A fun place for ladies who lunch

Earlier this week, my friend Deberah and I were in LaGrange and decided to have lunch at a restaurant whose name I hadn't heard in years, A Taste of Lemon. It's housed in the old Second Methodist Episcopal Church, which was moved to this location and has now been a restaurant for 32 years, according to the lovely young woman who served us. (Go here and scroll down to the bottom of the page if you wish to see an earlier view of the building.)

Inside, this was our view from our seat near the platform or pulpit area of the church.

And when we checked out, this is the view looking back toward our seats. I had actually been to this restaurant about 20 years ago and only recently learned it was still in business. There had been a fire in a neighboring building some years ago, and I guess I assumed A Taste of Lemon was no more, but happily it is still there and apparently thriving.

For my lunch, I chose the sweet tea (of course!) along with the ham and cheese quiche, okra, green beans, and what I'm told is a popular vegetable substitution, the pineapple casserole. The meal came with cornbread, and though I find most restaurant cornbread to be very dry, this was perfect, quite moist and ungreasy. I really, really enjoy good cornbread and can pretty much eat just a slice or two of that for supper and be satisfied. (Is that a southern thing? Any northern or western cornbread fans out there?)

But back to that amazing pineapple casserole … what a great, old-fashioned recipe this was! Chunks of pineapple, cheese, a buttery Ritz cracker topping—yum! My whole meal was very tasty and not at all greasy as some southern cooking can be.

Deberah ordered the vegetable plate, which included a sampling of all 10 vegetables, and she too substituted the pineapple casserole for one. She said this is just about the best vegetable plate she has ever had—and this is a woman who knows, and loves, her veggies! We both agreed that in warmer weather, we want to return and try the salad plate, which comes with a heap of things including chicken salad, pasta salad, congealed salad, a frozen salad, maybe a broccoli salad. It was so much I can't remember it all!

I couldn't help asking our server if A Taste of Lemon ever has teas. They don't, but the facility is rented out for other events such as luncheons and parties, so I suppose it's possible some individuals have hosted teatime there. Wouldn't this be ideal for a tea room, though? Obviously a restaurant that's been in business so long is doing quite well and doesn't need input from outsiders, but I can certainly dream that one day they'll branch out into the tea business!