It has been suggested by an anonymous reader that perhaps I should be getting back into the business of restaurant reviews. This reader isn't anonymous to me, but as he is kind, has had my family and myself to dinner at his home, supplies my coworkers and me with champagne and cake and sometimes eggplant, AND is one of my most devoted readers, I will comply with his request. Those of my 7 loyal readers who don't live in the East Bay, move along. Nothing to see.
The other night we decided to go out for dinner, and our objective was simple. Pie. Pie for desert. So we went to the Hickory Pit (used to be Emil Villa's Hickory Pit...not sure why that changed...), not only because they have pie, but they also have decent BBQ, and it's an old time restaurant, meaning it's been there since the mid 60's, at least. My loyal reader is a vegetarian, so I'm not gonna waste a bunch of time writing about boring things like 'food', because the hickory pit is a good place to go for dead animal type food, not so much for the yummy veggie type food. I'm sure they have grilled cheese or something on the kids menu, but there's not a lot of vegetarian options there. No, what is more interesting is the atmosphere. The waitresses here have mostly been around awhile. Our waitress had been there for 10 years, and it turned out she moved to Walnut Creek the year after Ted did, which was 1966. So she's been here since '67, and remembers the big peace sign that was on the side of the Hibernia Bank building to protest the Viet Nam war, she remembers the ranch (Am I remembering that correctly? I don't know...) that used to be over next to Las Lomas High School. We sat way in the back of the restaurant, under an aerial view of Walnut Creek, and she and Ted were talking about old times, and she jumped up on the seat of the booth next to Ted, to point out where Bullock's used to be, and the Co-Op, that kind of thing. She was a no-nonsense German or Austrian woman, but very friendly and chatty at the same time.
AND...they serve breakfast. I'm thinking if you want an old time breakfast in Walnut Creek, served by people older than your mom, this could be the only place to get it. It's not a small greasy spoon, like the Alamo Cafe, but I'm guessing they have a few spoons in the back with some grease on them. And, they have good pie. ;)
1 comment:
I am so glad you wrote this!
Just last night I was wondering if this restaurant was still there as I was craving BBQ. I used to go there ages ago, and the last time was around 12 years ago. The Emil Villa's in Concord was closed by the Health Dept, and sat empty for years and then it was finally torn down and a new restaurant built in its place. I believe the Walnut Creek one changed its name about 9 years ago, or maybe it changed it due to the Concord store closure.
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