T(ea) Stands For Detour

A couple of days ago, my friend Sally and I were heading to Sam's, a US warehouse membership club where you buy items in large quantities.  Sally has a membership and she's always good about taking me.  It's where I buy all of Bleubeard's supplies (both in and out--you cat owners know what I mean), coffee, and much of my frozen food.  We got sidetracked because I saw the sign for PizzaTacos.  I was curious, so asked Sally to stop and I'd treat her to lunch.

I confess that Sally wasn't nearly as enthusiastic about the place as I was, but she agreed to stop.  Of course, she stayed in the car while I took photos of the building

and the menu.

It didn't take long to realize it was also a bar, with outside seating that was not being used.  After all, it's still cold in Kansas, although most of the snow had disappeared: all that is, except in the residential areas.

When I got back to the car, Sally asked me what was on the menu.  I confessed I had NO idea, i was just taking photos.  She took a look at the menu and wasn't sure she wanted to go in, but I told her if nothing else, we could pig out on their salad bar.

Unfortunately, when we got inside, we learned they didn't have a salad bar, but they DID have a pizza buffet.  The crust on about 1/3 of the pizzas was made from flour tortillas.  We were the only people in the restaurant, since it was during that "dead" time between lunch and dinner.  Sally told the owner (later learned it was Charlie, himself) it was our first visit.  That's when he told us that our meal was on him!  Can you believe it?  I was stunned.

Sally offered to buy drinks.  After all, I had told her I would pay for our meal, but even the drinks were included per Charlie.

He even brought the salad out from the fridge.

Of course, I couldn't let him off the hook.  I had to get a photo of him, even though I had to be quick about it, since he admitted he was camera shy.

Sally was getting her salad when I found a place to throw my purse down.

It was fun getting some uninterrupted photos of the hockey game that was on TV, and a few shiots of some of the photos, too. 

This was the original Charlie's Pizza Taco shop, probably from 1965.  It's certainly changed a lot since then.

The other photographs were equally lovely, although I got my camera in the reflection of the glass.

Sunflowers seemed to be a theme in the restaurant, too.  They were everywhere you looked: on the walls and on the tables.  They were even on the end of the counter where you paid.

It took me awhile, but I finally got my meal about the time Sally was finishing her first plate.  You can see we're both enjoying a soft drink, too.  Yes, I played little miss piggy, because there is nothing better than pizza and nothing better than FREE.  After all, I come by my moniker "Dr. E, Queen of Free" honestly.

I couldn't have been happier, and told Sally what a great dining experience this was, as opposed to the horrible way we had been treated at Ciao's a few week earlier.  And although it wasn't a restaurant we would normally frequent, we had a wonderful experience and Sally even smiled several times.  Unfortunately we both ate way more than we should have, and decided to visit Sam's someday this week.

If you like pizza that is not made by a corporation average, you will love Pizza Taco.  Some of the offerings included spinach and four cheeses, tomato and basil, and veggie barbeque.  There were various meats, too, and Sally said a couple were with both chicken and sausage, along with other ingredients she wasn't sure of.

What detours did you experience this week?  Were you taken by surprise at something someone did for you?  Did someone do something that makes you want to "pay it forward?"  Share any experience you like, as long as it can, in some way, be related to your drink.  That can be art, photography, scrapbooking, card making, flower arranging, anything.  And it can be taken any day, too, as long as you add your direct link below.  BTW, can you believe this is the final week of February?  2014 is whizzing by.