After a month of acquainting myself with my new studio apartment’s kitchen it was time to head back out onto the rails. After a solid twelve hours of flying and driving along sunflower lined roads I arrived in the small town of Hettinger, North Dakota, my stomach as empty as the horizon. Realizing that it was 7pm on a Sunday evening I began to have grave thoughts of a Kum & Go convenience store dinner since the day of rest is taken quite seriously in these parts.
Luckily I was pointed to Peppy’s Family Dining (105 3rd St S Hettinger, ND 58639 (701) 567-5210)
where I was served fried pickles (whole dills don’tcha know), a Philly Cheese, some sliced iceberg, and a frosty beverage. The menu leaned heavily on the abilities of the teenage kitchen staff that could be seen working their tails off over stainless griddles and bubbling fryers when not spreading cheese and sauce atop pizza pies in the making. The mauve cafeteria tables and booths complemented the talk of last night’s wind among the local diners and formed the perfect background to unwind from a day of crisscrossing the country. My first meal in this state where it is still legal to shoot an Indian (Native American don’tcha know) from a covered wagon filled my belly nicely and left me wondering what else they throw into their fryers around here.
