A couple of weeks ago my husband had business in Jacksonville, Florida. I asked to tag along as that city has so much nostalgia for me. Landon was my high school and we lived in a quaint apartment on San Marco Boulevard.
We traveled from Tampa up I75 to 301. I remembered all the quaint little towns along the way, then on to Route 10 and into Jacksonville. We stopped at that memorable apartment and a quick peek at my high school. Then the "must stop" was a visit to the place that I hold dear, Lou Bono's Bar-B-Q on Beach Boulevard.
All the times I sat there with my friends after football games came flooding back. In those days we ordered French Fries and a Coke for a whopping 25 cents. Mr. Lou was always in that back building creating that famous sauce that we poured all over our fries and an occasional beef sandwich when we had the extra 55 cents. Sometimes when we had no money Tom and Al, our buddy waiters, would lend us the money. We always paid them back. They knew us all by our first names. The phone would occasionally ring at the register and it was one of our parents telling us that they would be there in thirty minutes to take us home. Then I came back to reality as the waitress asked for our order.
Now there are many locations! There are quite a variety of sauces and the sandwiches and fries are no longer my childhood prices but the comfort lies in the fact that Mr. Lou may be gone but when I pour the "Original Sauce" over my fries I can close my eyes and remember with a smile.
Please enjoy the above picture of an original napkin menu quite creased that has been pressed in an old diary from my youth.
Share a story with me of a childhood place that you can still visit and remember at jax6014@aol.com. I would love to hear your stories! (By the way I bought a bottle of Mr. Lou's sauce to bring home.😃)
Earlier on Huff/Post50:
