Reliving Fond Memories
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Old Friend

I love the idea of “growing up�? with a restaurant. An eatery that is always there, providing comfort and a sense of place. A room away from the modern shrill where friends enjoy each other’s company with good food. In todays headlong hurtle, it is grounding to have a place that brings back good memories, no matter how sour the present or future may be.

Even to this day, when someone mentions comfort food, I think of chicken with mashed potatoes and gravy, and I immediately flash upon the venerable Plaza Inn, at the heart of Disneyland.

As a child, with parents and grandparents, we would usually have at least one meal at either the Plaza Inn, or her sister, Plaza Pavilion. Through the heavy dark wooden doors and leaded glass is a classy buffeteria restaurant designed to handle dozens of people per hour.

Years later, it is still comforting to walk through the doors and into the dusty salmon, peach and ivory rooms. Proudly wearing its Edwardian gingerbread, the PI has aged well. It is a testimony that though tastes change, style is eternal.

The food is solidly American: Pot roast, buttermilk biscuits, and fried chicken, the restaurants signature dish. The menu proudly introduces them as “Kettle Favorites�?. The eating areas inside are delightful. Through the windows of the aviary, the Orbitron waves from Tomorrowland. The Aviary was once to have actual birds in there, singing to the costumers. Like some ideas, they are better on paper. The cages remain, though the birds are a bit stiff and quiet.

I enjoy sitting out on the veranda, away from the bustle of the Main Street, enjoying a Cobb salad and watching the Christmas Parade go by. I look to the tables and chairs. As my eyes settle on each chair, memories from Disney days in the past come back to me. I ran around these tables as a pup, the furniture endless imposing. As my POV rose above the tables in the intervening years, I enjoyed more than the kiddie menu. I thought of myself as quite a big boy when I could handle my very own plate of chicken and mashed potatoes. The food was good, followed by cheesecake. Sitting in the restaurant felt like I was in yet another ride. Once finished with this, we headed out the doors and into another world to explore.

Now I sit alone on the veranda with my memories. The music is starting again for the Christmas parade. Traditions, mixed with the hope of a bright future, are the ingredients that make Disney sparkle. It is the glue that makes the memories bright and keeps them from fading with time or indifference. I relax with a calmness that comes from assurance. Clearly, this is a moment that bears reliving in these stressful times. I’ll just enjoy it a little longer. I pace myself so I will finish with the carrot cake when Santa passes, savoring the sensual stimuli. Then it’s off to visit new worlds, or old friends.

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-- David Mink

-- Posted December 17, 2003