Well hey! This is my new friend Angry Dog, he’s from Connecticut. I was on my way up to Providence when I realized it was way past dinner time, so I wandered into a little town called Old Saybrook, where I found this place:
Pat’s Kountry Kitchen was mostly empty by the time I got there. There was one table of six truckers still eating and one family of 10 finishing up at an adjacent table. Pat’s is special for a couple of reasons: a sign out front said it had been voted the best seafood restaurant in Connecticut (I ordered a veggie burger), they served me the best grilled summer squash I think I’ve ever had, and the place was still decorated for Christmas. I’m not sure if the Christmas decorations were a gimmick or just laziness, but there were definitely teddy bears in Christmas hats and a couple portraits of Santa haphazardly strewn about between the antique blue plates and a green wooden arrow pointing up with Jesus’ face carved at the top.
My meal was delicious, fast and cheap, so when I left I snapped a couple pictures like the one above to celebrate the first roadside meal of my trip. This was when I met Angry Dog for the first time.
While I was waiting for a couple of cars to pull out of the parking lot so I could get a shot of the front, I wandered over to the side of the restaurant to document the “Best Seafood in Connecticut” claim. As I inched further and further to the left away from the spotlight, the silence was broken a RUSH of air and growling objection from Angry, who had awaken from his nap to run as far as his rope would let him, which turned out to be about 8 inches from my left knee.
“Oh hi,” I said.
“I HATE YOU,” Angry said.
“Maybe we just need to get to know each other?”
“I HATE YOU I HATE YOU I HATE YOU.”
“I’m not hurting your restaurant, don’t worry- I’m celebrating!”
“I HATE YOU SO MUCH FOREVER I CAN’T EVEN BREATHE.”
After a few minutes of discussion, I think we found some middle ground, making Angry my friend of the day. Here he is again, perfectly captured I think:
4 responses so far ↓
Rebecca // May 7, 2008 at 4:38 pm
Angry Dog….is angry.
Rebecca // May 7, 2008 at 4:38 pm
Also, you totally stopped at that restaurant when you saw the heart shaped neon “open” sign in the window.
Dave // May 7, 2008 at 6:06 pm
“I HATE YOU SO MUCH FOREVER I CAN’T EVEN BREATHE.”
I’ve been thinking the same thing about my bosses all day at work!! I like this dog.
Lindsey // June 4, 2008 at 6:10 pm
Hmm, that dog looks FIERCE! As Tyra would say…
Leave a Comment