A new spin on old favourite: car picnics

According to urban myth, when Tomahawk Restaurant in North Vancouver, B.C. first opened its doors in 1926 as a small coffee shop, it also started doing drive-in service.

But owner Chick Chamberlain’s futuristic foodie dream didn’t come to fruition for a variety of reasons: not many people owned cars, diners thought it was weird to eat anywhere outside the home or in a fancy restaurant, and it was just too darn dusty on those unpaved roads.

Another Vancouver eatery, White Spot, found success with this method just two years later and is known as the first drive-in restaurant in Canada, serving up their famous burgers and fried chicken.

Later, places like the Chickenburger in Bedford, N.S., and the Bid D Drive-in in Bathurst, N.B. also began making a name for themselves as a driving and dining destination — and still are today.

Fast forward to the 1950s and the carhop had become the place to be and be seen (and eat a great burger). Along with the popularization of cars came a revolution in the dining scene across North America. Roller girls twirled from car to car, delivering trays laden with supper for four under neon lights. A meal in the car became a Saturday night out.

But over the decades, those shiny trays attached to the side of the car have tarnished along with the idea that the drive-thru is lavish in any sense of the word.

Since the 1970s and the rise of fast-food chains across the country, the drive-through has been knocked down several pegs on the gastronomic class ladder, relegated to shameful late-night binging, road trips and long lines of commuters craving an earlymorning caffeine fix.

Somewhere along the way, we lost the romance of dining in our cars.

Then came COVID, and the new normal brought back some old traditions. The car picnic became cool again.

With social distancing as a mandatory activity, images of teens gathered in parking lots, chatting and eating from the back of their parents' cars, started to appear on social media. Restaurants brought back their long-forgotten carhop service for a whole new generation of diners as well as the older ones who returned in droves, powered by nostalgia.

During the peak of the first pandemic lockdown, my husband and I were searching for something to do. There are only so many walks you can take and the spring months in Newfoundland and Labrador aren’t exactly ideal for a picnic.

Then one day, I listened to a podcast interviewing famed chef Ina Garten who mentioned that she and her husband Geoffrey pack up a picnic, drive to their favourite viewpoint and have a car picnic every week. We took the Barefoot Contessa’s lead, grabbed a couple of sandwiches from Toslow on Water Street and headed to Middle Cove to watch the waves.

Our first car picnic was just the beginning. What once felt like a meal of convenience became an event we both looked forward to. Sometimes we would grab a carryout from our favourite local restaurant, other times we would plan a homemade feast. Real cutlery, cloth napkins, sometimes a faux candle or two. On the nicer days of spring, we sat in the back of our little SUV with the trunk open, looking out at the ocean.

It didn’t take much to upgrade the experience from “fast dinner on the run” to “memory-making meal.” And now, with the outdoor picnic season wrapping up, and the end of COVID restrictions nowhere in sight, we have decided it is a necessity to restart the car picnics.

Travelling salesmen (do they exist anymore?) and others who spend a lot of time in their cars might not be big fans. But making a moment out of a quick run through the drive-through is worth it these days.

Bon appetit and safe driving.