Leapin’ Lizards!

Linda Burton posting from Columbia, South Carolina – Home Meal Replacement. That’s the designation the Lizard’s Thicket country cooking restaurants give themselves, and it fits. As I stood at the counter to pay my bill, a woman just ahead placed her “To Go” order – green beans, squash casserole, cornbread dressing, and a triple portion of meatloaf. “I’ll be able to get it all on the table before my husband gets home,” she said, looking very pleased. She moved onto a counter stool to wait and I turned and told her about a restaurant in Tennessee that provided eggshells and potato peels for your garbage can, so you could convince your husband you cooked it all. “Honey,” she replied, “as good as this food is, my husband will know I didn’t cook it!” Apparently these are the sentiments of much of the population of Columbia; they enthusiastically support 15 Lizard’s Thicket “country cooking” restaurants around the city, and, as I was informed by the manager of one, “49% of our business comes from Take Home.” But people like to eat in the restaurants too, hanging out with neighbors and friends in a comfortable booth facing the big blackboard on the wall that lists the 25 vegetables they serve (yes, macaroni and cheese IS a vegetable). And being waited on by a staff that seems to remember faces, and preferences. » read more