The Bright Star Thanksgiving
11/28/2008: 8:30am CST
Dear friends and family,
How do I describe a great eating experience that is just one click this side of wonderful. I will try. The Bright Star is a Greek restaurant in Bessemer, Alabama, in business for about 110 years.
Thanksgiving and Mother's Day dinners are there biggest days in the year. They serve from 10:30am to 5:00pm on these two days serving the greatest food in the world. Karen and I have enjoyed their offerings for years and yesterday was just another example of 'excellence'.
Karen and I were up at 8:00am Thanksgiving morning, and after a leisure time of reading all the 'black friday' ads in the 6lb. Birmingham News, we dressed for our trip to the Bright Star. It is about 20 miles from Vestavia and when we got there at 1:30pm, there were people standing in the hallways and even out on the street in front of the Bright Star.
Number 82 was the number I got and she and I found a seat next to the window just outside the bar area. I ask Karen if she wanted a Tangeray and tonic, and 2 were $15.00 even. The bartender took the measure cup off the bottle and we got a little more gin making this a pretty durable drink! We sat, talked to friends, made new friends, and amazed how fast this restaurant moved people smoothly through the system.
Jimmy and Nicki Koikos are the owners and Jim soon saw me and came over and greeted Karen and myself. Our number soon came up and we were seated and menus specially printed for this special day.
Now what did we have. I had the $15.95 Thanksgiving special with appetizer, choice of turkey and dressing or ham with raisen sause. We soon got our drinks, order placed and Karen got her salad with the Bright Star's special dressing and I had a wonderful cup of gumbo, a real treat. I ordered the turkey with cornbread dressing, turnip greens, and squash and cornbread and a pie of lemon icebox pie.
Karen ordered the Greek Style Salmon, with greek style potatoes and squash and a roll and she too had the lemon icebox pie. Her only complaint she had was they had run out of chocolate pie and she had to settle for lemon icebox. Humm!
Did we finish all of it! Not a chance! The serving are abundant and we both had to ask for a to-go box. We now have lunch or dinner for Friday and looking forward to this treat a second time.
We remembered from years back of ordering our dessert 'first'. They had soon ran out of pecan and chocolate pie and ran out of lemon icebox while we were there. The taste are unique, enjoyable in every way. We each smiled after eating and I took her on a short tour of Bessemer showing her where we lived in Bessemer years ago. I also showed her my grandparents home on Clarendon, Uncle Jack and Barbara's home and aunt Leona and Roy's home also on Fairfax. I then showed her Jack and Barbara's first home up on top of Muscoda hill on Holbrook Avenue. I showed her the Methodist Church I grew up in and the Southside Baptist church were I was a scout member.
We really enjoyed our food, friends and my showing her places I grew up 50 years ago. It was a precious and relaxed day we have put in our memory of Thanksgiving at the Bright Star. I do hope you enjoyed my ramblings this morning and hope your Thanksgiving was a blessed day. Our's was!
Jeff the Knutt in the Ham (BirmingHAM),Alabama, US of A!
I do remember you having dessert first. When I was growing up they said that that's what the Chinese do, but I don't think there's any evidence to support it. You forgot the coffee this year — I'm guessing you did not have pie without it — but that's OK, I can still smell the aroma from the last time.
I hope the next Koikos generation is lined up and ready to carry on the Bright Star tradition. Maybe if they expand to the west coast we could find out what turnip greens and squash taste like. Even cornbread is hard to find out here.
I'll take advantage of this comment to wish Karen a happy almost Thanksgiving birthday. I hope you'll take her out for something that isn't leftovers tomorrow.
My very best holiday breetings to the both of you.
Breetings? Maybe that should be greetings. You know, I didn't mention it, but we get Tanqueray in those two-handed bottles just fine out here.
