Hang Town Fry

[SOLANCO]

That dish just popped out of my memory and into my salivary glands. Between wives and pressed for money in the 80's I worked full time and bartended two part time jobs. Place I closed Saturday nights would cook me a hang town fry. I would eat it with a glass of "champagne". Sometimes they would vary it with steak and eggs.
A lot of us working as bartenders, waiters, waitresses, bus boys in the big city had no local family. Come a holiday like Thanksgiving we had no place to go. But Chinatown in Philadelphia was open. I remember a buddy "borrowing" a school bus from his employer and taking a damn big bunch of us to Chinatown.
Society is a lot more regulated and orderly now. And a whole lot more boring.

 

[CuNosecap]

Not sure what a Hang Town Fry is exactly, but I am suddenly hungry.

 

[windini]

I, too, want to know: how does one make a Hang Town Fry?!

A lot of us working as bartenders, waiters, waitresses, bus boys in the big city had no local family. Come a holiday like Thanksgiving we had no place to go. But Chinatown in Philadelphia was open. I remember a buddy "borrowing" a school bus from his employer and taking a damn big bunch of us to Chinatown

When I was in college, there was always a contingent who couldn't or didn't want to go "home" for the holidays. So one year I told a few folks I was cooking a Thanksgiving turkey & they could come hang out if they wanted to. Had a fine meal with about 6 guests. I took to calling it "orphan's Thanksgiving." Did it again the next year... and again... It went on long after graduation.

After 5 or so years of this, some of the regulars started bringing their parents! At one of the last ones, we had 27 people.

Home is where the heart is. If you cook it, they will come.

 

[JEBMs]

I looked it up, this from Wikipedia:
Hangtown fry is a type of omelette made famous during the California Gold Rush in the 1850s. The most common version includes bacon and oysters combined with eggs, and fried together.[1]
When I got divorced I quit the river and started driving a truck for a friend that owned a small truck line in Memphis. A buddy of mine would drive all week and on Friday and Saturday nights he would work in our boss’ brother’s high dollar steak house. Bartenders, and waiters and waitresses don’t start their night till the restaurant closes and then the party starts. It is a whole other world. I hung out with them a few times and learned about parts of Memphis that I didn’t know existed.

 

[SOLANCO]

Yes! That is the Hangtown Fry I am talking about! And when I was younger and between wives the party did start after the bars and restaurants closed. There were "private" clubs that could stay open for two hours after the mandatory 2AM closing time for regular bars/restaurants. They were the places all the bartenders/waiters/waitresses went. I could write more, but this is a family sort of venue.