The Oklahoma State Fair was underway, and my motel was near the fairgrounds, so I chose to get out of town as quickly as possible, forgoing the promise of migas for breakfast at a local place I’d wanted to try. I got on the interstate, made my way to the turnpike, and set the cruise control for another long day of driving.
The Oklahoma Turnpike follows roughly the same path as Route 66, so there were a number of mom-and-pop places I could stop for lunch. I’d done a little research and discovered Clanton’s Cafe, a gem of a restaurant in Vinita, just east of Tulsa, so that’s where I stopped. It was busy—I’d hit town at the height of the lunch rush—but I didn’t have to wait long for a table.
Lunch at Clanton’s Cafe
Clanton’s is the oldest continually owned family restaurant on Route 66, opening in 1927. The menu is good Middle America food, and I set my sights on the chicken-fried steak, the dish for which the restaurant is most famous.
Accompanied by mashed potatoes and rich, peppery cream gravy, corn, a dinner roll and a small salad, this meal would have been at least $10 anywhere else, but at Clanton’s, it was only $5.99, and more than enough to fortify me for the rest of the day. I’m a sucker for a good pie, and the lemon meringue was better than I’d hoped. I’m not much for meringue as a pie topping, but this was perfect; it had the consistency of stiffly whipped cream.
I made my way back to the turnpike and drove toward St. Louis, stopping only once, at Redmond’s Candy Factory in Phillipsburg, where I loaded up a bag with homemade taffy and an assortment of hard-to-find candies. Once in St. Louis, I got a call to meet John & Marie at Tucker’s Place, a neighborhood bar and restaurant in Soulard that’s famous locally for steak. When I arrived, I discovered Marie’s mom was in town, which was great, since I hadn’t seen her since John & Marie’s wedding a couple of years ago. Our friend Heather joined us, and I shared stories from this trip that I haven’t written about yet. We returned to the house, and it wasn’t long before I crashed.
