"It's not fancy, but it's like a tradition," said a friend, talking about the Silver Fork restaurant on South Rainier Avenue.
"There's a restaurant where everybody goes, called the Silver Fork," said another friend. "It's like a Rainier Valley tradition."
Tradition is the word that kept popping up, so last Saturday my teenage son and I headed to the Silver Fork for lunch. We discovered a roomy, bright, clean, traditional diner with wooden chairs and padded booths, and a menu that seems to say "Atkins Diet stay away from my door."
We settled into a booth next to one of the big, plate-glass windows that line the place. It was after 1 p.m. but breakfast is served all day and my late-rising son decided breakfast was just the thing.
Tor had the regular breakfast with bacon, a glass of grape juice, sliced peaches ("What's breakfast without fruit?") and a side of grits. I chose the club sandwich triple-decker, which comes with choice of French fries, potato salad or a cup of soup. I chose fries, of course.
Tor's peach slices showed up after the juice and before the entrees. He bent down to the bowl and proceeded to slurp one of the wedges like a strand of spaghetti. He was wearing a green, camouflage T-shirt that said, "Ha, now you can't see me." I could only hope.
"How genteel," I observed. That struck him funny and he started laughing so hard with his mouth full that I expected to see peaches squirt out of his nose. That didn't happen, but there followed an episode of recurring giggles and laughter that made other diners look away. Maybe they really couldn't see him.
My club sandwich was very good; the fries deserve special mention. They were delicious and all of them crispy, not a limp one on the plate.
Tor liked the bacon. He was especially pleased with the toasted English muffin.
"Mmmm, that looks good," he said as he lifted and examined it. Then he took a bite.
"That is good," he declared, announcing not only that the toasted English muffin was perfect, but that it was the best English muffin he had ever had.
The grits, the first he had ever had, were not destined to become a personal favorite. Having grown up in the near south, I declined to even taste them. Grits are, I think, an acquired taste. It is an acquisition I have never made.
"What's this made of?" he asked, quizzically examining a spoonful. "It doesn't taste bad, there just isn't much to it." Corn, grits are made of corn.
"They are the best grits I've ever had," he said optimistically, then looked again at the spoon with a frown. "Oatmeal is so much better ..."
The food, though not gourmet, is high quality and comes in ample portions. It is not surprising that the Silver Fork is a tradition.
"Yeah, it is," agreed Malina Bash, our server, who is also the granddaughter of owners Larkin and Estella Potts. As we chatted, her grandfather was busy in the back of the restaurant and her mother was cooking. Running the restaurant is a family affair. Established just more than 15 years ago, Malina has been working there six years.
"We've got a lot of regulars that come in on a daily basis," Malina said. "We have people who have been coming in since we opened, and on Sundays we get our church crowd coming in."
They make Sunday a busy day, but they are expected.
"We get the same church crowd, you know they're coming. It's a faithful church crowd," Malina said.
She added that weekdays can get busy too, especially in the summer.
The menu has breakfast (served all day) on the left side and lunch on the right. The "regular" breakfast comes in three price categories (from $5.95 to $6.80) with six two-egg variations: with bacon or links; with sausage patty; or with turkey patty, ham or fresh-ground beef steak. All of them come with choice of hash browns, creamy grits or a short stack of pancakes.
Breakfast doesn't stop there. There is a wide offering of egg combinations (chicken-fried steak, sirloin steak, chicken drumettes etc.), pancakes, waffles, toast, omelets - nearly anything you have ever seen on a breakfast menu except (darn!) corned beef hash. The early bird special, Monday through Friday from 7 to 9 a.m., offers two bacon slices or two sausage links, two eggs and two pancakes for just $3.20.
The right side of the menu offers a wide selection of sandwiches ranging from grilled cheese (just $3.90) to a fish sandwich ($7.25) with ham, BLTs and burgers in between. There is also a selection of "hearty specialties" that include a sirloin steak sandwich ($7.50), juicy pork chop sandwich ($8), chili dog, burgers and something called a Soul Burger ($8.35) that may well be worth investigating.
Dinner entrees (10 in all) include liver and onions (not found just anywhere), deep fried catfish (something else I must try) and a 12-ounce T-bone steak. Prices range from $10 (liver) to $23 (big steak).
Senior Citizen Day is Tuesday, when customers 63 and older get a 20 percent discount.
The food is good, the portions are ample and the atmosphere is family. No wonder people keep coming back. That is the kind of place that builds tradition.
The Silver Fork, 3800 Rainier Ave. S., is open 7 a.m. to 4 p.m. Monday through Friday, 7 a.m. to 5 p.m. Saturday and Sunday, and closed Wednesday. Takeout is available, or orders can be called in ahead of arrival at 721-5171.
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