Fremont Diner

It was sort of bittersweet to revisit the old Babe's burger shack in its new iteration`: a faux rustic diner farmhouse with fancy fried chicken and plenty of milkshakes. We stopped here first thing on our way to Sonoma and had a decadent post-flight meal. Of course they sport the now-iconic pig silhouette as their logo, and their menu is laden with pork products; I would have been more taken by the charm if I thought this place had been there for generations, but coming from Brooklyn I am just so darn skeptical of everything now.
But it was adorable and the menu was generous, with plenty of scintillating snack foods and dishes to come back for. M & I shared the Nashville Hot Chicken ("so spicy it will set a cheatin' man straight!") and a Mexican Chocolate shake, and I wish I had another stomach to have tried the oyster po'boy (though oysters were still to come on my California menu). Not to mention the brisket, reuben (prob would have shared this with C, had she been there) or the whole hog. The fennel pickles on our plate were a welcome touch after the overspiced, super-fried shell of the chicken, and the shake was amazing, served in the shake glass alongside the leftovers in the metal shake mixer, the way it should always be. If I sound hypercritical, it's only because I had high expectations of the reconstitution of one of my childhood favorites. I can definitely see making this a new coming-home-from-the-airport tradition.