Shortly after the Orioles inked lefty reliever Jamie Walker as a free agent, Jamie joined Tom Davis and me by telephone on our Saturday MASN/ESPN Radio 1300 show. As I mentioned in a prior column, Walker and I are both alumni of Austin Peay State University in Clarksville, Tenn.
About halfway through the interview, I asked Jamie if he?d been a regular customer of Johnny?s Big Burger, just across from APSU?s main gate on College Street.
It brought him to life, as he spoke of countless days and nights eating great burgers and the famous grilled honey bun with ice cream that has become a Johnny?s trademark.
“Ever eat one of those?,” he asked.
“Eat one? Jamie, I think I invented it,” I replied.
Investigating further, I traveled back to my alma mater a couple weeks ago and sat down with Johnny Meeks, the proprietor and chief cook at the establishment that bears his name. Was it or was it not me who came up with the concept of a grilled pastry?
“I really don?t remember,” he said. But wasn?t it me who came up with putting pickles under the cheese on a burger? “Well, that didn?t really catch on after you left.”
No less a great idea, for sure, but unlike the honey bun, it didn?t have legs. The grilled honey bun is actually mentioned in ads for Johnny?s.
“Y?know, I don?t think we were grilling honey buns then,” he said. “Doughnuts, maybe.”
He was right. It was a glazed doughnut that I suggested be heated up on the same grill where they grilled burgers and fried bacon and eggs. But what is a honey bun if not just a glazed doughnut in a different configuration?
“If you want to take credit for it, go ahead,” Johnny said, “but it?s not like I?m gonna give you any money.”
That?s fine. Just wanted to leave my mark on the culinary arts, however humble it may be.
Walker, by the way, says he makes grilled honey buns at home for his family, though he admits it?s not the same as the cooking surface at Johnny?s. Meeks has likely grilled more than a million hamburgers since first picking up a spatula in 1961. No pre-formed patties for Johnny?s ? he?s very picky about what he cooks.
Every burger starts out as a wad of meat, which he flattens with a spatula before putting on the grill. He admits it?s getting harder to get meat delivered the way he wants it ? that most meat suppliers want to sell him ground beef in a tube, which has a higher fat content. He knows what?s made him the hamburger icon of Clarksville, and he?s not going to mess with success after all these years.
If you?re in Clarksville, stop at Johnny?s and tell him Jamie Walker ? or I ? sent you. He?s open 5 a.m. to 11 p.m. And don?t forget to try a grilled honey bun. It?s worth the trip.
Phil Wood has covered baseball in the Washington/Baltimore market for more than 30 years. You can reach him at [email protected].
