November 5th, 2005
Andy’s-Size Me
You’re never going to guess what I saw yesterday. It’s ok, though, ’cause I’m going to tell you: an Andy’s Restaurant is under construction…in Cary!
Do you know about Andy’s? For those of you who don’t, it’s a small, eastern North Carolina chain. I hesitate to call it a “fast-food” place, because they’re not like McDonald’s or Wendy’s. Andy’s food is actually greasier. Their specialty is sort of a southernized-version of the Philly cheesesteak. It is unbelievably good. Currently, I think the closest one to Cary is about an hour away from here in Smithfield.
My family would occasionally stop at an Andy’s on the way to or from the beach (there’s one in almost every small town along the way) and that’s how I got my first taste. Then I went to school in Greenville, which is about 100 miles east of Raleigh, where they have two Andy’s. I just used socially at first; a whole group of us would go there once in a while. No big deal, right? Flash-forward a few years and Steph and I were going out for cheesesteaks once a month. This may not sound like a lot, but if I’d been jonesing any harder than that and I would have needed bypass surgery before graduation.
As I write this, it’s been a year since my last cheesesteak. This would explain why I seem to be using more Chap-Stik (less grease in my system). But it also explains why, when I saw that hideous Andy’s logo last night, it was like seeing the face of an angel. I need Andy’s cheesesteaks. It’s just who I am. Steph is the same way. I parked the car and we walked calmly (ok, sprinted desperately) over the the door to find out when they were opening. There was nothing posted that said, but the renovation of the strip-mall space (aah…Cary) seemed to just be getting underway. My guess is it’s going to be a while. Still, just knowing it’s coming could probably get me through another six months.
It’s easy to slam Cary, I know. You’ve got the cookie-cutter housing developments and the yankees with too much money. (I talk smack about Cary all the time, and I live there.) But as far as I’m concerned, this city’s just earned some major cool-points.
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