My little hometown has been undergoing construction. The major thoroughfare, Highway 15, is being expanded to four lanes, and I hear that the latest segment should open by next summer, but in addition to that, we just got a new fast-food restaurant. A new building was built to house Kentucky Fried Chicken (we already had one of those, but it moved to this new building) and Taco Bell. Needless to say, this is major news for a small town, but opening day was quite crazy around the new restaurant.

I really hope KFC did some business this week, but the majority of the traffic through there was for Taco Bell. Rumor has it that a Dairy Queen will be moving into the now empty KFC building. It’d be nice to have a DQ so we can get good ice cream whenever we want it. On Wednesday of last week, several students asked me if I was going to Taco Bell, and they were surprised when I said no. I pointed out that it was just a Taco Bell, a fast-food restaurant, and I can’t think of any fast-food chain, not even the DQ, that I like well enough to wait over an hour to get food just to say I was there on opening day.  So, what restaurants would I wait over an hour for on opening day? If any of the following were to open in Jackson, I’d probably be crazy enough to wait as long as it took to get to eat there on opening day.

1. Johnny Carino’s – In fact, when the students asked if I were going to visit Taco Bell on opening day and I pointed out that it was just a Taco Bell, a fast-food restaurant, Johnny Carino’s popped up in my reply as well. I told them if Johnny Carino’s was opening, I’d be there.

2. Saul Good – Since I wrote about the top places my husband and I like to eat, we’ve been to a Saul Good in Hamburg in Lexington. I thoroughly enjoyed the nachos appetizer and the bacon cheeseburger entree, but the desserts are incredible. My first visit, I, along with my friends, got the fondue plate for dessert. It came with melted milk chocolate to use for dipping and about six or seven different foods to dip, including bananas, strawberries, pretzel sticks, rice krispie treats, waffles, and a couple other things. The second time I ordered the banana split brownie with chocolate. Let me just say that is the best chocolate I’ve ever had in my entire life. It is chocolate worth waiting in line for over an hour for.

3. Malone’s – This restaurant has the best steaks around, and it would definitely be worth waiting in line for.

4. Old Chicago – I love Variety Pizza here in my hometown and do believe it’s among the best pizza I’ve ever had, but Old Chicago is amazing as well, and if I want a deep dish Chicago-style pizza, this is the place to go; if one opened here, I’d definitely wait an hour to get that pizza.

And, honestly, that’s about it. Short of one of these restaurants opening in Jackson, I can’t think of any others that I’d be willing to wait for more than an hour to get my food, just to say I was there on opening day. I definitely wouldn’t for a fast-food restaurant, and as you can see from the short list, I wouldn’t for most sit-down restaurants either. I’d love to see either of these four restaurants open in Jackson, but I sure won’t hold my breath waiting on it. Rumor also has it that we might actually get an Applebees and/or a Ponderosa, and it’d be great if we did, but if we do, I won’t be planning to visit them on opening day.

Patience is the one virtue that I have in short supply. I loathe having to wait for anything, especially food. It’s great that we have a new restaurant, and hopefully we will be getting more, just don’t expect to see me there waiting on opening day. I’ll just let them work out the kinks and visit after all the hoopla has worn off, and if they don’t last that long, then I haven’t missed anything anyway.