The Boat

Those who grew up around here know The Boat. Well, anyone worth their salt knows The Boat. It's officially called The Galley but everyone I know has called it The Boat for as long as I can remember. The Boat was a restaurant that served delicious burgers, fries and rather large mugs of beer. The menu was simple as was the atmosphere. I say "was" because The (beloved) Boat has been closed and torn down to make room for yet another God damn Kohl's. The Kohl's is opening tomorrow but I don't see The Boat opening any time soon. What a rip off! The good news is that folks around these parts had such a fit about rumors of The Boat being shut down that they really had no choice but to relocate it to the south end of the Kohl's parking lot.

I know it's a silly thing, considering all that's going on in the world, but The Boat has been a simple pleasure for decades and I really miss it. On their site, they claim it's making a come back in Fall 2007. I drove by this evening and it didn't look like much progress has been made. Mostly, I'd like to know if the original boat will be returning or if they plan to use some lame pseudo boat instead.

The fun thing about The Boat was that you got in line next to the bar and actually walked through a boat and around to the other side of the bar to place your order. The poor chefs had to work in the guts of the old boat. They made great burgers but I always felt a little sorry for them because it looked so damn hot in there. Once you had your burger, fries and beverage in hand you sat on benches at long tables and enjoyed whatever sporting event happened to be on the (first generation, projector variety) large screen TVs. I miss those dumb TVs. The Packers are having a good year and it would have been fun to watch them win on one of those TVs. I suppose they'll reopen with snazzy new plasma TVs. Trouble is, plasma is a little too high falutin' for The Boat. I don't mind a place getting a nice scrub down, but I'd hate to see The Boat change much more than that.

Man, I really miss those burgers. Honestly, I couldn't even tell you what else is on their menu because it's all about the burger, fries and maybe the delightful blue cheese salad that is more blue cheese than salad. The Boat is low brow at it's very best and I miss it so.

So I ask you, does anyone know when The Boat will reopen? It would be perfect for my nights out with my high school friends. (Thank God Moffett's is still around.) And to my high school friends who read this blog, next time we have our August reunion, assuming The Boat is open, LET'S GO!

I found this loving photo of The Boat on Flickr. *wiping a tear away* It's so nice to know others love it too!