As I thought about places like Jacalas and Speedy’s Chicken (IYKYK), which will forever hold a special place in my heart but are no longer around, I found myself hitting the rewind button harder to find a restaurant for lunch with food that takes me back. I wanted to find a spot that has been a part of my life for years, but that I rarely get to visit anymore.
It’s not that I think the food has changed, or that my life gets so busy it prevents me from going often. It’s just hard to visit to a place that made me laugh and cry so much as a kid, that going back without family around the table makes it feel lonelier. Even inside a packed house.
But when an aching feeling hits me and I find myself craving a window into my past, I know exactly where to go. I’ve only returned twice since coming back to San Antonio, so I decided to hit up M.K. Davis a third time. It’s an Alamo City staple that has been serving the community since 1956.
When I walked in post lunch rush, it wasn’t super busy, but I still had to wait to be seated. I was by myself, so to the bar it was, which not many people know you can do here. “You know what you want to eat or you need a menu?” the server/bartender Melissa asked me after I took up one of the big wooden bar chairs.
My order? It’s been almost the same since I was 6 years old. And lucky me as an adult, it’s always on special during lunch. I’ve always said that if I had a last meal, as long as it was from a place I knew and loved, it would be this: chicken/country fried steak, mashed potatoes with white gravy on both, and a side of toast. It’s a meal that reminds me of my family…