VIEWPOINT
REMEMBERING THE TALQUIN INN AND THE QUEST TO REPLICATE THEIR “HOUSE SALAD DRESSING” By Ann Maruszak Jo (Josephine Marie Vespa Taylor) and her husband Harry A. Taylor were the owners of the famous Talquin Inn Restaurant, which operated in Tallahassee from 1946 until 1986. An April 18, 1946 article in the Tallahassee Democrat states, “after serving two years in the US Navy, Harry will open a restaurant specializing in seafood and Italian dishes.”
Photo credit: Geocashing.com
Opening Day ad in the Tallahassee Democrat: April 14, 1946.
Jo’s husband Harry passed in 1982, with Jo passing in 2009. The Taylor’s children are: Peter “Butch,” Stephen, Harry, Patricia, Johnny, and William “Bill.” After the Inn closed in 1986, Stephen, Harry, and Johnny each opened their own restaurants in Tallahassee. The Talquin Inn was country farmhouse-style inside and out and Tina Porter as waitress and friend-to-all completed the picture. She loved meeting people and worked at the restaurant for over 30 years. You can imagine in those earlier Tallahassee times the easy, comfortable manner eating there was. Tina knew everyone and even if she didn’t know you, she treated you like she did. Members of the State Legislature frequented the restaurant regularly and nicknamed her "Olive Oil." Tina passed in 2015. Today, the restaurant site is part of the West Tennessee entrance to Tallahassee Community College. However, in the ‘40s it was identified as located at the intersection of SR20 and US90. The SR20 segment does not exist today. The road alignment was later changed to what is now called the Blountstown Highway. It was sometime between 1941 and 1949 that SR20 was constructed to turn left splitting off from US90, right in front of the Talquin Inn.
Off the menu, the Talquin Inn offered delicious prime rib and T-bone steaks panseared in a skillet, a friend always ordered her steak “Pittsburg-style,” heavily seared outside and rare inside. The bacon wrapped shrimp was a customer favorite and I thoroughly enjoyed the fried chicken. Cuban bread baked by our local bakery, Tasty Pastry, was served with each meal along with butter and a house salad.
1954-59 photo of SR20 splitting away from US90, which was then called the New Quincy Highway. Photo credit: FloridaMemory.com.
I have carried a constant memory for the 1954 aerial view of SR20 splitting restaurant’s House Salad from US90. The blue square shows Dressing. According to the Talquin Inn. The Gulf Wind Motel is across the street, on US90. Lorrie Guttman’s 1982 Photo Credit: Tallahassee Then and review in the Tallahassee Now - 1954 to 2019 Tallahassee - Leon Democrat, “the regular County GIS - https://tlcgis.org/. tossed salad, just iceberg lettuce and tomatoes, was made interesting by the ‘house cheese dressing,’ a mayonnaise-based dressing with the color of pale Thousand Island and a mild taste of Romano cheese.” They also offered a “Wop Salad Dressing,” an oil and vinegar dressing with herbs. This
Photo credit: https://www.worthpoint.com/.
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