Shelley Taylor

Dressed in little-girl pink with its peaked roof and cupolas, gingerbread and year-round string of Christmas lights, Tootsie's Drive-Thru looks like it was plucked right off Disneyland's Main Street.

Curbside on the big lot that's home to our famous grain elevator, it's Sequim's answer to Port Angeles'

Frugals ... right down to the marquee.

I have a particular fondness for the name. My dad used to call me Tootsie.

Tootsie's is the place to grab some calories when you just want to eat - and you're not sure what's gonna hit the spot. The concise menu doesn't overwhelm you with too many choices.

Greg and I were celebrating a milestone for a project we're working on and friend Judie joined us to give Tootsie's a try.

Fall is definitely here - the dark night was too cold to use the outside tables so we parked with a full view of the grain elevator and ate in the car.

But first, let's start off with morning fare.

Breakfast sandwiches are combinations of egg, cheese, bacon, sausage and garden varieties. All orders are served on an English muffin with mayo - or ask for sourdough.

Follow that with a cold glass of milk. Or finish off your breakfast combo of eggs, bacon, muffin and hash browns with a 12-ounce latte or mocha, or cold apple, orange or carrot juice.

Don't have time for them to rustle up something hot? There are poppy seed, chocolate chip or blueberry muffins. Then add a hot chocolate topped with whipped cream.

I ordered a regular burger with mustard, pickle, onion and lettuce. To go along with, I had my Diet Coke plus a chocolate milk shake (which tasted more like a malt - but that's fine with me). You have no idea how tasty a burger washed down with a shake can be.

Judie ordered the Chipotle Black Bean Veggie Burger and Greg's Chicken Firebird also came with chipotle sauce. Since we had a choice, we all chose wheat buns.

Other speciality burgers: Bacon Mushroom Swiss, Wild West with BBQ sauce, Sourdough Grill, a quarter-pound Chipotle with a mild chili pepper and the Elevatoring Chipotle (double everything on the quarter-pounder). Vegetarians have a choice of a Boca or Gardenburger.

Among the extras: grilled onions, jalapeño or chili peppers, and tartar, ranch, honey mustard, barbecue or fry sauces.

Tootsie's combo meals add fries and a beverage to sandwiches made of grilled or crispy chicken, including a club version; the tried and true BLT, and fish.

To drink you also can choose from rarely found Barq's Root Beer, Mr. Pibb, Sprite and Cherry Coke. For kids there are burgers, chicken or a corn dog. Moms (or dads) will like adding apple sauce or a juice box.

Once we got organized, found places for the drinks and spread out napkin tablecloths, the burgers, fries and liquids were passed around so we could give everything a try.

We all agreed there could have been more chipotle sauce to warrant the Chipotle and Firebird moniker. For your sugar rush, there are shakes of mocha, chai, Oreo and Butterfinger. Our dessert was a root beer float. Haven't had one of those in a long time. There was nothing left once it made the rounds.