Dave & Lee's

Elite '08

180

312

Julia W.

Saint Louis, MO

Griffith isn't exactly a bustling metropolis and Dave & Lee's sure ain't servin' fancy food, but it certainly holds a special place in G-town locals' hearts.  I believe this restaurant has been around since the beginning of time, or at least since red-and-white gingham oilcloth and melted candles in chianti bottles were in vogue, but it's the commemorative Super Bowl poster of the 1985 Chicago Bears that confirms it's been around at least since I was in kindergarten.  Which is really saying something, given the state of the place and that patrons run the risk of getting lung cancer from second-hand smoke...

Dave & Lee's serves all sorts of things from omelets and cottage fries to egg salad, roast beef sandwiches and taco salad to pumpkin pie (year 'round, I believe) and milkshakes.  I think they even have liver and onions, but I doubt anyone has ever ventured down that scary, scary road.

Basically, you go to Dave & Lee's to have breakfast and to ogle Lee's still-crazy-after-all-these-years Aqua-Net-full beehive (yes, I said BEEHIVE) and lonnnngggg coral finger nails.  And the makeup, oh the makeup!  Lee is a riot--she knows pretty much every patron and she's been calling my little brother "Mr. President" since he was about 4 years old.  She's an attentive, if sometimes a little scary, hostess and is always ready with a hot pot of coffee.  Dave is a nice guy, but not quite as intriguing as Lee.

If you go, be prepared to enjoy some down-home food with an interesting crowd--small-town America at its best: old men who come in every day to shoot the shit, kids who come for breakfast at lunch on half-days from school, families who know where to get good diner breakfasts on the cheap... My brother always liked the french toast; Dad favored eggs over-easy, extra crispy bacon, home fries and rye toast; I believe D&L's has the best biscuits and gravy in town... And they never skimped on the whipped cream when I ordered strawberry Belgian waffles.  An institution in Griffith, it's a good little place, even if it smells like an ashtray.

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