Requiem for a hole-in-the-wall

I hadn't been in there in a while, mostly because I spent the first four months of this year recovering from January's kidney transplant. I think Ed and I went once on half-price burger night. That's Wednesday, or it used to be.

When we lived in Arlington we used to brunch there at least once a weekend, because the food was decent and there were hot cake doughnuts. Sometimes there was a wait for a table, but we were always late risers and Whitey's served breakfast until 2 in the afternoon. We could usually make it there by then.

Whitey's had no pretensions of being a great restaurant. It was dark inside at any hour and at night you couldn't see your food. The service was questionable at best; but when your server showed up, her tray held great fish and honest-to-goodness hand cut potato chips that would knock your socks off. There were good burgers, a passable chicken fried steak even if they did serve it with the wrong gravy, and the iced tea came in big plastic glasses, just like back home.

Apparently Whitey's had a past as a biker bar, and the current "white collar" neighbors didn't like it much. I guess they didn't know what they were missing.

Those of us who know will miss Whitey's.

before - after