Those employed in delivery work in the United States appear to have a much better deal than us in the United Kingdom. Not only do they rarely have to put up with roundabouts and Victorian road layouts, but they also have long stretches of freeways and classic American diners in which they can take a pit stop. However, there is one diner that you may not want to feast on after a heavy day of carrying out delivery work in the US of A….
The Roadkill Café located on America’s famous Mother Road has a menu that would make even the most adventurous delivery worker blanch at the gills. For starters, would Sir like the flat cat or the thumper on the bumper, a rabbit dish which claims on the menu to be a Disney favourite? The choices are endless and get worse as the menu goes on. The mains include rigor mortis tortoise and chunk of skunk, while a further section of the menu is devoted entirely to man’s best friend, with dishes including collie hit by a trolley and German Shepherd Pie. The restaurant’s speciality is named Guess That Mess and diners that successfully guess the species of the flattened animal on their plate will receive their dish for free.
If you catch sight of the cocktail menu, you will be pleased that you’re carrying out delivery work and therefore can’t sample any of these alcoholic concoctions. Bucket Delight contains gravel and if you finish the whole item you’ll receive it for free. The Crank Case Slip is road killed squirrel mixed with oil and churned with ice.
In case you hadn’t already guessed the name of the café and the menu is a joke. The joint is actually better known for its charbroiled burgers, than for the unidentified road kill which it claims to serve. The diner is now something of an institution and, whereas trades descriptions officers would have a field day if such a store opened in the UK, patrons are keen to munch on their charbroiled burgers and imagine that they really are chewing on the fillet of a flattened cat.
Delivery workers who are particular about how their steaks and burgers are cooked will love the Roadkill Cafe, as guests are invited into the kitchen to watch the chef cook their meat and then signal when their burger is cooked to their satisfaction. The café is located near to the site of the old OK Saloon, which still holds relics from its Cowboy past. If you have some spare time after carrying out your delivery work then you may want to take a visit to both this venue and the old Arizona Territorial Jail which stands opposite and used to host such notorious outlaws as Four Finger Frank and Seligman Slim.
If a charbroiled burger and a visit to an old prison just can’t compete with your disappointment at not sampling any real roadkill, then you may want to head to the namesake restaurant in Darwin, Australia. The restaurant serves flattened fauna from the Australian Highway and like its Arizonan counterpart has the slogan ‘You kill it, we grill it’. The chef, Mark, claims that no food is ever wasted and crocodile, emu, camel, wallaby, possum and kangaroo all make an appearance on the menu. The Roadkill Café’s claim to fame is Sheela, a 3.5m saltwater crocodile that was caught in the bay at the adjacent Mindil Beach Markets and who then met her end when her captors took her to the Roadkill Café. Her skull stands on the front of the barbecue grill like a trophy and this incredible catch has yet to be beaten.
Author Resource:
Lyall Cresswell is the Managing Director of Haulage Exchange, the leading online trade network for the road transport industry across the UK and Europe. It provides services for delivery work (http://www.haulageexchange.co.uk/ ) to buy and sell road transport and freight exchange in the domestic and