DINING
CURBSIDE
Carhop TWOHEYS PUTS A NEW SPIN ON A CLASSIC TRADITION BY CHRISTINA FUOCO-KARASINSKI
Carhops deliver takeout orders to guests at Twoheys. The rollerskating outdoor servers were popular at the legendary restaurant from the 1950s to the mid1970s.
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Photos courtesy Twoheys
W
ith the tagline of “Making memories since 1943,” Twoheys has added a touch of fun to an already miserable 2021. The South Pasadena eatery has resurrected carhops, the rollerskating outdoor servers who were popular at the legendary restaurant from the 1950s to the mid-1970s. “A lot of loyal patrons who are elderly remember the carhop back in the day,” says Tanya Christos, one of the co-owners. “During this time of unprecedented way of doing business, we had to come up with ways of not only just pivoting the business but coming up with creative and interesting marketing ideas.” General Manager Bill Hamel asked about reintroducing the carhop and found the original carhop trays online. “We are proud to reintroduce the carhop dining concept that was introduced by the Twohey family decades ago,” Christos says. “We believe that bringing back this tradition allows diners to visit more often, while enjoying our old-time favorite/new menu items and practicing safety protocols from the safe haven of their own cars.” To coincide with the carhop service, the restaurant’s executive chefs, Gerardo Talamantes Sr. and Enrique Elias, created three menus that reflect classic American fare from the original menu and the new items: • Breakfast to go: classic buttermilk or old-fashioned pancakes, French toast, Belgian malted waffle and handcrafted corned beef hash. • Lunch to go: classic original Stink-O Burger, Twoheys’ original onion rings, Heckels prime rib dip sandwich, and fish and chips. • Dinner to go: handcrafted meatloaf, house-roasted turkey dinner and Southern fried chicken. • Cocktails to go: Meridian, Snake Trail, Seco Washout and Raymond Old-Fashioned. Customers can order breakfast, lunch and dinner from Twoheys’ to-go menus and reserve one of six designated parking spots by calling 626-284-7387, ext. 1, 30 minutes in advance. Upon arrival, patrons call the restaurant and share the reserved parking spot number. The restaurant will bring the to-go food to each car on a classic carhop tray that clips to the vehicle’s window for a contact-free dining experience. To add to the fun, Christos and her team created a Twoheys playlist on Spotify. When customers pull into their reserved space, they can log on to the music streaming service and hear curated tunes from the 1950s to 1970s. “We’re trying to do what we can to hang in there, just as all small businesses are,” Christos says. The neighborhood restaurant is known for its soda fountain, which serves Twoheys’ award-winning bittersweet, milk chocolate and caramel sundaes. The well-known eatery has added a new twist on the American diner experience with seven hand-crafted specialty cocktails, such as its signature cocktail, the Stink-o-Tini.
