drivetofive

Odometer (Legend sedan):  146,187

Odometer (ILX):  108,115

Let’s eat.  A gigantic, cheesy neon sign with a steer on top of it was more than enough to lure me into a restaurant called Bill Johnson’s Big Apple on Van Buren Street in Phoenix on Saturday.  Each corner of the building’s rooftop had a cow perched on top of it, so right away I knew I was in for a treat.  After a quick picture with my Legend sedan, I stepped inside the swinging front doors and cruised back in time to about 1977, because evidently that’s the last time this restaurant received any kind of decor update.

Twangy country music – including some Christmas songs in the mix – played softly on surround sound, but otherwise things were very quiet (perhaps because I’d missed the lunch rush and beat the dinner rush) and I had my pick of just about any booth in the house.  I took a seat and glanced at the 4-page menu.  To be honest, I would have loved to indulge in the 10-ounce USDA Prime Top Sirloin for $18.99 — and I’m sure it would have been delicious — but I simply didn’t have the appetite at the time.  I instead went with the Smokehouse Quesadilla filled with BBQ pulled pork and cheddar cheese, which I rate at a solid 8 out of 10.

Bill Johnson’s has been a Phoenix landmark since 1956, when Van Buren Street was one of the city’s critical arteries and it was lined with modern motels and restaurants.  Today, nearly 60 years later, the neighborhood is the type of place where you probably don’t want to be wandering around in the middle of the night.  Traffic has shifted to the parallel Loop 202 freeway and the few restaurants and motels that remain on Van Buren are run-down and best described as “sketchy.”

Somehow, though, Bill’s has endured.  The theme is “Authentic Arizona Cowboy Grub,” true to the atmosphere that Bill and his wife Gene envisioned when they first opened the restaurant.  It will come as no surprise that Bill’s car was a Cadillac with longhorns mounted to the hood.  Bill’s legend (and I’m not talking Acuras) lives on and I’d recommend a pit stop to anyone looking for a fun dining experience with a kick-back vibe and tasty food.

This weekend, I pulled my Legend sedan out of storage to put a few miles on it.  It went to Acura of Tempe for its semi-annual oil change with 5W30 oil.  Everything checked out on the inspection except for a dying battery and some rear brakes that could probably be done in the not-too-distant future.  The car had driven just 1,539 miles since its last oil change on July 12th, and the bulk of those miles were for a drive to Los Angeles and back for the 10th annual National Acura Legend Meet (NALM) that month.

Here are the rest of my pictures from this Saturday quick drive.

View from my booth at Bill Johnson’s

Motto at Bill Johnson’s

My menu selection

Not a bad looking meal!

Back to the car we go

In for service at Acura of Tempe

Quick pics at the Vietnamese Martyrs Catholic Church on Northern Avenue

Unique architecture for the Phoenix area!

Tucked away in the garage with the NSX.  I do love these sedan taillights at night.

ILX drive across Mill Avenue bridge in Tempe

Over and out!  Hope everyone had a nice weekend.

This entry was posted on December 22, 2014 at 7:57 am and is filed under Legend, Maintenance. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.