops (waitresses) to bring the orders out to the cars. Customers would be able set in the comfort of their cars. The carhops, would bring a tray which would attach to the window with a bracing mechanism, on which the orders were placed, take the payment and make change from their change machine around their waist and then go back to get the next order. It all worked like clock work.
For a couple or three bucks I could get a delicious Cheeseburger, Fries and a Soda. I would make my way through the front door, it was always like a funnel full of people coming an going through that door, with carhops having an understood and unwritten priority, and then waiting my turn make my way to the counter to order. I never saw anyone being rude at this most important juncture. My order, a Cheese Burger, hold the pickles (sometimes not), Fries, and Coke. Those days there was no medium size, small size, supersize anything. Those things were not even heard of. You got a good meal without the worry of having to put up with all that we put up with today. Makes sense, it is the KISS principle, and sped things up on both sides of the purchase.
Now the Meal.
Besides what lie between the buns, they, the buns were great. They were large, and heated just enough on both sides of the tops and bottoms to add to the whole experience of eating the burger. The top of the top half of the bun was buttered ever so slightly, how they got it exactly right each time, I do not know. The insides were just as perfect, as the insides of any burger could get. The lettuce, onions, and the large tomato slice, that fit just inside the diameter of the burger, were always fresh, and just something else. The Cheese Melted over the top of the Hamburger patty must have been Kraft American, was always melted just right. Yes and at the heart of the Burger was at least a Quarter Pound of Black Angus always cooked medium-well, leaning to the well done side of things, with right amount of spices. The French Fries were thick, and made from freshly cut potatoes. I do not know how they did it, they must have had a press like cutter, as they were similar to the present day Ripple Fries you can buy from the frozen food department in todays grocery stores. They too, cooked perfectly, never burnt, a light yellowish with a tinge of brown along the edges with insides never raw, but soft. Heck I could have ate them as a meal alone. I would always lift the burger up, push the fries a little ways toward the other end of the cardboard basket, then squish a large amount of Catsup to dip them in. I would take extra salt and pepper packs and sprinkle all over the fries, and lift the top of the burger and put the last pack of salt and last pack of pepper on top of the lettuce, onion, and tomato slice. With a coke on the side .
Bitting into the Cheese Burger screamed, “HELLO !!!” to my taste buds, which in turn busily and repeatedly sent signals to my brain, reminding me to savor the pleasures of each of the up coming bites of this cheese burger and fries.
My Uncle Jerry always said a Cheese Burger was the Perfect Meal. We had Bread for the grain, lettuce, onion and tomato for veggies, cheese for our milk product, all coming together to make the perfect meal. Uncle Jerry did not include them in the perfect meal, but the French Fries could be added to the vegetables, if you like.
That was a meal.
By the time I ordered, got my food, found a place at the picnic styled tables located inside and to the right of the front door, shuffled the fries to one side, placing the Cheese Burger on top of them, salted and peppered them all, Catsup-ped the end of the basket, and then enjoyed my meal it was time to head back across the highway. We would usually run down the slight bank of the road, as we had run up to get to our meal, through the parking lot’s exit driveway and onto the end of the first ramp of the Junior High. The bells ringing a warning to get to the beginning classes of the afternoon.
Admittedly I did not do this each and every day, but i certainly did when I had the money to do so.
I continued to frequently visit and enjoy Land’s Drive Inn, through out my time in Sinton, Texas. Throughout my Junior High and High School Days and beyond. After finishing my Tour of Duty with the Air Force and my returning in 1971, I recall another scrumptious delight I had the pleasure to enjoy.
A short time after returning to Sinton, time my Parents moved to Harlingen, down around Brownsville at the tip of South Texas. I had began taking classes at Del Mar Community college but had became disillusioned by it all, and went exploring life and for that matter jobs too. I first worked for Maverick Market and then Sinton Lease Oil Field Service Company. Those were some wild times, which I will discuss later.
After the Lease Company times played out times were a bit rough, and when times are rough you find out who your true friends are. One of those was “Bubba” Z. , who introduced and challenged me, to eat his Bubba Barbecued Sandwich. This was a creation of Bubba and Ernest, the cook at Land’s Drive Inn.
This was another typical Land’s Triumph. Between the top and bottom of the bun was overloaded with chopped barbecued beef, topped with the challenging ingredient. Jalapeno peppers. Now there were not just a few to add to this Bubba Barbecued Sandwich, they had their own layer, covering the whole circle of the bun, which formed the parameter of this meal. Sometimes I had a slice of onion diced up and thrown on top. Either way it was the most delicious fire I have ever eaten. Of course I had my usual fat fries, in a basket with just Salt and Pepper on them. No catsup, as it would have taken away from the taste of the barbecued beef.
I met the challenge and ate the Whole Wonderful Bubba Barbecued Sandwich. I also had a few Dr. Peppers to go along with the meal to calm the heat when it got a bit intense.
Land’s Drive Inn Restaurant was a Wonderful place to hangout and get Good Food. Ernest was the Best Cook ever, who was always complemented by the Cute CarHops, who made their deliveries cheerfully.
The last thing I will mention is that it was located towards the end of town and was the turn around place for our night of cruising down the streets of Sinton, Texas. We would drive back and forth from Lands, up San Patricio Avenue (Highway 77) turning right at the light, onto West Sinton Street (Highway 181) following it through a few stop lights turning around and heading back once we had reached the other end of town at the Piggly Wiggly Food Store (now where the Dollar General Store is located). Now that is not to say we would take detours from this route but that was still the flow of things.
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( Note 1: if anyone reading this has a Photo of Land’s Drive Inn Restaurant, in 1960’s Sinton, Texas I would be thankful to have a copy to add to this blog post, and I would certainly give credit accordingly.)
(Note 2: checked the Google Map for Sinton, Texas, and Land’s Building is no longer there see above picture.)
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The Poppadillo Blog, is the blog page for the Texas Tortilla Factory website, and its stories have been written by Mike Vauthier, and Administratively Approved Authors.
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