What an awesome stop at an awesome little place in an awesome little town! My wife and I (and our little dog Molly) took a trip this weekend to Long Beach, and after looking at the map decided on Highway 6 instead of all our usual routes. I was really glad I did!
"The Pub" on Main Street is about as "perfect rural small town America diner/pub" you could possibly ask for! It's idyllic, cozy, and offers great food at amazing prices. We spotted it randomly, just based on where we were looking, really. There was a nice little park and bandstand on the other side of Main Street, with picnic tables, and we thought that having Molly with us, we could get our food "to go" and have a little picnic. So we did!
Before ordering, I stopped in to see the menu before going back out to walk the dog with Anne - it was a 90-degree day and owner Jennifer just offered us 2 cold water bottles, and told me "it's the honor system here - just pay me when you come to order the food".... seriously??!! As city folks, that's just unheard of... So I took the ice-cold waters and we had a nice walk before coming back to order lunch
Anne ordered us a Club Sandwich for herself and a Taco Salad for me. After ordering, we walked over to the little park. While sitting with the dog, we could actually smell owner Jennifer cooking the bacon for the club to perfection from the park... and the town was silent! A dove cooed in the distance, a car or two would pass by - but we sat in the shade, 50 feet from the bandstand (I was picturing the 4th of July brass band that surely has played there for a hundred years in July)
When the food was ready, Jennifer had it all nicely plated on real plates, with forks and napkins, and I simply walked it across the street to the park for a picnic!!
The Club Sandwich was wonderful (as always, we shared) and the Taco Salad was huge - and very tasty!! The meat was seasoned very nicely, and the lettuce crisp and fresh. I cleared our plates at the adjacent garbage can in the park, then walked them back across the street.
Jennifer then made a point to introduce herself, and the couple other locals in the bar were super friendly - seemingly happy to have folks in Pe Ell who had never been there.
There's an old Twilight Zone episode called "A Stop at Willoughby" - it's on YouTube.... if you're reading this, you really should watch it.
Today my wife and I with our little dog indeed had a picnic in Willoughby, without the "Twilight Zone Ending" that comes with the episode.
Thank you Jennifer for a really super picnic lunch in your town's park, and a really nice memory of our "Stop at Pe Ell!"
Dave & Anne (with Molly) read more