Frankie’s Eggplant Parmesan

A few years ago, Linda and I picked up basic provisions at our Marietta, Georgia hometown grocery store on our way back into town from visiting family. We decided we were too tired to cook after eight hours on the road. I called in a takeout order to Frankies’s of eggplant parmesan to split for our dinner — except we forgot to stop and pick it up when we drove right past the restaurant.

We got all the way home, then I face-palmed myself, and headed right back out again. Frankie’s was a complete zoo. They looked everywhere, but could not find the order. I was mildly annoyed, but it was Christmas Eve and everyone was in a good mood. They felt terrible and asked if they could make it up to me. So I asked them to throw in a greek salad, which they did at no charge, with profuse apologies.

While I waited for our food, I was chagrinned to see a recent outbound phone call with an unfamiliar area code on my cell phone…It turns out that there is a Frankie’s Bar and Grill — in Spring Hill, Tennessee — apparently with an unclaimed order of eggplant parmesan sitting right there on the counter 250 miles from Marietta, GA. I decided against paying UberEats to deliver, and I sincerely doubt they would have thrown in a greek salad. Merry Christmas y’all!