My Culinary Odyssey: Coal Run, Part 1

    Although there are those who don't agree with this statement, Coal Run and Pikeville are different towns.  Some would wish otherwise.  For this series, I am separating the two.  I will admit that I would eat out at Coal Run a little less than half the time when we used to go shopping in the area.  Even after I opened my store, we would still occasionally get take out on the way back into town.  We have not been using that option too frequently lately, but it is still technically possible.  Click the link here to see the legend for how I am doing this series.  Now, on with the restaurants. 

• Long John Silvers, DI/TO:  I never did like this LJS as much as the main Pikeville location.  Not really.  I seemed to hate how the doors were reversed from the other ones I went to (main entrance on the left instead of the right like many of the others I went to, and exit on the right).  Maybe it was how crowded it was the first few times we went there.  I can't remember exactly why we tried it here instead of the main one, but we did.  However, when the main restaurant was being remodeled and upgraded to have an A & W as well, this was the only option. My mom preferred going here due to the fact that you didn't have to make a left hand turn into traffic.  I hated it because of the high slope to the exit ramp was hard to stop and start on. It was here that I noticed how the grilled seafood menu expanded (but not chicken?) and the ill-advised experiment with onion rings.  They do not go with either seafood or chicken.  The lobby was always fairly empty the last few times I went, although there was still some waiting going on.  The last time I went was a big downer though.  There had been a delivery truck wreck on Abner, fifteen minutes from home.  It would be a long wait.  We decided to detour, go back to the store to pick up some coupons, and get dinner at the Coal Run LJS.  The place was dark when we got there, with a large sign in the window stating that they were closed.  I later found out that the manager left for another job, and the staff ultimately went too.  (For the ending of this story, check out the post on Martin for the details.) The place was never reopened.  A biscuit place went in for a while, but it closed.  It is currently a local pizza parlor.
• McDonald's, TO:  This is probably the oldest McD's in the Pikeville area.  I never even tried to go here until the 2010s.  Somehow, we had gotten coupons and decided to go here to try out a special limited edition burger.  (Why not one of the two closer ones to the store? No idea.) Anyway, it was very empty when we got there around noon.  We used the coupon, and then went onto the store with the food.  I think we stopped there one more time, at least, after the fun zone got removed.  It made a larger parking area, but a longer walk to the door.  While it was affected by the recent flooding, it reopened a week or so later.
• Arby's, DI/TO:  After many attempts, I finally learned to like Arby's. (You'll see some of the earlier tries in later posts.)  It was mostly the grilled chicken sandwiches that got me.  Yeah, I ate chicken at a beef place.  I was really into grilled chicken sandwiches in the 90s and 2000s.  Once, in the early years of my store, I actually picked up two sandwiches in a misguided attempt at "bulking up." I could barely eat them both.  My metabolism isn't cut out for such things.  Anyway, it closed one day soon after.  I'm not sure if it was due to the general rundown of the company, or if someone wanted the land.  The hospital would buy the lot, ultimately tearing down the building and putting up a temporary one in its place.  Currently, the spot is an empty lot for sale.
• Wendy's, TO:  Again, we stopped somewhere only because we had a coupon, and this location a  bigger parking lot to maneuver in.  I think I got a chicken sandwich, again. We only went this one time, as it was still not easy to drive out of even with the traffic light. 
• Pizza Hut, DI:  This was the first Hut I ever ate in.  It was my sophomore year in high school.  The band had played at a game at Betsy Layne, and it was decided that we would drive miles out of the way to eat out afterwards.  We went here and took up almost the entire restaurant.  Well, some of the senior guys went on down to McDonald's and ate on the bus. (In hindsight, this might not have been a good idea.  My mom was a chaperone at the time.  Allowing three seventeen year old boys to walk along a highway at night for about a mile round trip was more dangerous than I think should have been allowed.)  While I didn't eat too much of it, this did mark the point where my picky eating began to waiver.  After that, Pizza Hut would start showing up in my rotation of places to eat.  Just not for long, not after the Pikeville location opened.  It was just so much brighter.  This location would close in the 2010s or so, to be replaces by a Pizza Hut Express at Weddington Plaza.  Giovanni's would take over the spot for a while, before combing it with the Pikeville location and moving it downtown.  The spot is currently a Mexican restaurant.
• Sir Barton's Pizza, maybe?, DI:  This spot was based out of Lexington, but I can't remember its name. It was in Crossroads Plaza, next to Readmore Bookstore.  It was the early 90s, as I remember hearing a UK game vs Shaq's LSU there.  The place may have had ties to another Lexington pizza place.  This was the first time I ever encountered calzones.  It was an unusual encounter. (I would soon make my own at home, using refrigerated crust as it was thick enough to support the weight.  I would switch it out with regular pizza.  I just rounded out the crust before the pre-bake, added the toppings to one side, flipped the other crust over, and cut slits in the top to allow for steam to escape. Haven't made one in some time.  Not sure why.) While the first time was good, the second left a lot to be desired.  We never went back.  The place closed in a few years.  The spot is now a jewelry store/repair shop.
• Windmill Restaurant, DI:  We went here a few time in the 70s, maybe really early 80s.  We were entertaining relatives who really wanted to eat here. I didn't.  Picky eater and all.  The second time we went here, my mom took me out to the car and we just stayed there while everyone else ate.  I could have tried to eat, if we just stayed.  The place closed, sometime in the 90s or later or so, I think.  There were plans for it to reopen, but it is so out of the way from where we normally go, that I don't know its current state.  Hence, the red color.

     That is all for this post.  Tune in Saturday for a bonus post to finish off Coal Run.