Quaker Steak & Lube, State College

I am fortunate in that I am able to enjoy regular lunch dates with dear old friends. We get together about once a month, at whatever local restaurant we agree upon. There are about a half-dozen of us, and we used to work together in distance education at Penn State. I am the only one still working, and sometimes I jokingly say I am the last of the Mohicans.

For our January lunch date, we agreed to meet at State College Quaker Steak & Lube, which is located beside Big Lots on Benner Pike, across from the Nittany Mall. It might not be a typical "ladies who lunch" venue, but we thought we'd give it a try.

The restaurant is your pretty standard sports bar kind of place, with a motor theme. There are television sets everywhere, and the place is famous for its manly meat snacks, treats like steaks and wings (and more than 25 kinds of wing sauces!).

The meals we ordered at our table were pretty representative of what the menu had to offer: pulled pork sandwich and onion rings for me; for my friends, wings, walking tacos, and chicken sliders. I think we all enjoyed our meals.

What made the place extra cool for me was the decor. It may be the only restaurant I have been to lately to feature race cars and motorcycles hanging from the ceiling. And I found myself thinking - more than once - Gee, I hope those strings those things are hanging from are STRONG ones!

For the soundtrack, I think we may need a cam-head sort of tune. How about this one? The Beach Boys, with 409.