Son Rise Diner – 305 W. Broad St. – 615-215-Dine or 615-464-6463 to Order
Here’s a unique name for a meat-and-three diner, but finding out owners Bobby and Renee Hale have two sons in the clergy gains some perspective.
Son Bobby Lee Hale is pastor of New Home Missionary Baptist Church in Smithville and son Thomas Lane Hale at Sink Creek Missionary Baptist Church. So I guess it would be no hazard to say the meals served at Son Rise Diner would make a minister happy. You just can’t go for lunch after church because they’re, not surprisingly, closed on Sunday.
However, the other six days a week you can find their signature plate lunches and fresh salads. Friday night is a special Fish-Dinner Friday and, hopefully, if all went well with the preparations last week, when you read this column Son Rise Diner will be open for business.
Their hours are Monday, Tuesday and Wednesday from 6 a.m. to 2 p.m. and Thursday, Friday and Saturday from 6 a.m. until 8:30 p.m.
Son Rise Diner is snuggled in between Dairy Queen and Larry’s Discount Grocery if you want to jot over for a plate lunch today.

Ravens Brew Coffee – www.RavensBrew.com
I promised to share my coffee-club tip with you this week. While I’m on the topic of eateries, there are a lot of places you can get a good cup of Joe these days. That wasn’t the case when I returned from Germany in 1985 after a five-year tour of duty with the army.
I came back addicted to strong coffee and, as Sammy Haggar says, “I can’t drive 55.” Once you drive on the autobahn from Giessen to Frankfurt every day, getting on our highway system was akin to torture. The same could be said for the swill that was being served as coffee at the time as the advent of Starbucks everywhere was years away. They didn’t even have 17 stores until 1988, and fast-food restaurants offering a quality cup of coffee were non-existent.
I pretty much was deprived of my favorite beverage until I found out about Ravens Brew in 1992. Located in Alaska, they travelled the globe to buy the best beans, were organic and sustainability minded in their buying habits and shipped to my door. I purchased a bean grinder and have been hooked ever since as they roast the beans to order.
My coworkers are not always happy when I make the coffee as it is a lot stronger than anything you find in a can. I can’t drink that swill that looks like tea they call coffee, so we’re even. Here’s another treat, they offer a coffee club as well.Here’s something to get you started and you can save 10 percent on orders through the coffee club plus an additional $5 off with the code HighFive through October.
If nothing else, check out the artwork. I’ve always enjoyed Ray Troll’s art and they have two more world-renowned artists making their packaging, t-shirts and mugs. They make great gifts.
FYI: This coffee isn’t available anymore, but once there was Kopi Luwak with the motto Kopi Happens. The Luwak (Paradoxurus hermaphroditus) denizen of the coffee (kopi) plantations of Java, Sumatra, and Sulawesi, eats only the ripest coffee cherries.
Unable to digest the coffee beans, the Luwak graciously deposits them on the jungle floor where they are eagerly collected by the locals. The stomach acids and enzymatic action involved in this unique fermentation process produces the beans for the world’s rarest coffee beverage.