Counter Culture Texas

Rating:
Summary: A great gift
Review: I bought this book for my mother and brother-in-law and now I think I'll get me a copy. Dean's photographs capture some of the counters that I grew up at, but I've only been to one of the places represented in the book. The wonderful thing about this book is that, even if your local drug store of cafe is not in it, there's a place just like it. The thesis, that there is a distinct culture around the counters of Texas, is interesting and well developed. A hardcover version would earn the 5th star.

Rating:
Summary: A great gift
Review: I bought this book for my mother and brother-in-law and now I think I'll get me a copy. Dean's photographs capture some of the counters that I grew up at, but I've only been to one of the places represented in the book. The wonderful thing about this book is that, even if your local drug store of cafe is not in it, there's a place just like it. The thesis, that there is a distinct culture around the counters of Texas, is interesting and well developed. A hardcover version would earn the 5th star.

Rating:
Summary: A Living Museum--with food and drink!
Review: We think things will stay the same for a long time--and some things do. In these pages nostalgia reigns as well as an existential awareness of the present, and perhaps a foreboding. The photographs capture the scenes of what may soon pass away. We hope, of course, that this will not happen...that there will always be a quaint soda fountain, a small cross-roads grill, a checkered-cloth-covered table at which to sit and gaze at a chicken-fried steak, mashed potatoes, green beans, iceberg lettuce salad with jello, banana pudding and assorted fresh fruit pies all waiting for one's poised fork. And the coffee--country coffee. Susie Kelly Flatau and Mark Dean have done us all a favor in capturing these living museums of food and drink. There are thousands more within the confines of that "whole other country." I have visited several, but I realize how many of these doors I haven't walked through. This would be a great book to serve as a guide for a great series of trips. Go before they go. I went back to a cross roads store once to buy another hunk of rat cheese as a snack while taking a trip on my bicycle. The building was still there, but a small sign said, "Closed for good." Not good to my way of thinking. Buy Susie's book and start your pilgrimage.

Rating:
Summary: A Living Museum--with food and drink!
Review: We think things will stay the same for a long time--and some things do. In these pages nostalgia reigns as well as an existential awareness of the present, and perhaps a foreboding. The photographs capture the scenes of what may soon pass away. We hope, of course, that this will not happen...that there will always be a quaint soda fountain, a small cross-roads grill, a checkered-cloth-covered table at which to sit and gaze at a chicken-fried steak, mashed potatoes, green beans, iceberg lettuce salad with jello, banana pudding and assorted fresh fruit pies all waiting for one's poised fork. And the coffee--country coffee. Susie Kelly Flatau and Mark Dean have done us all a favor in capturing these living museums of food and drink. There are thousands more within the confines of that "whole other country." I have visited several, but I realize how many of these doors I haven't walked through. This would be a great book to serve as a guide for a great series of trips. Go before they go. I went back to a cross roads store once to buy another hunk of rat cheese as a snack while taking a trip on my bicycle. The building was still there, but a small sign said, "Closed for good." Not good to my way of thinking. Buy Susie's book and start your pilgrimage.