Chow Time: Fresno's Chicken Pie Shop

This post comes at quite a difficult time, following the recent demise of our beloved, local institution, La Palma Chicken Pie Shop.  As it was the feature of our very first "Chow Time" post, we feel particularly saddened by the loss of owner, Otto Hasselbarth, and the relegation of his landmark restaurant to the wacky tacky history books.

Rest in Pie

Luckily, our friends at the Museum of Neon Art have stepped up to preserve this legendary bit of Orange County history by preserving the iconic, chicken-shaped neon sign that otherwise would certainly have been so much fodder for the scrap heap.  In loving tribute to La Palma, we set our sights on Fresno, CA, home of another purveyor of pastry-bound poultry, Grandmarie's Chicken Pie Shop.

Grandmarie's Chicken Pie Shop (1956) - Fresno, CA

Of a similar vintage to La Palma, Grandmarie's shares the same unapologetically old-timey sensibility, serving homestyle comfort food with few frills but plenty of atmosphere.  A cavernous coop, Fresno's Chicken Pie Shop shelters three giant, reverse-painted plexiglass roosters (after all you can't make more chickens without roosters).

Officially unnamed, these guys definitely rule the roost.

We were told than one of these fellows was older than the others, finding his way here from a previous location.

We're sure it's this one.
Just look at him, cock of the walk!

Smack dab in the middle of The Tower District, Fresno's cultural center, the Chicken Pie Shop was an area institution long before this location opened its doors in 1956.  An ever-growing customer base demanded a dining room that could serve the masses; Grandmarie obliged by opening a huge venue that could support the crowds of farm-sized appetites in California's central valley.  Indeed, the seating options at Grandmarie's Chicken Pie Shop are endless.  Making like Goldilocks, we decided to try them all.

Starting with the two atomic-age horseshoe counters...

Too big.

And making our way through miles of multi-toned, tufted green booths.
Too small.

Finally choosing a booth (just right) beneath Cocky Locky, we placed our order with our charming and ever-so-patient waitress.

It's called the chicken pie shop, idiots.
Why are you taking so long to order?!?!!

She hardly even made fun of me when I ordered the "mini meatloaf" that wasn't on the menu.  I'm not sure how I made that up; maybe I was hallucinating or maybe I figured that ordering off-menu would make me seem like a super-hip regular.  Either way, it didn't work.  Honestly, there was a menu item that I must have scanned a little too quickly, projecting upon it my desire for an individually-portioned meatloaf.  As it turns out, Grandmarie's "Mini Loaf" is a miniature loaf of their delicious homemade bread.  

After recovering from my embarrassment and choosing a legitimate menu offering, we settled in to talking about how much we already loved this place.  Then the food came.

The chicken pie dinner - all this plus biscuits.

Our server beamed as she boasted about the purity of Grandmarie's chicken
pies, unspoiled by any pesky vegetables lurking beneath the flaky, gravy-soaked crust.

Erika was so overcome with gratitude that she couldn't continue her meal without saying grace.

I guess nothing connects people like food, faith, and freedom from vegetables...

Green-Chile Cheeseburger

Chicken Fried Steak Dinner

Tuna Salad Sandwich

Certainly, it might look a tad institutional but you'll hear no complaint from our party on that count - especially when the institution includes that beautiful, green-and-white scalloped dinner ware.

Even more than their main courses, my dinner companions oohed and aahed endlessly over the sweet corn, the succulent coleslaw, and the perfectly-prepared steak fries.  We decided that it's best that Grandmarie's Chicken Pie Shop is such a distance from us.  Otherwise we'd get so used to eating their deliciously-monochromatic meals that eventually our flesh would fuse with the 60-year-old vinyl seating.

Mary still thinks it might be worth it.

"The Wise Little Hen" (1934)

Not so wise.

Sure we'll help you plant your corn...and then 

we'll serve it a long side a pie, a chicken pie.

Grandmarie's Chicken Pie Shop

861 W Olive Ave

Fresno, CA

(559)237-5042

Cheers!

Mr. Tiny

Chow Time: Hi-D-Ho Drive-In

Folks, here's a story 'bout Hi-D-Ho Drive-In; 

For three-and-sixty it's been jivin'.

The atmosphere is a little bit stale,

But Hi-D's got a heart as big as a whale.

Hi-D-Ho Drive-In (1952) - Alamogordo, New Mexico

Not all drive-in restaurants live up to the romantic ideal set forth by American Graffiti, or Moon Over Miami, or one of many such examples of Hollywood hokum.  The carhops at Hi-D-Ho may no longer don roller skates.  There may no longer be (nor have ever been) a welcome jingle sung by sisters in western wear.  But in a time when even small towns like Alamogordo, NM are being overrun with every fast food chain imaginable, there is one huge thing to be said for the original Hi-D-Ho Drive-In...

It's open!!!

Thankfully, Hi-D-Ho Drive-In suffers not from Route 66-ization Syndrome (likenesses of Marilyn Monroe, James Dean, and Elvis plastered over every available surface).  Rather, it suffers from a bit of an identity crisis, vacillating between wanting to maintain retro credibility and trying to be competitively "now-tro."  At 63 years old, Hi-D-Ho has a similar look to those people one encounters whose ages are difficult to determine because they have chosen to battle mortality by undergoing a questionable series of dubious cosmetic procedures.  Hi-D-Ho doesn't look young exactly; neither does it quite look like a specimen of natural aging.  In a way, I suppose this makes the whole place as ageless as its ketchup & mustard color scheme!

For diners too uncoordinated to eat within the confines of their Ford Fiestas, a covered patio
offers yellow-laminated, bent-wood seating set against a cinder block wall of Heinz-57 red.

Road-food aficionados will be glad to know that drive-in protocol is strictly observed; a quick flash of the headlights beckons a smiling carhop ready to take your order.  If I could leave one critique for Alamogordo's oldest drive-in, I would love to encourage the servers to greet each new carful of customers with a, "Hi-D-Ho!"  It only makes sense.

"Hi-D-Ho!!!"  See, it's fun!

I'm not so sure that my brand of cornball 

enthusiasm was winning me any friends that day. 

Hi-D-Ho's menu consists of fairly-standard drive-in fare with some regional favorites (tamales with fried eggs) thrown in for good measure.  When one finds oneself at the "Home of the Tiger Burger," however, one must insist that at least one brave soul in the car is willing to catch that Tiger Burger by the tail.

All of the food at Hi-D-Ho is fresh/never frozen.  Signage indicates to diners that they must
practice patience as everything is cooked to order.  After hours of driving, we were especially
hungry but the order came well before the snarling fits of "hanger" set in.  Our check included
fries, a BLT, and the Tiger Burger (a double-cheeseburger by any other name...).

Should we find ourselves in the friendly embrace of southern New Mexico again, we would gladly return to Alamogordo's hometown hero.  Hi-D-Ho may not satisfy all of our nostalgic longings, but its guileless charm and decades of stick-to-itiveness were more than enough to sate both our stomachs and our wacky tacky souls.

And 9-out-of-10 frowzy-haired, wild-eyed kids agree that you can keep
your hot-n-ready "Pizza! Pizza!"  We'll choose to "kick the gong around"
with Hi-D-Ho everytime!

From the white sands of Alamogordo, in the luxury of "a diamond car with platinum wheels," the Messrs. Tiny and Calloway send their regards with a "Hi-D, Hi-D-Ho!"

"Hi-De-Ho" - Cab Calloway

Hi-D-Ho Drive-In
414 White Sands Blvd
Alamogordo, NM
(575)437-6400


Cheers!

Mr. Tiny