Bonjour, friendly folks and welcome to the semester’s last installment of the Brown Bag Review. That being said, I thought I’d end on a rather unique note.

Remember a while back when I wrote about how great neighbors can be? Well my neighbor recently invited me to be the guest of honor for some meals on wheels (and I don’t mean delivered hospital food to the elderly).

At 8:30 p.m. Sunday, I was picked up by three guys in The Van Bar & Grill for some Interstate dining. Breaking away from tradition, I’ll divulge the names of my dinner dates: Shane served as both the waiter and driver of the van; Zach was the chef extraordinaire and Art was the van’s busboy.

Keeping my identity a secret is another rule that I try to follow when reviewing a restaurant; this keeps people from giving me any special attention. The van guys knew what I was doing, however; (and even though they are all promiscuous, eligible bachelors), they were on their best behaviors the entire night.

The staff went out of its way to be overly accommodating because, as Zach pointed out, “It’s not everyday the van gets media coverage.”

As we left Ames, Shane warned, “Just consider yourself lucky if we don’t break down or get a flat.”

Zach turned on Timmer’s propane tank and threw the brats on the grill as soon as we headed north on I-35. Now, this immediately presented a small problem — the grill puts off a lot of smoke, and unless you open all of the windows, the van can get pretty smoky.

Needless to say, the guys in the kitchen were pretty cold, but the auxiliary heater up front kept me nice and toasty in the dining room.

Other than the nonexistent non-smoking section, what was it like in the van? Well, for starters, there was the dome lighting which made the atmosphere romantic in a — dare I say it — white trashy sort of way.

The CD player pumped music continuously. During the 52-mile journey we listened to some Jimmy Buffet, Symbol Guy (which I already have my tickets for, thank you very much) and my personal favorite, “Sweet Dreams” by the Eurythmics. Had it not been for the cold weather I would have been dancing on the roof in a second.

There are a few rules of etiquette to follow while dining at The Van Bar & Grill. For instance, if somebody pukes on any piece of the furniture, it is immediately removed and burned. Another rule, (that I couldn’t help breaking), was not to draw on the windows.

Even though the guys have rigged a funnel and some tubing through a hole in their van for facilities, I still wanted to stop at a rest area and pick up a road map for my Dad’s Christmas present.

What was on the menu? Potato chips and pretzels were appetizers, and Sprite, beer or grape Kool-Aid were on tap. The main course was beer-soaked brats. Now, I haven’t eaten very many brats to judge against, but I can honestly say Zach’s was one of the best I’ve ever had. Then there was dessert — frosted chocolate brownies.

The rough spots on the road, coupled with my natural penchant for accidents, made for more than a few spills on my lap. I asked if they had any napkins. “Sure don’t,” was the quick reply. But hey, other than that, I can’t complain at all. Besides, it’s not like any of them are hotel, restaurant and institute management majors or anything. I have to give these guys a lot of credit for their ingenuity and great hospitality.

If I’m nice enough, maybe they’ll invite me on spring break.

5 stars out of five.

Kim Zangger is a senior in advertising from Mt. Vernon.