You never know what you will find when visiting a new Meat and
Three. Even when going with someone who has been there before,
you're just not sure how this one's going to compare to your old
standbys. Well, my friend, Randy, asked me to hit the links yesterday,
and suggested that we stop by a place on the way to the course. Randy
is an experienced Meat and Three connoisseur and an excellent golfer, so
I had no concerns.
Joe's Produce and Deli [
http://www.meatandthree.com/tn/joesproduce/index.html]
is just off Interstate 24 West in Joelton, TN, next door to a gun shop
and indoor shooting range. Walking in the door reminded me of some of
the Country Stores I used to visit when I was a kid, riding shotgun
with Dad while he was working his route on the back roads of Alabama and
Mississippi. Joe's is not exactly like one in every way, but it's
close enough for us to call it an "old-school" Meat and Three.
What you found in the old country stores, as I recall, was a wide
assortment of all kinds of things. Fresh-grown produce, a meat counter,
shelves with various products for sale, maybe an old saddle, tools, and even a
small motor-driven cycle. Usually, there was a table or two in one of
those old general stores with a couple of older men sitting
around telling stories, smoking, laughing, drinking a soda.
This is about what you find at Joe's Produce & Deli. Throw in a big
helping of family and friend's photos on the walls, a lot of stuff for
sale, a couple of friendly ladies working behind the register and food
counter, along with a steady traffic of lunch customers, and you've got
pretty close to what an old country store was like "back in the day".
Granted, most of the ones I remember were out in the boonies on country
roads, and this one was missing the barrels of crackers and hoop cheese
(or, at least I did not see one), and was in a mini strip mall. But, I
just had that old feeling when I was there...you know the one. The one
that "takes you back".
Randy had a soft drink, fried bologna with mashed potatoes and I ordered
the roast beef with carrots, lima beans and sweet tea. We both had
cornbread with our Meat and Two sides. With a round of golf in our
immediate future, the dessert was a little too much to consider.
It was
just a short drive from Joe's Produce through the rolling hills and the
beautiful fall countryside as we made our way to the
Through the Greencourse.
Enough time to get psyched up for a course I had never played, hoping
that the game would be as satisfying as the meal. It was a
fun round, indeed, and that old familiar feeling came back while on the
course ...well, at least one or two times. Let's just say that I
won't be receiving any calls from the folks at Nike or Footjoy any time
soon. Now, for
Randy that might be another story.
Speaking of stories - if you have any historical tales or great stories involving a Meat
and Three, especially one of those "old school" Meat and Three's out
there, we'd love to hear about it. You can email me directly at
phil@meatandthree.com or just enter a comment about this article and we'll do the rest.
