How long has it been since you had an old-fashioned hand-made milkshake? Any chance it was in conjunction with a great meal at one of your favorite meat and threes? In case it has been a while, know that you can still enjoy both at the same place, although I am not sure how many of them are out there these days. There is one in Franklin, Tennessee - a place called
Grassland Soda Shop [
http://www.meatandthree.com/tn/grassland grill/] - and I visited it yesterday with my daughter, Kelley. We just happened to be in the area just after the main lunch rush, so we had no wait and were seated immediately. Our waitress was wearing an
Elliston Soda Shop shirt, which I thought was kind of interesting. She said the cook worked there for several years, and they still have a great relationship with them. Sounds like the way to do it, to me.
The menu includes the daily meat-and-three offerings as well as some sandwiches, burgers, desserts, etc. The term, “Southern Cooking”, is posted in large letters on the front windows, so there is a certain expectation a southern-born guy and his daughter have when visiting a place that makes that claim. Kelley took them up on the idea and ordered fried chicken, mashed potatoes with gravy, macaroni and cheese, a roll and water. The meatloaf with tomato sauce sounded good to me, and I added some green beans and mashed potatoes with gravy as my sides. Cornbread and sweet tea rounded out my meal.
We could not leave without taking advantage of one of those hand-made milkshakes, even though we both declared that we did not really need it at the time. The strawberry-banana shake, which Kelley and I shared, delivered and put us over the edge - we would have to say that the meal and shake met our “southern comfort food” expectations.
Grassland Soda Shop, previously called Grassland Grill, is located on Hillsboro Road, between the Grassland Shopping Center and a Citgo gas station. It’s also directly next to a dry cleaning business. Walk in the door and you immediately notice the soda fountain area, with 12 or so silver and black stools on the right going along the wall, with one booth and a table near the front. The photos on the wall above the booth and table give a little sense of the history in the area. Speaking of photos, you can see a front view of this meat and three, from my Middle Tennessee Photo Tour back in late January, by
clicking here.
The left front side includes the register area, with an Icee machine, and is backed up along the left wall by several wooden-backed booths and a TV high on the back wall. About six 2-seater tables and a couple of 4-seater tables finish off the dining space in the center of the room. The upper section of the walls are painted white while the lower section is painted red. There’s also a juke box up front and a large blackboard on the wall to display the day’s dessert offerings (yesterday, it was banana pudding, pecan pie and apple pie). Note that there is no smoking at the
Grassland Soda Shop.
If you have been to the
Grassland Soda Shop, and have an experience or some history that you want to share, email me at
phil@meatandthree.com and let me know about it, or enter a comment below. I’d also like to hear about any other meat and threes that include a soda fountain, so feel free to give me a heads up. I look forward to hearing from you soon.
Phil (mn3guy)
