Spies at Wimpy

As you may know, I am currently reading William Boyd's Gabriel's Moon. It's a spy thriller set in the sixties. And there is a little detail that may seem trivial, but that I find quite interesting: Gabriel Dax, the main character of the novel, has a girlfriend who works at... Wimpy. I know Wimpy. I have been to Wimpy repeatedly. I love Wimpy, maybe my favourite gentrified fast food chain. And I find it interesting that in a genre that is still associated heavily with glamour and exotism, there is in this spy novel a protagonist who also has a burger restaurants chain as part of his reality. And a girlfriend who smells of smells of burgers and chips when she gets home. It makes the whole world of Gabriel's Moon more relatable. Moral of the story: Next time I go to Wimpy, I will take a good look at the staff and the customers. You never know...

Wimpy lunch

 A few weeks ago, we went to have lunch at Wimpy, the posh fast food chain that is just a tad fancier than its more famous competitors. We were not planning to go there specifically, but when Wolfie saw the restaurant, he wanted to go there. I love their generous portion of chipsand their burger's special sauce is kinda nice too. It was just what the doctor ordered.

Wimpy

Yesterday, for the first time in years, we went to Wimpy, the fast food restaurant chain which is like a fancier, posher McDonald's. You may remember that the local Wimpy had shut down back in 2017, which saddened me quite a lot. But a new one opened in a nearby town, so we went there forlunch, the first time in years and the first time since Wolfie was born. I had a double cheeseburger and chips,with lots of ketchup and I regret nothing. Even though I'm no longer used to such portions.

The local Wimpy

Here is a bit of bad news which I learned yesterday: the local Wimpy is closing soon. This made us really sad, my wife and I. We haven't gone there since little Wolfie was born, but it was one of these places we liked. Granted, it was not great gastronomy, but for fast food chain it was honest food and a posh, fancier McDonald's. And it was nice to have something different locally, a chain but not a big chain. I blogged about it back in April 2016 (where I used this very picture) and why I love it. I hope we can find time to go have one last meal there (cholesterol be damned!) before it closes down for good.

Tomboys are not princesses

One of the Ticklers is a true tomboy, maybe the perfect tomboy, certainly the most tomboy girl I have ever met. I had another proof of that yesterday, when we were sitting with them at Wimpy. After lunch, the waitress came to clear the table and said to the Tickler: "Let me take your plate princess." The Tickler looked at her with very angry eyes, as if she had been really insulted. After the waitress had left, the Tickler whispered: "If she ever calls me princess again, I'll stab her in the eye with a sharp knife!" She was then told off by her mother, but we couldn't help but laugh. It was a mean thing to say to someone who was showing kindness, nevertheless it qualifies as a great unknown line.

About Wimpy

Sometimes you want to make fresh food and eat healthy. And some other times you just want to treat yourself with some junk food because even though you know it's bad... It feels good. Bottom line: I love a good burger and chips,  sometimes I even love a cheap burger and chips, with a cola from a fast food chain. No, I do not mean McDonald's, I am referring to Wimpy. Which is not a poor man's McDonald's, it is rather a slightly fancier, more posh, a little bit more upmarket (but only very slightly) fast food chain. There is one Wimpy in the little town where I live, it is where my wife and I had one of our first Friday meals here and since then it remains one of our favourite places when we feel lazy and hungry... Or simply when we want to enjoy a true guilty pleasure. It is Friday, like that very first time I ate there, as it is a tradition on this blog I plug a menu or a meal from a restaurant on Friday, so tonight it is Wimpy's turn. It's not fancy at all. It's just good in a bad (very bad) way.

Saveurs mortes

Je viens de me bourrer la fraise avec un burger bien dégueu et des frites de Wimpy, une chaîne britannique de fast food assez proche de McDonald's. Il n'y a pas de McDonald's dans la petite ville où je vis, en fait je ne sais même pas où est le McDonald's le plus proche. J'aime bien manger du fast food un vendredi soir, des trucs pour me bloquer les artères, mais je m'ennuie du fast food "haut-de-gamme" qu'on a à Montréal: Frite Alors, L'Anecdote (surtout L'Anecdote), etc. Ou même le fast food prolétaire de Mont-Royal Hot Dog. Et je m'ennuie aussi beaucoup d'une chaîne qui je crois est maintenant morte, ou alors moribonde au point d'être comateuse: Eurosnack.

J'ai déjà mentionné Eurosnack ici dans le passé. C'était un clone de Frite Alors, honnêtement, mais dans les années 90 c'était mon endroit préféré à Montréal: les frites, les hamburgers (avec des champignons crus tranchés mince, je ne sais pas comment ils faisaient mais c'était délicieux), la mayonnaise, je trouvais à peu près tout délicieux. À chaque retour à Montréal, je m'arrêtais de façon obligée à Eurosnack pour mon premier repas. Ils ont fermé pour plusieurs raisons: beaucoup trop de mets au menu, trop de boissons, trop de choix de bières, beaucoup trop de mauvais sandwiches/choix de repas qui prenaient trop de place sur le menu et faisait de l'ombrage à ce que la chaîne faisait de mieux, un personnel de plus en plus amateur. Ce qui veut dire une chose: les hamburgers et les frites de chez Eurosnack sont maintenant morts. On ne les mange plus, les recettes sont perdues. Je dis cela même s'il reste peut-être encore des Eurosnack à Montréal, parce qu'il y a de fortes chances que les repas ne soient plus que l'ombre d'eux-mêmes et qu'ils n'ont plus grand-monde pour les apprécier.

Alors je me rappelle des saveurs, mais je ne les retrouve nulle part. Je trouve parfois des endroits où le goût se rapproche beaucoup (les frites et la mayonnaise du pub The Talbot à Windsor goûtent étrangement comme celles d'Eurosnack), mais ce n'est tout de même pas exactement la même chose. C'est comme le Saguenay Dry: ce n'était pas ma boisson gazeuse préférée, mais je l'aimais assez pour des raisons d'attachement nostalgique et de fierté régionale, maintenant c'est mort et c'est une tragédie.