Won't Leave Annie's Hungry

If diners can finish family-style dinner, seconds are on the house. By Owen Sheeran The Press Enterprise Oak Glen It’s always fun to take a drive up to this mile high village of apple orchards and quaint restaurants and shops. It’s one of the Inland area’s favorite spots to visit, especially during the autumn apple season. There aren’t too many places to eat in Oak Glen. Law’s Oak Glen Coffee Shop is one. So is Apple Annies Restaurant and Bakery, owned and operated by the Wilson / Fox families, who also own Oak Tree Village where the eatery is located. Open daily for breakfast, lunch and dinner, Apple Annie’s features a fairly typical, that’s not to say ordinary, by any means menu for breakfast and lunch. There are some daily specials, $6.95 - $8.95, . However, it’s the family-style dinner, a multi-course feast, that many people will probably want to try. After the homemade soup, salad, a platter of spaghetti and assorted breads, there’s the main course. Entrees include fried chicken and meat loaf, both $12.95; grilled halibut steak, $14.95; pork chops, $15.95; steak and shrimp, $19.95; and the Cowboy Steak, a 14-ounce Rib Eye for $22.95. Apple Annie’s homemade vegetable soup is very good, with lots of big veggies in a hardy broth. Our salads were big, cold and crisp. The tomato sauce on the spaghetti had many chunky tomatoes. The huge cornbread muffins and accompanying honey butter were excellent. A word of advice, with this many courses coming at you, take your time and enjoy your dishes. Sampling everything is better and healthier than trying to finish all your food. Susan, my fiancée, ordered the fried-chicken dinner, which came with breast, thigh and drumstick, mashed potatoes and gravy and fresh vegetables. She enjoyed it all, though after working our way through the earlier courses, she only had room to sample a small portion of her dinner and took the rest home. I tried the meat loaf and, likewise, was already pretty full from our previous courses. The meat loaf was nicely seasoned, though the gravy was somewhat salty. The grilled red potatoes were tender and flavorful, and the vegetables (carrots, broccoli flowerets and cauliflower) perfectly cooked. Dessert also is included in the family-style meal. Apple Annie’s motto is: “You will never go away hungry after eating all our food, because second helpings are on us. “That means if you finished all your family-style meal and are still hungry, you don’t have to pay for second helpings. The restaurant has a Western theme, complete with red and white checkered vinyl tablecloths, and old photographs, horseshoes and guns mounted on the wall. The waitresses wear cowboy hats and gun belts and a six-shooter.