They just opened a Steak & Ale in Plano, and there’s also one in Arlington about 2 blocks from Six Flags.
There’s also a Grandy’s right off of 635 somewhere- maybe Carrollton or Dallas.
Has no one mentioned Mel’s Drive In? It was my first introduction to the legendary “carhop”. Didn’t A&W carhops used to roller skate? I seem to remember that. Their “Teen Burger” was definitely one of the first bacon cheese burgers on the market.
There’s at least one “Mels” in San Francisco (in the touristy district near the Tenderloin)
Hot ‘n’ Now - you want it, you got it - our way
(catsup, pickle, mustard, no special orders).
They were in town for about, oh, 10 minutes.
Hmm, well, like you, I only saw them in Ontario and assumed they were the only ones because I never saw them anywhere else… again, about 2 or 3 of them…
Whatta ko-inky-dink!
The Little Woman grew up in The-Middle-Of-Nowhere, Indiana, and big doin’s was going to Left-Of-Nowhere and stopping at Clancy’s. Just a burger place, but the only burger place before you hit Indianapolis.
The “Clancy” of Clancy’s was a “Keystone” type cop, and the restaurant was a couple blocks away from the State Police Post. (And the prison.)(And the other way was the high school)
We were back that way not too long ago, and Clancy’s was gone. But they got a new Pizza Hut and Hardee’s (I think) in it’s place. So there’s still Corporate Grease in Left-Of-Nowhere, Indiana.
Technically yes, the name of the place is the same, but other than the names and locations, the two resturaunts have nothing in common: the current Jack-in-the-Box is a Denny’s wannabe. It serves gyros, and chicken-caesar-salads, etc. The “real” JitB was a burger-n-fries joint.
The real JitB is a fond of memory. <sigh>. I loved their Jacksteak sammiches: A club-sandwich shaped hamburger bun with a “jacksteak” on it (something between a hamburger and a club-steak). On the “steak” there was some sort of sweet/smokey bbq sauce, a pound or two of shredded lettuce and fried onion rings. Yum.
Fenris
Fenris - As long as they serve those 2 for a buck tacos, there will always be a Jack in the Box. Those are great…
I thought of a couple more - Champ’s and JoJo’s.
I swear I am not making this up, but does anyone besdies me remember hearing about that fast food place many years ago, (somewhere in Kentucky maybe) called Hop Scotch? It was to feature fast food rabbits. I am serious.
Obviously, it didn’t make it “Mommy! I can’t eat this dead bunny! it might be Buggs!!”
I wish Burger Street was still around. Good burgers at a drive-thru-only photomat.
Here in Oklahoma, we saw one of the grisliest ends to a restaurant chain: Sirloin Stockade. I can still remember seeing their fiberglass Herefords everywhere. They lasted until about 1982, when robbers hit one in OKC towards closing, walked customers and staff into the freezer, and started a massacre. You couldn’t hear the news for months without some reference to the Sirloin Stockade Killings, to the point that’s what everyone thought whenever they heard the name. They began to fold not long after; the last I saw was in Muskogee, 1989. The rest were absorbed into Western Sizzlin’, and you occasionally see the Herefords at salvage yards.
Taco Tico lives! There’s one where my brother lives. Next visit, we’re going out to lunch.
I’m not sure if they are the same ones but there are several Champ’s burgers around Atlanta.
They are much like a Steak & Shake. Winstead’s was a privately owned diner in KC, and they did so well, they opened up about 6 across the city. Lessee, there’s one in the Plaza, there’s one on 95th and I-435, there’s one at I-35 and Shawnee Mission Parkway, there’s probably one out in Raytown, and I have a vague rememberance of one out by the airport. Well, that’s five, with only a confirmed 3.
What I haven’t seen is a Black Eyed Pea. I miss that place.
Oh yeah, I remember Treacher’s. Much better than Long John Silver’s. If they’re still around, they aren’t in the Mid-Atlantic states anymore.
I also have to cast my lot with the person who mentioned Roy Rogers. . .well, the real Roy’s, anyway. Pappy Parker’s Fried Chicken was sooo much better than the Colonel’s. The roast beef sandwiches were fantastic, and don’t forget the Double-“R”-Bar (a hamburger with ham and cheese in a toasted bun).
Host Mariott owns the rights to Roy’s nowadays, and there are “Roy Rogers” branded eating stations in a lot of highway travel plazas. There’s at least one on the PA Turnpike and also on the Atlantic City Expressway. The chicken is passable and the roast beef is OK, but there aren’t any Double-“R”-Bars anymore.
Yer pal,
Zappo
Sure! There’s one in Carlisle, PA on Walnut Bottom Road near I-81. I think there’s one in Lancaster, PA too.
Yer pal,
Zappo
[QUOTE]
*Originally posted by Connor *
**
There are plenty here in Dallas. I’ve also seen them in Knoxville and Wichita.
Oh man, you know you’re getting old when these kind of threads jog your memory instead of making you say to yourself “What a buncha weirdo fossils!”
The one restaurant chain I haven’t seen here yet is Brigham’s. At least I believe it was a chain, we only went to one in Boston maybe once or twice back in the early 70s, during my toddlerhood. Anyone else corroborate this?
How about the 99 restaurant chain? I know I saw more than one when I was a child… logo was a big number 99 inside a horseshoe.
IHOP is still alive and kicking here in MD and NoVA. There’s one here in Arlington, and one roundabout Silver Spring MD.
The Magic Pan had at least one franchise in Boston - the family went with a small group of friends for brunch one fine Sunday back in the late 70s. Seems like it got around more than people knew!
There is a sit-down HoJos on Route 202 in Delaware (the name Newark comes to mind). We pass it every time we go visit Mrs O’s sister in Pennsylvania. Of course, given the debate that Delaware doesn’t exist, we might posit that HoJo’s does indeed no longer exist. 
Believe it or not, there was a Lum’s in Manchester NH back in the early to mid-70s. For some reason my one experience there stuck with me for a good long time; even now if I drive along that street I can identify the building where it used to be. I think I got a sip of beer there or something.
Hey, who posted from Iowa City? Is the Fries BBQ & Grill still there on South Dubuque?
Oh, that reminds me - at least as recently as 1999 there was an Arthur Treacher’s in Washington DC, just south of 14th and ‘U’ Streets NW. A tiny little take-out place, sandwiched in between a Taco Bell and a KFC. Actually had his face on it, too. I’ll truck up there one day on my lunch hour and give you an update.
Olentzero, I’m fairly certain the Treacher’s in DC is dead, but I DO know of one other in the DC area. Jeff Davis Highway (AKA Route 1) after Old Town, on the right as you’re heading out of the city, before you get to the Krispy Kreme on Rt. 1. No idea if they’re any good, but they’re there.
How about Mighty Taco? Used to scarf down those burritos when I worked there in the early nineties!
Brighams and the 99 are alive and well in Eastern Ma. In fact the 99 has been expanding over the last few years.
I remember a burger chain called Howdy Beefburgers with Howdy Doody as the mascot. Haven’t seen it in years. Baileys was a local ice craem chain that blew Brighams out of the water.
They(or another chain by the same name) is alive and well here in D/FW. I see 'em all over the place.