Hamburger, pickle on top, makes your heart go flippity flop

Restaurant Widow posted the winner of your best hamburger contest last December. A friend passed the link along to me today, and I just have to add my two cents to what she has to say about the Greatest American Hamburger: The Kewpee!

Growing up in the Lima, Ohio area, I quickly learned Kewpee was the ultimate treat. The restaurant, a diner-style establishment, on Elizabeth Street provided an unusual counterpoint to the few family and upscale restaurants that dotted the landscape of Lima, Ohio in the 1950s. People would line up to place their orders and stand in line watching the expert flip hamburgers, his helpers dressed hamburgers and chatted as fast as their hands moved. It was an assembly line like no other carried off in a small galley type area. One side took care of the inhouse diners, the other side answered the phone and took carry out orders. Noon at the Kewpee on any day of the week saw the restaurant filled with executives to the janitors of every surrounding business. No one could be morose or sad in there. And if they were, Nancy or the cook or someone would say, "Hey, why the long face?"

If you wanted to go out to celebrate a special event, you went to the Milano Club. Anthony Brothers restaurant on the square provided great Italian and family food. It seems the only alternative to Kewpees were Italian foods. But it was Kewpee where you went to get the best hamburger around. The restaurant's ditty was accurate: "Hamburger, pickle on top, makes your heart go flippity flop."

Of course those who count cholesterol and pop Lipitor might read something else into that saying, but for me, Kewpee figures into a whole host of good memories. Beginning with 4-H. Every blue ribbon winner received a little yellow card offering them a free hamburger from the Kewpee. Many of the prize winning steer were purchased by Kewpee at the Allen County Fair. And sometimes they purchased other market animals.

Often we stopped at the Kewpee after 4-H meetings or on school outings or after shopping in downtown Lima. Nothing like Christmas shopping, running from J.C. Penneys, riding the escalator, tromping into Nesbitts and watching the tube system suck your money up to the office on the second floor and then return with the receipt. Maybe a stop at Dome's Nut Shop, but always, always, a stop at Kewpee for lunch.

When commerce moved to the malls, Kewpee built two new restaurants that were easily accessed on the way to or from the major malls in the area. Dates always seemed to include a stop at the Kewpee. Even the naked Kewpie doll on the front of the store caught my imagination as a child curious about bodies and baby making.

And when I started working my first job after high school, I ate almost every lunch at the Kewpee. It was not only my favorite, but the diner sat next door to my employer: The Metropolitan Bank of Lima. I got to know Nancy and the crew quite well in those days. And they were a bunch of happy employees.

I hope the recession doesn't ever stop people from visiting Kewpee. My best wishes to Mr. Shutt, the Kewpee owner. And if he ever wants to share the secret recipe for his hamburgers. I'm ready to write it down.

I eat my Kewpees with mustard, pickle and onion. Of course you can't stop there. Accompanying the Kewpee are fries, sugar cream pie and a chocolate frostie. Often I'd cut out the fries -- gotta watch my girlish figure.

My mouth is watering as I write this. My husband and I stop in at Wendy's every once in awhile and try to substitute one of their sandwiches for a Kewpee, but it just doesn't work. And like many of the people who commented on Restaurant Widow's blog, whenever we head back to Lima, we have to stop at Kewpee's.

For me. Kewpee and the Allen County Fair will be forever connected.

If you like to try out local restaurants -- the Kewpee is a safe bet for a delicious meal. If you want nutrition, order your Kewpee with the lettuce and tomato. Even those taste fresher.

According to history, Kewpee started in Racine, Wisconsin and continues to thrive there as well. If interested in Kewpee ephemera, check out the Racine Kewpee website.

In a 'Fair' mood....

Ironic that I live in a tropical climate where orange groves and lemon trees grow, producing bumper crops. And it is the lemon shake-ups, that the Shawnee Moms and Dads Club make at Ohio's Allen County Fair that I crave.

Of course orange and lemon season has long passed, so I did the next best thing and bought a sack of lemons at Sams Club and today I tried to recreate the tasty treat. It turned out better than I expected. As I sip my cold sweet-sour lemon drink with crunchy ice and wonderful fragrance, I think of the fairgrounds.

It is the place to go every August; most families prepare for the event all year. Kids work on 4-H projects. Parents prepare Cooperative Extension sewing and canning and baking entries. People displays all kinds of entries from produce, flowers, photography, quilts, needlecrafts and wood crafts, and sometimes the bizarre and weird of the agrarian world.

Cars and tractors are on display beside septic tanks and animal feeders. Tater Binkley supplies the port-a-potties -- well, he did at one time. I've heard rumors that he's out of the business. Demolition Derbies, harness racing, greased pig contests -- all took place in the grandstands....

We walked around the fairgrounds and saw everyone we knew. We'd talk and walk together, eat at the food tents (the barbecued chicken at the Shawnee Lion's was a must every year). Ahhh the air was rich with aromas -- mouth watering, unless you were at the manure end of the animal barns.

I received my first boy-girl kiss at the Allen County Fair and eventually married the son of the fair's superintendent of rabbits. There's a memorial in front of the rabbit barn to Derrol's dad -- Jack. He was killed by a drunk driver, that was a tough year. He's missed, especially come fair time.

I haven't been to the fair for several years -- not since we relocated away following Derrol's job. Many of the familiar faces are gone from the fair board. But traditions continue. Jay Begg has taken over as fair manager and seems to have kept much the same, yet I noticed a few changes.

In MY day, those Rock 'n Roll performers were never invited, no matter how cheap their fee or big the draw. Yet I see this year Buckcherry will be performing.... Its kind of scary to think that the groan and grind of heavy metal music has become mainstream at the Allen County Fair.

The Midway draws the teenagers and townies, the animal barns and displays attract the farm folk, and they all spend their precious dollars on fair food.

Along with the lemonade I crave the elephant ears, the homemade pies brought by Farm Bureau members for their food tent, the rib eye sandwiches, the corn dogs, candy apples, and the cinnamon rolls so big they require two hands to carry them.

But more than the food and drink, animals and prizes, I miss the people. I worked for the fair board every summer for several years. I miss working in the fair office during fair week and answering the same question hundreds of times. Giving directions to the same locations -- hundreds of times. I miss Louette and Camille, Carol and the board members, the presidents and members of the various organizations, the volunteers, the horse people....

It was in the fair office that I first met Alan Jackson -- before many people knew who he was. I met Billy Ray Cyrus and it was at our fair that he fell in love with a cute little filly -- or maybe it was a gelding -- that he bought and had shipped back to his home. I met Reba, Clint Black, and Alabama. I was just a small town girl, wide eyed and amazed.

Don Klingler, the fair manager, hired me to write the fairbook for several years and gave me an opportunity to spread my wings as a writer.

Whether I visit the fair physically or not, I am there in spirit with them for that week in August: 17-25th.
_________

Recipe for Lemon Shake-Ups
I found this at Cooks.com

1/2 lemon
1/4 cup sugar
1/2 cup water
1 cup crushed ice
Thoroughly juice the lemon half and cut into quarters. Put both fruit and juice into a 16-oz. disposable glass. Add the sugar, water, and crushed ice. Stir drink by pouring back and forth between two glasses several times. Add very cold water to fill glass, then enjoy.

NOTE: If you have a glass with a lid or can cover tightly, a good shake, shake, shake also works.

Enjoy!!!