Sunday, February 3, 2013.
Super Sunday Is Boring. Frostop.
The Marys left at midday for their Super Bowl activities, which would keep them out until after midnight. Nothing for me to do but spend the first half of the day fiddling with the always-hungry-for-attention website, and the latter half working on my new writing project. Which is picking up a tiny amount of speed, but not moving rapidly forward. I have decided not to worry about that. My usual writing method--letting my brain dump onto the screen, then coming back in a few days to rework it all--is not happening with this. But I feel good about it, for now.
I separated those two endeavors with my one and only hamburger for the month of February. I took it at the new Frostop, a location of which has opened across the street from Popeyes inn Covington, at the turnoff to go to Annadele Plantation. It's in an old Pizza Hut, but they've added enough nostalgia to bring back memories of the old nationwide burger-and-root beer drive-up.
Frostop came along in 1926 and grew continually until its peak in 1958. Then its numbers turned down, until only a scattering of Frostops were still in business. New Orleans has always had them. I'm not sure there's a central franchiser for the restaurants and its famous Lot-O-Burger, but the root beer is still being managed centrally somewhere.
I had the obvious meal: a Lot-O-Burger, an order of fries (crinkle-cut, like in the old days) and a root beer in a frozen mug. The mug created a quarter-inch layer of frozen root beer that after a short while floated to the surface. That trademark action was the first contact most of us had with the Icee concept.
The burger was--like most larger hamburgers have always been--too thin and served on too large a bun. It was, however, dressed with the classic secret Lot-O-Burger sauce: mayonnaise and mustard mixed together. Not bad, not great.
But I'm glad it's back. The only thing missing is a jukebox.
Frostop. Covington: 2807 N US Highway 190. 985-400-5200.
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