Mao's Drive-in... In Charlotte?

South 21 Drive In
3101 E. Independence Boulevard

Charlotte, North Carolina, 28205

Food: Drive in Burgers, Dogs, Fried Fish, Shakes

Well there is no doubt that coming off an amazing experience like the one I, SuitOchoCinco, had at The Penguin the night before this, I had my hopes set pretty high. I just knew that the 1955 Drive In “South 21” was going to be great and probably better that my experience at the “Bird.”

Being that they are closed on Sundays and Mondays I had to postpone my visit to this “Diners, Drive Ins and Dives” highlighted eatery until the second leg of my trip, but rest assured I hauled proverbial tail to get there after my last meeting of the day. Driving up I had a childlike excitement brewing in my stomach and the sight of the place upon driving in was awesome… Looked like it was frozen in time. As I pulled up to the pre historic squawk box and reviewed the menu … there it was… “The Super Boy” with cheese… after all, the caption declared “it was a meal in itself”… out-freaking standing… bring it on…

I pressed the order button the box and I was excitedly greeted by…. Wait… no… I was definitely not excitedly greeted by anyone. In fact the first words thru the box were… “Yeah?”… taken aback I paused and hesitantly ordered my Superboy with cheese followed by asking “What else are you famous for?” to which the man responded… “nuttin…fish I guess” … again I took pause and then said “well I’ll look at the menu and decide on something else” to which the overly exuberant employee on the other end responded “better hurry we closin”… ahhh…. We closin…. “Ok, thanks jackslap… Ill take the burger then.”

I took a look around and the place was well kempt… preserved if you will… but the one thing that finally dawned on me was that it had no heart, absolutely no passion, no branding and no love. While the owners had done an amazing job preserving the structure they had done a piss poor job of maintaining atmosphere. It was like… for lack of a better description… ever drive down I-95 past the “South of the Border” billboards plastered everywhere? The day you finally stop and walk in you are completely disgusted because it’s a multitude of crap in a soul less gambit of buildings. That was South 21…

Well the burger arrived with ice cold fries approximately 5 minutes later (no surprise.. they wanted to go home) and it was pretty good. I was handed 4 packets of “Hunts” ketchup for my fries and that was it … all I could handle… HUNTS? Really? Why not post a picture of Chairman Mao on the front door or maybe fly the flag of red China? HUNTS!? In a 60 plus year old eatery you serve Hunts ketchup? Lemme guess you like curling too? Or maybe blueberry pie over apple? That was it… I finished my burger and choked my cold fries down and left… Disappointed to say the least… Later I actually drove for over an hour around and around the city attempting to wrap my head around what just happened.

A 50’s style… Happy Daysesque drive in… that was as personable as a starving alligator in the winter months that served ice cold french fries and packets of Hunts ketchup. … the Fonz would have never approved… nor would he have jumped his motorcycle in their parking lot.

It was a drive in… so beer wasn’t sold there but definitely necessary… and to be honest the burger was good… everything else was just poor… just plain poor…

Oh yeah… and they didn’t even have bell hops… they had an angry 50 something black man that wanted to go home…

Thbpppppt... I jumped in my sleek black free upgrade Chevy "I love militant Unions" Impala and fled for the my hotel...

RATING: I wouldn’t wear the shirt if they paid me. (Go to Sonic… yeah… I said it)

The "Bird" IS most definitely the word...

The Penguin Drive-In

1921 Commonwealth Ave.

Charlotte, NC 28205

Food: Dive

After the near debacle I experienced in the Land of Lincoln (or as I know it “Land of Big Government Cronyism) I was relieved to be back below the Mason Dixon Line and in the mood for food that would erase my mid-west mind numbing experience.

Needless to say I found it. And it took less than 4.423721 minutes.

The Penguin Drive In, or “the Bird” as the locals call it, is a local institution in Charlotte North Carolina. It’s been around for 60 years and is steeped in tradition and history. I know that because the place looks like it hasn’t been cleaned since then, and in my book, that’s a good thing.

Upon my arrival I was immediately at home. See… SuitOchoCinco can fit in anywhere. But he prefers the salt of the earth, real blue collar men and women that don’t sugar coat anything and are forthright in their opinion and unabashed about their food. The Penguin is such a place.

From the pre-historic rotating sign greeting you as you pull in; to the rust coated sign declaring “sandwiches and short orders” this place was my kinda joint. As I carefully navigated the abundance of potholes and pulled into the parking lot I knew I was in for a treat.

And I deserved it. After marinating in 3 hours of delays in the airport the night before, and dealing with the incompetent and rude Avis rent-a-car clerk, it was going to take more than the free upgrade from the sub compact to the full sized Impala to turn my mood around. I got barely any decent sleep and sat in meeting after meeting all day today and was ready to loosen my tie and have a beer.

I walked to the front door past the remnants of the prior life of this business when it was a full service drive thru over 45 years ago. There were still outdoor counters against long but-gone sliding ordering windows next to a water fountain from circa 1963. I entered thru the heavily armored front door blazoned by a neon “open” sign. See apparently after its hay days in the 50’s, 60’s the Carter administration had as much affect on this establishment as it did on America. It destroyed it. This area became seedy and overrun by a rotten element and before it closed temporarily for awhile the steel bars on the doors were a necessity.

That’s ok though, because its back, and with a vengeance I might add. As I walked in the door you couldn’t help but notice the nearly 50 “Best of” awards this place has stacked up in the past 9 years and I couldn’t help but smile, I knew this was gonna be good.

I sat at the rag tag barely put together bar and was greeted by a beautiful, but heavily tattooed, pierced and died haired barkeep named Lisa. The rest of the staff was pretty much the same… all of their skin was adorned in heavy amounts of ink and they all had holes where the good Lord didn’t intend for there to be them, and I’m pretty sure the dress code was ripped jeans and t-shirts… but it couldn’t get any better. The cook gave me a dirty look and I knew, I was in for a ride.

I opened the menu and immediately knew. I needed the Big Block Burger, 2 1/3 pound patties “Southern Style” (Chili, Fresh Cut Yellow Onion, Slaw and Mustard) Slathered in Cheese along with their signature and world renowned (literally) homemade pimento cheese melted between two pieces of toast and a pint of their local brew, Farmer Teds Pale Ale to wash it down.

A picture is worth a thousand words so instead of describing the food I’ll let you be the judge.

Yeah. I know… It was simply freaking fantastic, with my first bite I was drawn to proclaim, “Holy Crap!” and everyone looked at me and smiled, it had obviously happened before.

On a side note, I had obviously gotten there just in time (about 4:45) because a pile of prospective patrons began to flood the building as I was finishing up and I had to wade thru a sea of expectant guests just to reach my sleek black “free upgrade” Chevy “I took a Bailout” Impala to leave this Mecca of burger delight. (I was told by Lisa there is a 45 minute wait everyday at lunch and dinner and the ”wait” is forced out of this very tiny establishment into the sweltering heat the South tends to deliver, by the way….yeah they don’t care, it’s well worth it.)

PS Apparently they are also famous for their monstrosity of "Pig Pickin" every Fourth of July... which was basically the cherry on top of this already amazing experiance. Go to the "Bird"

Rating: Seriously thought about buying the t-shirt but it didn’t look like the case hadn't been opened in ten years and seriously the shirt was as grimy as the floor J