Track's End Restaurant
LOCATIONS: 3435 Amnicola HighwayPHONE: 321-8010HOURS: 24 hours a day, seven days a weekNICE TO KNOW: Follow Track's End on Facebook to stay up to date on its daily specials.
My morning interview at Track's End Restaurant included a brief history lesson on Casey Jones, the American railroad worker who famously saved many lives while losing his own when he tried to stop his passenger train from colliding with a stalled freight.
"The Casey Jones is a really popular menu item," Track's End manager Stacy Parsons said after bringing me up to speed on the man behind the meal's name. The meal features two eggs, two buttermilk pancakes and bacon, sausage or ham.
Track's End is rooted in the railway. The diner is attached to a private hotel for travelling railway restaurant's wall.
"The diner reminds me of lost days gone by," Stacy told me. "It's very Southern, very downhome." Stacy is rather representative of the South herself, with her soft Southern drawl and the way she insisted that I eat something.
"Do you want to try our pancakes? I can get slice of peanut butter pie?" The peanut butter pie is a Track's End favorite, Stacy said. As it turns out, there is nothing small about it. The slice I got was large and packed with the big flavor of a delicate blend of peanut butter and cream cheese, heaped with Cool Whip and drizzled with Hershey's chocolate syrup. The pie was light and fluffy but hearty with its buttery, graham cracker crust. I savored every bite.
Tuesday Special: Cheesy Chicken Quesadilla"Some people come in at 3 o'clock in the morning just to order dessert and coffee," Stacy told me. Track's End is open 24/7 in order to accommodate the rail workers and the third-shifters from the surrounding industrial businesses. The diner also serves breakfast around the clock which includes Track's End's famous buttermilk pancakes. "They're bigger than the plate," Stacy said.
Other popular menu items include Philly cheesesteaks, burgers, spaghetti and meatballs as well as the fresh seasonal side dishes created by Track's End's new head cook Julie Hudson. This fall Julie will introduce butternut squash casseroles, baked sweet potatoes and an array of made from- scratch soups.
"Yum. Do you have a specialty?" I asked.
"Stacy, do I have a specialty?" Julie asked, laughing.
"You do everything real well," Stacy said. "But you do make a really good slaw. And oog, what was that homemade soup you made last week? Mmm, the creamy tomato basil.
"We like to pull recipes from our mother's tables," she added. "Some guys work too hard to get a home-cooked meal at home." I used the side of my fork to scrape the last crumbs of pie from my plate. Stacy looked please. "Would you like more coffee?" she asked. The was the kind of down-home hospitality a girl could get used to.