Thursday, June 18, 2009

Dining in the Land of Belle

Henry’s Restaurant, my favorite place to eat in the Land of Belle, recently celebrated its 50th anniversary. When you eat at Henry’s, you can rest assured that most of the people eating there with you are true blue locals. To say that I LOVE HENRY’S is almost an understatement. It makes me very very happy!!

Miss Bertie is the owner. She and Lynn do the cooking. Vonda is Bertie’s right hand and is usually the waitress. If you go to Henry’s on a regular basis, you become family. They know all of our children…children who are as (if not more) dedicated to them than we adults are. If the kids go in and see a table that needs to be cleared, they clear it. If Vonda is busy, they go fix their own drinks and get an order pad and write down their own orders. I myself have taken orders AND served dessert once or twice. I’d do it more often if they told me to!

Miss Bertie and Lynn accommodate my quirkiness beautifully…when I wanted a bigger cheeseburger than the regular cheeseburger but didn’t like the shape of the bun on the “hungryman” (it was oblong and that just ain't right) they came up with a special creation on a round bun just for me….a belleburger, if you will. Then when I switched to the smothered chicken because I wasn’t going to eat bread OR french-fries anymore, they fixed smothered chicken even if it WASN’T on the menu…just for me and my work/lunch friend Ed.


Let's discuss the Boston Cream Pie…let me tell you…the Boston Cream Pie is a masterpiece. Miss Bertie makes every dessert from scratch with an extra dash of love mixed in for good measure. I can usually be strong and walk away…EXCEPT on Boston Cream Pie day. The photo doesn't do Bertie's justice....hers is covered all the way around with a thick chocolate frosting!!

For you to FULLY understand the special relationship we have with Henry's, I can't end my post without telling you about what we all fondly refer to as The Birthday Boston Cream Pie Debacle of 2008. Last year on my birthday, naturally, I chose Henry’s for lunch. A belleburger, fries, Pepsi, and Boston Cream Pie. There was a whole pie in the dessert case when we got there and I immediately asked Wanda to save me a piece. She looked at me all pitiful-like and informed me that the people in the front booth had just bought the whole thing.

Everybody in our party of six looked appropriately horrified. First of all, we did not know these strange people who sat there looking all high and mighty waiting on MY pie. When I recovered my voice, I looked over at them and sort of whined, But it’s my birthday…Boston Cream Pie is my favorite. IT’S MY BIRTHDAY!!! I just stopped short of wailing!

By that time everybody in the restaurant was focused on our little brouhaha. The man in the booth glanced my way and said offhandedly, “Hap.py.birth.day.” I was stunned at such ungentlemanly conduct. STUNNED, I tell you. One table over, the preacher leaned toward the deacon and said, “Ohhhhh NO!…now he’s gone and made her MAD!” There was not a sound in the place and all eyes were on me.

Thankfully, before I could respond (OR CRY), Vonda placed a generous slice of pie in front of me. They was playing a practical joke on me and probably figured I'd had about all I could take. I took a big bite and smiled REAL big…nobody can get aggravated when there’s pie for goodness sake.

I hope you have the equivalent of a Henry’s in your town. If not, come on over and visit us here in the Land of Belle. Just make sure it's a pie day!

13 comments:

  1. I live in a sterile world. I can go to the same restaurant 20 times and they would never know my face...

    Love stories of Life in Belleland.

    Please send a slice of Boston Cream Pie to my house!


    That was a CRUEL joke to play on the Birthday Belle!

    :)

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  2. Henry's sounds delightful! I need directions :-)

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  3. LOL... Belle! That pie looks heavenly! It must be for you to whine about it! (LOL) Henry's sounds like a great place to eat too!

    When you get chance... catch up on the first season of True Blood! If you like Twilight you will LOVE True Blood!

    xoxoxoxox
    Donna Marie

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  4. What a cute story and a great sounding place to eat. I love the sound of belleburger! Boston Cream pie is a favorite of mine!

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  5. That place sounds heavenly. And it made me hungry.

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  6. We have a Henry's that takes the form of an Italian restaurant. The owners know us by name, and they're willing to cook just about anything regardless if it's on the menu or not. We probably eat there 3-4 times a month.

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  7. I'll be right there ~ it looks amazing! I'd throw a fit for sure if I didn't get a slice.

    Jo

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  8. Oh we do, it's called BB's home cooking and it's fabulous. Now my favorite dessert there is the coconut cream pie, it is simply heaven on a plate! And if that had happened to me on my birthday, I probably would have had a full on hissy fit. Sounds like a great place! Kathy

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  9. Alright, you need to post some directions to this place now so the rest of us can get a fix of the Boston Cream Pie!!

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  10. We have a place like that too! It's called Your Place and not only do they know our names, but they have our drinks waiting for us at OUR table when they see us coming, sometimes we don't even order and say just surprise us (which is ALWAYS a good surprise), AND we've become so close to the owners and waitresses that we get invited to birthday parties and other events. It's a small town :)

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  11. Boston Cream is also my father's choice for birthdays. I bet my sister could entice him to visit her, if she promised to take him Henry's. I know, I know, there is more than a tad of dysfunction when people need to resort to food bribes, to see their parent.

    It is nice to see you back. Best of luck to Ned when he meets his new friends. I am sure it will all be fine. From what you have written, Ned seems to end up surprising everyone with his adaptibilty.

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  12. My wife would have gone midevil on his butt. Even after they fessed up that it was a joke. We don't have any resturants on our island. The closest place that we frequent is a mexican resturant and the waiter already knows what everyone is going to have except me. I like to switch it up a bit.

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  13. Now we are both moving in with you. Boston Cream Pie...? A top 5 dessert here at the Prepatorium, but never as luscious as it should be!

    Have a wonderful weekend Miss Belle,
    tp

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