McKenzie's Closed

My history for this particular site goes back a very long way, at least to my son's infancy if not before.  The establishment sits on an expanded road divider a short distance from the state line, my home being on the other side.  It got its start, at least to me, as an enormous salad bar known as the Grande Salad/Saloon.  To this day I've not eaten at one quite this large, advertised as sixty feet in length.  For a very modest sum people could help themselves to full satiety with a mixture of healthy and medically ill-advised.  I remember needing an escape while my wife still engaged in maternity leave.  We bundled our son, just a few weeks old, into his car carrier and drove to The Grande Salad for lunch one weekday.  No other infants but lots of other people.  And the shopping center that would attract people to the area had not yet been fully built on the northbound side of the street.  The modest price and over-abundance of food did not seem a very sustainable business model, though perhaps offset by the Saloon element and labor savings from not needing waitresses or cooks to individualize patron requests.  It closed not long after.

Still, it sat in a prime location, one with an expanding shopping center across the street, some nearby well established car dealerships, an expansion of suburban housing across the state line, and easily accessible from both northbound and southbound highway, as few businesses at the time were.  The site did not stay vacant that long, soon refitted as McKenzie's Brew House, a brew pub that entered on the ground floor of public interest in craft beer.  And they made pretty decent beer, in a state that still maintained a state monopoly on alcohol retail with limited ability for residents to purchase the newer brews on their own.  It became one of our destinations when we wished to eat out.  Not the closest place, though never burdensome to drive there.  They had their brew tanks visible through glass.  At the center stood an enormous bar, usually occupied by young working people who had not yet acquired a current significant other.  And tables, lots of them, with a patio as well.  On Sundays they had a brunch with make your own Bloody Mary.  The waitress would bring a measured portion of vodka in a highball glass followed by a trip to the bar where various fixings were laid out to customize the Sunday morning eye-opener.  The menu, brunch and dinner, always had ample choices within our dietary limitations.  Waitresses not always the most efficient.  But when I needed to go someplace reliable or take a visitor out to eat, McKenzie's became the top choice.  It remained so for decades.

This weekend I found myself a little stir-crazy, needing to go someplace I've not visited for a while.  I drove to the Whole Foods, now established in the shopping center across the street from McKenzie's expecting to get a Danish or a scone to snack on, but mostly to not be in my house.  Lunchtime on a Sunday would be prime brunch time at the restaurant, yet the parking lot appeared mostly empty.  I glanced over on my return trip, noticing that the McKenzie's features were no more, though the building structure seemed the same.  New signage, Now Open.  Crown Tavern.  McKenzie's is no more.  I don't know why the transition.  Owner retirement, Covid effect on business, too much hassle to run?  Don't know.

When I arrived home, I checked the online menu at Crown Tavern.  Also, beer focused but with very little on the menu within my dietary customs.  Not a suitable replacement.  While I enjoyed every meal I ate at McKenzie's, it never fully became my default place except for the very rare occasions I was expected to take guests out.  And their overhead must have been overwhelming.  Yet it served as a destination for decades, one not easily substituted.