A glimpse: Christy's Cafe

A few years ago I started a series of posts here entitled "glimpse", the reason for these posts were to give you guys a glimpse into the things that I see in everyday life. A glimpse of places that I like to go and things I like to do.

Recently, I felt a need to revisit the topic...

A few months ago I logged onto facebook and saw a post on my home page feed. The post said something about the daily special being beef tips and rice with gravy, collard greens, and black eyed peas... of course I took notice. I clicked on the link and was taken to a page for Christy's Cafe in Newnan. I can't remember when or how I became a fan of the page, but there it was... Real food.

Each day had a different special listed, as I read down the list I thought to myself, "why haven't I heard of this place?" I began to investigate, it sits at 30 Perry Street, I knew exactly where it was... The place had been a used bookstore at one point and another restaurant that my wife and I had visited. A few days later my mother wanted me to give her a ride to town for a few things that she needed, while in town she mentioned getting something to eat, so I mentioned Christy's..

We walked in to a chorus of, "Hey Y'all!" We were told to just sit anywhere and grabbed a table. They brought us menus and took the drink order right away and returned a few moments later with a glass of sweet tea that was comparable to the tea my mother makes.. and that's saying something... The daily special was a burger and fries with a drink included, so I ordered that, instead of fries I opted for tater tots... The burger was amazing, cooked just right, the tater tots were also cooked to perfection... My first reaction was to the freshness of the food, the flavors were perfect. The "fixins" for the burger, lettuce, tomato, etc.. were so fresh I ate them by themselves... I left the place sated and excited for having found somewhere that served good food..

I told my wife about it and suggested that we visit for breakfast that Saturday. They are only open seven to two during the week, so going with her would have to wait for the weekend. I had looked over the menu and was excited about trying the breakfast. Saturday rolled around and and we headed out with James in tow... Once there I ordered the "chicken skillet" when they brought the food I sat and stared at the plate before me for a couple of minutes... It was a huge pile of grilled chicken, hash browns, onions, peppers, and mushrooms topped with two scrambled eggs and a huge biscuit on the side... holy shit...

I sat and ate slowly.. the meal was perfect... Let me tell you about the biscuit... Do you remember the way the biscuits that your mother and grandmother made tasted? That buttermilk flavor? That's the way this biscuit tasted... except, they cut it in half, buttered it then grilled it.. the taste is amazing. I hadn't experienced that flavor since I was a kid... Yes.. I was damn near in tears...

I posted a picture of the chicken skillet on facebook, yes, I'm one of those annoying food posters... I was immediately inundated with texts and emails asking where this place was at. That has now become a sport for me. I post pictures or status updates that I'm there and I am always asked repeatedly where it is, what they have, etc...

They told us that they had just celebrated one year in business and were about to start having catfish and barbecue on Friday nights from five until nine. We looked forward to that all week and when Friday evening rolled around, there we were. James loves catfish, I love barbecue.. so he and my wife ordered the two fillet plates of fish with fries, and I ordered the full rack of ribs... an hour and a half later, after calling a few people to meet us there we finally left, barely able to move... We had to walk around the Court Square in Newnan a few times just to get the feeling back in our legs...

Since that fateful week I have worked my way around their menu, a few times... I have never had anything that I didn't like. The slaw is astounding, the tuna salad is unbelievable, the burgers are unbeatable, the fish is incredible, the hush-puppies are perfect, the brisket is always exactly right, and Christy makes all the desserts herself.. the banana split pie will make you cry its so good......

If you are tired of chain restaurants with poor service, televisions all over the place, stale menus, and tired gimmicks, go over to Christy's Cafe on Perry St. (its between the tag office and the post office) and give them a try. Christy, Rick, and Trina will treat you to something you haven't had in a long time... a pleasant experience at a place where you are welcome, where quality is upheld, and you actually feel like you just went over to your moms house to eat lunch on a lazy Sunday afternoon... I suggest going on Friday night first to get the experience of the "Friday night catfish and barbecue special" I'm sure I'll see you there.. Hats off guys on a job well done, keep it going! and for the love of god... put deep fried corn on the cob on the menu!

A glimpse - Sammy's Pizza

Right down the street from the office there is a pizza place called Sammy's. I had passed by the establishment so often it had become a blur, blending in with everything around it as I went by. I had eaten lunch at literally every place in this town within an easy drive from the shop and was burnt out on it all. One day several months ago I found myself fairly hungry around one or two and started thinking of where to go.

I ran the check list down, mentally marking through each selection as I went, with a resounding "Naaahhhh". So I decided to just start driving toward the eateries, hoping something would jump out at me. Just a half mile or so later I noticed Sammy's... So I turned in without hesitation and went in.

I was met by Amanda, the owner. I picked up a menu as she began talking to me. I was pleasantly surprised by her demeanor as I read through what they had. I'm not a big fan of pizza, well not since having been treated to real deep dish pizza in Chicago by my wife.. she spoiled me when it comes to local pizza on that one... So I settled on a meatball sub and salad, When I got back to the shop to eat I was very impressed with the sandwich, the ingredients were amazingly fresh and the bread was very good, perfect in fact. The salad was so fresh it was a pleasure to eat.

I spent the next few weeks getting lunch from the place every couple of days, working my way through the menu. Then it happened... I had tried everything but the pizza. So I decided to give it a whirl. The selection was varied and interesting but one in particular kept popping out at me... The chicken choker... So I ordered a small one waited ten minutes and went to get it. The smell circulating through the car from the box was divine on the way back. Upon opening the box I cocked an eyebrow in the best Belushi imitation I could muster, then tore into what turned out to be the best pizza I have ever eaten. The sauce is made of artichoke hearts and spinach, it's loaded with grilled chicken, onions, bacon, and freshly diced tomatoes... I was hooked.

I went home raving to my wife about the pizza and we decided that we would get their take out for dinner the next Friday. I called them up and ordered what they call the family meal deal. You get three large pizzas, an order of cheese bread and a two liter drink for thirty bucks. Each pizza on the deal gets three toppings, so I ordered one with three extra toppings of cheese, one pepperoni and sausage and extra cheese, and Amanda let me add a chicken choker at no extra charge...

The first thing that struck me when I picked the order up was the size of the pizzas, dear god they're huge! They don't suffer from the usual situation of not looking like the picture you may see on a commercial, these beasts were piled high with toppings. Hot, fresh and perfectly done, cooked just right. We spent nearly the entire weekend eating these things. Friday night is movie night, when we take turns letting each person pick a movie that we all watch. We had such a blast that night, trying each pizza and then the cheese bread.. The kids loved it and so did my wife... Now.. the Chicago stuffed pizza sits in a category all its own and simply can't be touched... It's like not getting truly great seafood unless you're on the coast... But for an amazingly fresh, superb pizza you just can't beat Sammy's, give them a call at 678-715-7355.... The odd thing is that when I was in there once picking up a Friday order and talking to Amanda I mentioned how it was strange that the pizzas stayed hot all the way back home. She asked where I lived and I told her, she then said, "I have an uncle that owns a garage out there somewhere"... Yep, Amanda turned out to be the niece of Greg that runs Hopson's... The place I featured in the first post of this series... it seems knowing how to treat customers and run a good business is a family trait...

A glimpse - Hopson's Service

This post begins a series that will appear here from time to time... With no sort of planning, just when I remember to take my camera along with me. The premise is fairly self explanatory, I felt like giving you a glimpse into the bits and pieces of my reality that comprise the world that I know and live in.

The first stop on our tour is Hopson's Service. This place has been in business ever since I can remember, being that I was only five or six when it opened up... We live at the end of a dead end road, and Hopson's sits towards the other end, a little less than a mile from us. When I was a child I would stop in there from time to time with my Dad or Grandfather and stand around in the background looking at all the cars, parts, oil, and junk laying around while they stood around and talked about whatever problem they were having with their cars. The owner was a man named Jimmy Hopson. My memories of him from that time are few, he always seemed to laugh loudly and had the dirtiest hands I've ever seen. He always drove a really cool car. I remember being told late one night his father was on his way out with either his wife or girlfriend and was topping a hill, just a couple of miles from here and was hit head on by a car full of teenagers. The teens had decided to pass a car on a double center line, while topping the same hill that his father and his passenger were on, heading in the opposite direction. Jimmy's father died, but I'm not sure about his passenger. I don't remember the fate of the teens either.

Jimmy ran the place for several years. I had taken my car there when I was a teen several times for oil changes and the like. Given my enjoyment for things out of the ordinary, and love of atmosphere for places that only seem to concentrate on getting things done without minding the "rules" too strictly, I just took to the place. It took me a while to get past the stage of laughing at things like a drink machine that was stocked with beer. Sometimes you don't want to appear to have a strange sense of being easily amused, especially when you're around southern guys that work on cars for a living. They tend not to look on laughing at things they do too kindly, even though it's all harmless. I just get a kick out of the unusual. Jimmy decided to go into semi-retirement a few years ago, so he began leasing the place to Greg.

Greg had been working there steady since 1996, and before that off and on whenever Jimmy needed help. Greg has a good reputation as a mechanic and a fair business man so the move to let him run the place seemed logical.

I went to high school with Greg, so I knew him somewhat from around there. I had an issue with the satanically motivated car I drive, so I decided to stop in and ask him about it. My older brother David used him quite a bit so I figured what the hell. We had just moved out here from town and he's right up the road. I spent an hour or so with Greg talking about the car and business in general. He told me he would take a look at it. On the way back in that evening after work I stopped by and he told me he was done, but wanted to drive it so he would call me in an hour or so. About forty five minutes later there was a knock on the door, Greg was there with the keys. He had driven the car and pronounced it repaired. He told me to just stop by later on in the week to pay the bill, "Drive it a few days to make sure it works alright for you". He had a guy that was working for him follow him down here so he could have a ride back to the shop. I drove it that night and then to work and back the next couple of days and it was indeed running good. So I stopped in to settle up, I wound up sitting around with the guys up there talking for a while, paid the bill and headed home.

One Monday evening I was headed in from work and saw Greg standing in front of the place staring at a group of cars that looked banged up, he had a pissed off look on his face. I stopped in and asked him what was going on. It seems that a couple of guys that lived down the road came in late the previous Friday night after "Drinking and smoking weed all night" and took the curve in front his shop too fast. They "Slid right across the gravel parking lot and took all five of these damn cars out." He pushed his hat back on is head and said, " I showed up here Saturday morning to meet this Mexican guy I'd done some work for so he could pay the five hundred dollar ticket he owed me and pick his car up, I opened up and then walked out here to get his car and saw this mess... that's his damn car right there, the first one they hit". Who knows how fast they were going but they managed to bounce around through all the cars he had sitting there.

Over the years we all have had our cars worked on at Hopson's, everything from transmissions to ac/heater repair to oil changes and flat tires, pretty much anything you would need to have worked on. Greg has even worked on our Kawasaki mule and the odd mower here and there, he even did the body work for me once, after I hit a deer. Bobo is a fixture at the shop as well as a few other dogs, but they were camera shy when I stopped by there today, not to worry though the most harm they will do to you is an excessive amount slobbering, and maybe a few paw prints....

Greg's a good mechanic and an honest straight shooter who will always cut you a fair deal. His shop is at 186 Doc Perry Rd., a little off the beaten path, but well worth it. So if you find yourself around Newnan Georgia and in need of auto work, give him a call - 770-251-4449 - there's no more beer in the drink machine... but he'll be glad to help you out any way he can.