Good Times Saloon

Good Times is no more - went belly up.  Great building in need of a good restaurateur.

I love me some history. Too bad The History Channel is more like The Hitler Channel, most days. (We'll get back to this)

After suffering a defeat at the lake earlier, then not being local enough for anyone to bat an eyelash in our direction at the first diner we pulled into, my friend and I jumped in the car to head directly across the highway to The Good Times Saloon. (I think it said "Restaurant" on the sign, though. Note, for if you're in the area and looking)

Upon entrance we were warmly greeted and asked if we would like to sit in the bar, diner or coffee shop portion of the restaurant and drink orders were placed. I ordered a bloody mary right off the bat that I came to find out is made with their own house made mix. It was a good bloody, too.

It's a small and pretty meaningless detail, but I really like when menus are pre-placed on the tables. It's like a silent acknowledgment that I'm obviously here to eat and by walking in, I'm entirely ready to do so. Breakfast is served all day, and there's a good list of deli-sandwiches and other lunch and dinner items that they prepare, as well.

When it comes to service, some of those boone-town places really have it down. You can tell that it's sincere. I think it's pretty awesome when you can feel like you're back in your grandmother's kitchen while at a restaurant - especially since both of mine have long since passed away.

Our food arrived promptly as well and while we were eating an older gent came out to ask how everything was. Since we didn't catch a damn fish up at the lake earlier, I opted for the Lake Billy Chinook omelette, featuring chinook salmon, and some other things. I can only remember the salmon part because it was damn good. I felt strangely victorious that "one of the buddies" of all the fish who refused to bite my lure would soon be digesting. My friend ordered a large chicken fried steak breakfast. For the prices - $9.75 and $8.75 - the portions are huge. I had a sizable pile of hash browns and two pieces of sourdough toast to go with my four egg omelette while he had two eggs, hashbrowns, two pieces of toast and a large chicken friend steak that is "made from scratch", as the menu stated.

Getting back to the history, The Good Times Saloon is located in a historic log lodge built in 1923. The lodge is rumored to have been originally built as a roadhouse, tavern and brothel for timbermen in the early 1900's. The back of the menu has a lengthy story about a boy named William who befriended a slave boy in the south before his father learned of the friendship and sold the slave, followed by said boy leaving home to help another guy with the last name of "Applegate" get settlers across the country on the Oregon Trail. The story gets deeper than that but ends up full circle when it turns out that a descendent of Mr. Applegate is now the supplier of coffee to the Good Times Saloon, founded by a descendent of William.

Lastly, The History Channel plays on an old TV in the front dining area. Topic of the show today? The Tanks of World War 2.

Full circle.