Village Inn - Tulsa, OK

Nothing makes me feel more at home than Village Inn. When I was in high school, I spent countless hours of countless evenings there. Most places in Tulsa close at decent hours. But that never really deters high school students from staying out way later than is reasonable. We would go and sit at Village Inn until all hours of the night. It was open 24 hours a day, had the ideal diner menu, and had great coffee. Plus, there was smoking allowed inside. We weren't the only kids heeding the call of Village Inn. Into the early hours of the morning, the booths and tables were filled with groups of high school and college-aged kids sitting around sipping coffee and smoking cigarettes. It was the place to be.

So when I saw Village Inn, my heart leapt for joy. And not just any Village Inn but my Village Inn, the specific one where I spent the evenings of my wasted youth. I took a booth in the corner and took a look at the menu, although I didn't need to. I already knew exactly what I was going to order. Two eggs over medium, hash browns, bacon, and a biscuit. This is the meal that epitomizes comfort food to me.

At Village Inn, you have to order hash browns. They are the greatest thing in the world. When I moved away from Oklahoma to Chicago - a land of endless food options but no Village Inns near me - I spent years searching for some place that offered decent hash browns. The closest I ever got was Golden Olympic in Evanston, Illinois. But as good as their food was, it was nowhere near the pure hash brown joy of Village Inn. The other great Village Inn fare is the biscuits. (Are we noticing a trend in my love of carbs?) Biscuits are a Southern food art form. There is nothing worse than a heavy, stale, dry biscuit. But at Village Inn, the biscuits are everything they should be. Warm, moist and crumbly.

While Village Inn is a chain, so people may mock my love, it is the one diner where I feel truly at home. Sitting in that Village Inn, I felt connected to my past, to that awkward teenage girl who was quoting everything from Jack Kerouac to Robert Dahl to prove how smart she was. But then I am me. An adult, a law student, a woman who has left home to travel the country and the world. Sitting at Village Inn, I felt truly myself. Connected with my past, content in my present, and happy about my future.

This joins other food blog articles posted in Wanderfood Wednesdays on Wanderlust and Lipstick. Check them out!

Total Time Traveled: 9 hours

Total Distance Traveled: 522 miles

Soundtrack: "Cue the Theme Music" Playlist