This weekend I went to a new kind of fast food establishment: homecooked style. Abbays, which is situated just off the interstate near Wolfchase, serves up hot, accurate and pleasing country meals to go.
It has been there for quite some time, but this was my first visit. The first thing that caught my eye about Abbays (is it pronouced ab-bays or abbey’s?) was the drive-thru menu. Reminiscent of Red Deluxe’s marketing style (perhaps, it is), it offered a fresh example of each item by way of individual logos. No pictures- just each item having its own little personality. You might have to check out their online menu to see what I’m talking about. This is an appropriate answer to those moments at “meat and three” places where the waitress is anticipating your side item choices, and your eyes are going blurry amongst a long list (no bullet points, even!) while your hunger is doing its best to rest on each and every one, thereby working against your better decision skills. No problem at Abbay’s; each one stands out for itself and streamlines your answer-time, no matter how hungry you may be.
The food was neatly packaged, complete with a plastic carryout plate and tubs of food within, so everything doesn’t run together. You can create that yourself once you get home, if you so choose. And inside those tubs, hot (still hot, after driving all the way home, getting baby and shopping bags in) homecooked food that offered comfort (as is needed, after a a few hours of tackling the Wolfchase area shoppers) as if my grandmother had made it. Seriously; the sweet potato casserole had a brown sugar & pecan crunchy dust on top that showed just how adamant they are about their food having soul. The blackeyed peas I ordered were just right for my taste, and that is something I seldom find at restaurants; truly, southern-style.
Don’t expect to pay top-dollar for the time and concern that must go into Abbay’s food. For 2 meals and one medium-yet-looked-like-a-large, very sweet, tea, the price was under $14. That included tax.
From now on, when I choose a far away lunch destination to ensure Backyard Baby takes one of those much-needed, long overdue naps, thereby enabling me to enjoy a quiet lunch, I’ll probably put Abbay’s above Steak-N-Shake. The homestyle drive-thru has definitely been long overdue in our fast food world.
