“Kelly Kapowski, your dog is getting cold.”
At The Regal Beagle Ale House and Sausage Grill in Mission Hills, that isn’t a “Saved By The Bell” euphemism about Bayside’s most popular couple (sorry Jesse and A.C.–it’s just true). It literally means that someone hasn’t picked up their grilled sausage order at the kitchen window. (This, too, is not a euphemism.)
On any other day of the week, I’d order up a grilled sausage without hesitating. But on Wednesdays* Thursdays, when The Regal Beagle offers up three tangy and plump buffalo wings for a $1, I hold off on the swine and make a bee line for the fowl. On Wednesdays Thursdays, I can leave the joint full for no more than $8 before tip just as I did last week when I ordered six wings for $2, a $6 pint of Captain Sig’s Indian Red Ale, and answered to the name “Roseanne Conner.”
What is it with the television sitcom characters? Well, ordering food at The Regal Beagle goes a little something like this: you greet the friendly barkeep who’ll take both your food and drink order. After you pay, s/he pours you your drink and gives you a ticket sporting the name of some 1980s or 1990s sitcom character. As your order is fastened to a binder clip hanging from a carabiner and chucked towards the kitchen on a zip line from the bar, you take your drink and ticket to wherever you want to sit in the establishment be it at the bar, the only corner booth, the (new-to-me) extended community tall top, or the outdoor patio.
As you enjoy the sports coverage playing on any of the four flat screens, you’ll sip your suds and giggle at the call outs for “Boss Hogg,” “Michelle Tanner,” and possibly a mispronounced “Marcia Brady” (which I’d once heard called out as “Mar-see-ah” rather than “Mar-sha”). When the sitcom character on your ticket is called out, report to the kitchen window to pick up your order, dress it up as you like at the close-by condiments table that’s lined up with a flight of gourmet mustards in squirt bottles and take your meal back to your seat.
It’s that easy breezy.
Last week, the husband and I drank, ate and got caught up with the other patrons in the last minutes of Game 5 of the Spurs/Grizzlies game. You know, the one where Neal made the final second 3-pointer to push the game into overtime and ultimately save the Spurs the humiliation of getting knocked out of the playoffs on their home turf, escaping the fate that eventually met the Hornets? Yeah, it was the kind of awesome where everyone yelled “OHHHHH” in unison then broke off in random “Did you see that?” and “Damn!” chatter.
I’ll take The Regal Beagle’s 3-for-$1 wing deal every week if my arteries can handle it. Now that you know, you can, too. Just remember to mentally forgive any person who says aloud when looking at their ticket, “Who’s Jesse Spano?”
*As of November 2011, the Wings Day special runs on Thursdays not Wednesdays. C’est la vie!
Clockwise from top left: Regal Beagle’s wall-mounted, chalkboard beer menu; the buffalo wings; the extended community tall top; the Cajun sausage topped with sauerkraut and a medley of yellow mustard, honey mustard, and spicy, grainy mustard; beer taps; and a table sign reminding patrons to order at the bar.
