I felt like I’d been hit by a train — in a good way — after I finished lunch at Silver Caboose Restaurant & Soda Fountain in Collierville.
My table did look like a train wreck after I finished eating, what with all the dishes and glasses, which contained the delicious items I ordered while I was at the popular lunch spot.
I hadn’t been in the Silver Caboose since before the pandemic, so I had to have my fill of their salad plates.
I’m a sucker for tomato aspic and everything that usually goes with it. So, I ordered the “Mixed Salad Plate,” which included tomato aspic, chicken salad, peach and cottage cheese, asparagus spears, and an incredibly tasty Catalina dressing. It didn’t come with pimento cheese, so I ordered a bowl of that on the side.
But then I realized I really wanted the salad plate with the little sandwiches, so I ordered the tomato aspic plate with pimento cheese, egg salad, cream cheese and olive finger sandwiches.
Then I wanted to try their frozen fruit, so I ordered a side of that.
But what I originally went in there to try was their peanut butter milkshake.
Someone wrote about how good the shake was on a Facebook post weeks ago. I’ve wanted to stop by and try one.
I love milkshakes, but I usually get malted milks, and I usually get vanilla. I don’t think I’ve ever had a butterscotch shake. And I hadn’t had a peanut butter milkshake until my visit to Silver Caboose. It was outstanding.
It’s not their most popular shake, says manager Julie Felton. I say it might be after I write it up. To which, she says, “I’d better stock up on more peanut butter, huh?”
I asked Felton about the history of the peanut butter shake.
“There’s no history,” she says. “Someone just, one day years ago, came in and said, ‘Can you make a peanut butter milkshake?’ And we’re like, ‘Yeah. Sure. We’ve got peanut butter.’ So, we made it for that person. And, I guess, the word just got out that we make them. So, more and more people request it.”
They have about a dozen flavors of milkshakes, Felton says. “Chocolate is the most popular one.”
People come up with different flavors like “strawberry banana,” she says. “My grandson will mix rainbow sherbet and Sprite and call that a milkshake.”
That, actually, sounds delicious.
Getting back those salad plates, recipes for some of the items, including the tomato aspic, came from the old Knickerbocker Restaurant, says Felton. Her mother, Silver Caboose owner Mary Jean Smith, worked for the late Vernon Bell, who owned the Knickerbocker.
As a summer special, Silver Caboose is offering “Cool Salads For a Hot Summer.” These include their “Summer Salad Sampler,” which, according to the menu, is, “A fresh fruit compote surrounded by petite scoops of our homemade chicken salad, pimento cheese, egg salad, and tuna salad on green leaf lettuce.”
The one they almost can’t make enough of, Felton says, is “A Robbie Salad,” which, according to the menu, is “Mixed greens with garden veggies, topped with grilled chicken, chopped with “craisins” (dried cranberries) and pecans. So crunchy. We recommend our own Catalina dressing with this one.”
I probably should have stuck with petite servings, but I’m already planning my next visit to the Silver Caboose, which is celebrating its 25th anniversary this year. It opened in February, 1996, Felton says. “I’ve been here everyday,” she says.
Silver Caboose Restaurant & Soda Fountain is at 132 Mulberry Street on the square in Collierville.