Our Chef's Salad Platter is a meal and then some.   First we begin with a base  of ample shredded lettuce, surround it with chopped celery, cucumbers, and  tomatoes, and on top of this lovely fresh salad is chopped baked ham, chicken  breast, and cheddar, onions optional. And we are not done yet. You have a  choice of Hot Rolls, Bisquits, Corn Muffins OR Crackers, and your choice of  dressings from Ranch, French, Thousand Island, Bacon-Dill or Italian.  And we  are not done yet.  You also have potato salad and cold slaw as a side  option.  And we are not done yet. You have an option of a deviled egg, hard  boiled egg, or pickled beet egg. All you need to do now is choose a  drink.........and happy chewing!

On this Cold Cut Platter, you see Virginia Baked Ham, Roast Beef,  American Cheese, Breast of Turkey, surrounded by sides of sliced tomatoes,  cole slaw, potato salad, and peaches.  You have a choice of Hot Rolls,  Bisquits, Corn Muffins OR Crackers, and your choice of dressings from Ranch,  French, Thousand Island, Bacon-Dill or Italian.  You have an option of a  deviled egg, hard boiled egg, or pickled beet egg.  All you need to do now is  choose your drink.

You may substitute other vegetables from our daily  menu of 16-20  choices of vegetables along with several dessert choices in  place of the vegetables shown.

We have a triple Club Sandwich that will keep you coming back again  and again. We begin with crisp buttered toast, and between the 3 pieces of  toast we layer Sliced Chicken Breast, Baked Virginia Ham, American Cheese,  Bacon, Lettuce, Tomato, Mayo Opt., and Onions Opt. This 'belly pleaser' is  served with potato chips, and optionals of french fries, fried onion rings  and deviled eggs.  From our daily menu list of vegetables and desserts, you  may choose other options. The drink choice here is iced tea.

This Seafood Platter is topped with an abundant supply of chilled  Shrimp. They sit atop a generous bed of lettuce, surrounded by chopped  tomatoes, cucumbers, celery, shredded cheddar and croutons. The choice of  dressing can be Thousand Island, Ranch, Bacon, Oil & Vinegar with  Seasonings, Casino (Reg OR Hot), Salsa (Reg OR Hot), Tartar Sauce with  Seasonings, or a delightful sweet and sour bacon dressing. You begin this  meal with a cup of Seafood Chowder and crackers. A couple of warm corn  muffins and a glass of cold milk just tantalizes the taste buds as you enjoy  the main course. And you finish this magnificent taste explosion with some  chilled canteloupe.

We also prepare this Seafood Platter with  Salmon OR White Meat Tuna.

Salads are not just for summer.  Our Stuffed Tomato with Chicken Salad,  made of all white meat chicken, is a year round favorite. You begin with a  cup of chicken noodle soup, or some other soup of the day choice, with  crackers. Then you will enjoy your Stuffed Tomato with side dishes of cole  slaw and potato salad, a hard boiled egg, and of course, a warm corn  muffin. Some chilled sweet fresh canteloupe is just the taste to remain on  your pallate when you are finishing such a meal. Ninety-nine per cent of  the diners prefer Iced Tea, however we also serve soft drinks, milk,  orange juice, coffee, and hot chocolate in the wintertime.

We also  stuff this tomato with Tuna Salad, Salmon Salad, Shrimp Salad or  Egg Salad.

Our Mexican Salad Platter is really a platter of all platters.  We begin with  a generous mound of chopped lettuce, and then we ring it with  chopped tomatoes, celery, cucumbers, shredded cheddar, and on top of the  mound of lettuce we pile 6 oz. of grilled chopped sirloin with seasonings and  bacon crackles. Included with this salad plate are onion ringlets, and  chopped fresh bell peppers.  Toppings include corn chips and sour  cream. We serve this with a hot mexican style dressing, or your choice of our  many (cool) salad dressings.

A slice of grilled garlic bread and a couple  of warm cornbread muffins will help put a coating on your stomach because we  do not serve antacids with your meal. Now, if you also desire Texas Pete or Tabasco on the salad, you're on your own! We're not thoughtless all  together. We provide you Iced Tea and our famous Dutch Style Sugarbread  stuffed with Apples, and with it some cold Ice Cream.

Eating in the fields of war presented many problems, fresh water  mainly, finding dried fruits, and a way to prepare things that could easily  be transported and cooked over an open fire, and women became masters  at preparing dishes to keep their men healthy and strong.

This dish is  a 4 meat rice and fresh vegetable main dish.  I use Baked Ham, Roast Beef,  Fresh Sausage or Roast Pork, and Breast of Chicken, and the seasonings and  vegetables are whatever is at hand and available.  The taste is captured in  the blending of seasonings and vegetables.  It is simmered long enough to get  the sought for blended taste of all the meats and vegetables just  perfect.

Here you see 'hot' fried corn, and a seasoned fried hominy.  For  a little sweet, we serve cinnamon apples, and dried sugared bing cherries.  The corn cakes are fried or grilled and served with honey and  jellies. The most favorite dish for dessert is called 'Bird's Nest Apple  Custard'. People think we made up the name but I myself found the recipe  right on the Web under Civil War dishes. Trying the different recipes has  been a challenge to me and I am glad to be learning to cook these dishes in  a 'kitchen'....oh yes!  Most certainly in the field there was no  such delight as a cold glass of sparkling Iced Tea.

This Dutch Style Salad Platter, one of our many platter salad plates, is  a  favorite.  We begin with a generous amount of shredded lettuce, chopped  celery, tomatoes and cucumbers, onions always being just an optional.  Then we top this salad with Chopped Baked Ham (not lunch meat), real Baked Ham,  Chopped Chicken Breast, Shredded Cheddar, (real cheese, not 'fake' cheese,)  Fresh Bacon Crackles, (not imitation stuff,) and we surround this salad with  scalded peas and carrots. We add a generous portion of fresh toasted  croutons and you are ready to dig in, served with your choice of bread,  crackers, rolls or corn muffins and also your choice of dressings from our  many home-made salad dressings. Here you see a generous cup of Ranch Style  Dressing, made from real sour cream, not imitation.  A side dish of pickled  beets and a pickled hard boiled egg is just right.

To top off such  a delightful meal is our home-made coconut cream cheese cake with cream  cheese icing and shredded coconut.  Now sit back and enjoy a cup of hot  coffee and probably loosen your belt and relax in the atmosphere of our  restaurant.

I was raised in Ohio and during the war years we grew up on  our own truck garden, raising rabbits and chickens, and once a month Mama  bought a beef roast for Sunday Dinner.  We learned to cook, to sew, to  preserve foods, and more than anything else, we learned to appreciate how  hard our parents worked to see that we did not go to bed hungry, even if it was a glass of milk and popcorn or a cup of tea and soda crackers.  I grew up always angry at my Mom for making me work from the age of 12 even to the buying and preparing of the meals, and packing Daddy's lunch and doing the laundry, cleaning, gardening, work, work, work, but that anger turned to a love so deep as time went on, no tongue can tell. I hope you will continue to enjoy this site and the songs and poems about my Mama. 

Here at the Sparrows Nest we try to tempt and tease and please every appetite.  Here you see a magnificent Oriental Salad. We begin with our Basic Salad consisting of shredded lettuce, chopped tomatoes, cucumbers  and celery, onions always being an optional choice.  This salad is topped with all white meat tuna, or other choices are salmon, chilled shrimp or chopped chicken breast.  Included in this salad is a generous portion of oriental vegetables.  Our own oriental oil and vinegar is sweet and sour at the same time and there are secrets to this sauce and we're not telling!  Some corn muffins where we add a little sugar to the mix, tantalizes the taste buds with "I can't believe I ate the whole thing saying" they being so warm and moist they fall apart in your hand.  Crunchy oriental noodles added a little at a time to retain their crunch, and a side order of unsweetened pineapple and cottage cheese beckon you to come again and again to enjoy this lovely salad platter year round.  Of course there is always a basket or bowl of crackers.  No dessert here......no room for anything except a hot cup of coffee.  If you desire a dessert, you can choose something from our daily menu choices where we have always several desserts to choose from.  With this meal, I would like to suggest a bowl of our fried fritters, made from apples, strawberries or a favorite, bananas.  We roll our fritters in cinnamon sugar or powdered sugar.  Now that calls for another cup of coffee and an extra order of fritters to take home for the midnight snack of milk and fritters.