U-Lee, corner of Hyde and Jackson on Nob Hill in San Francisco. Little joint, 10 tables, linoleum floor, grandma cooking in back, a kid or two up front working the tables. I would walk in with some number of friends and they’d greet me by name - 15 years after living in the area - and order for me.
Pot stickers the size of fists and amazing. Twice-Cooked Pork, Chicken with Asparagus, Beef Chow Fun - !!!
Rents got too high and they moved a year or so ago, I think to the Sunset. I haven’t been back where I had time to find them. Oh, but I will.
Lawrence KS - back in the 80’s we had a restaurant downtown called Tin Pan Alley. My roommate and I went there for lunch probably once a week. They had the best Reuben sandwich ever. I would often get one with a side of fries and chicken gravy. The restaurant closed when the owner decided to go into real estate.
I miss the Blue Parrot Cafe in Cambridge, Massachusetts. Back in the 1970’s they served a delicious spicy dish called Bahmi Casserole that contained egg noodles, bacon and hot peppers. I would love to have the recipe.
The Hilltop Steakhouse in Saugus, Massachusetts. Huge place, and for a reason - the best beef cuts anywhere, cooked perfectly. A classic of roadside America as well, fortunately the giant neon cactus sign is still standing.
The Full of Bull roast beef sandwich joint in Saugus, too.
"Chris’s " in Ocean City, NJ. They had docks in the back for their fishing boats (all fish caught fresh daily).
If money was no object, you could be there at 4am, leave with a boat, spend the day fishing (you bring your own cooler), and when they brought you back to the dock, the mate would walk you to the bar for Happy Hour.
Whatever you caught would be cooked as a special. When it was done, a waiter would then tell you that your table was ready and you would be brought to it and served your catch with your choice of wines from the wine list.
If you ever come back to the Triangle area, go to Gourmet Kingdom in Carrboro and try their sliced lamb with green onions. All their lamb dishes are excellent.
In my hometown of Augusta, we had a place called the Oldenburg Grill. Fantastic little brewpub, they brewed their own beer on site and every one of their dishes was flavorful and filling. Since I was under 21 though, the real key was that they also brewed their own root beer on site - which was some of the best damn root better I’ve ever had. They were always full, no idea why they closed.
Here in Atlanta, there was a Chinese place called Peter Chang’s. Authentic Mandarin, the place was some of the best food I’ve put in my mouth, great location right on the river, always packed. They had a dispute with the name and menu with the chef Peter Chang (apparently he started it then moved on, but retained those rights? Or something, I wasn’t real clear on the situation) and had to shut down over legal concerns. Such a shame.
There was a Henry’s in Ottumwa, Iowa, that was there from at least the late 60s (as far back as I can remember) until around 1980 or so.
In Cedar Rapids there was a place called Daniel Arthur’s, in an historic house that had also been a funeral home at one time. Great atmosphere, good food, a real special-occasion place. Closed a few years ago.
When I used to live in Rochester, Minnesota, in the late 80s-early 90s there was a place called Henry Wellingtons, and their specialty was, naturally, beef (or chicken) Wellington. That was so good - we weren’t making enough money to go there very often but my wife and I loved that place. It is no more, alas.
Diamond Lake is one of the larger inland lakes in Michigan, located in Cassopolis (SW) MI. Back in the late '60s, early '70s, there was a very nice restaurant located at the harbor called the Diamond Lake Inn. It had a glass wall facing the lake and a deck just outside the window that you could walk about on and enjoy the lake before or after your dinner. It was the place you went for important life events - proms, engagements, etc. It was the first place I tasted such ‘exotic’ items as caviar and frogs legs. I had my first legal alcoholic drink there on my 18th birthday.
It’s been closed for many years now, but I still remember it fondly.
Solid Ground, on Durant in Berkeley (where Gypsy’s Trattoria Italiana is now). The burgers were made the way Jackson Hole (in New York City) does it; roll the meat into a ball, then fry it covered with a metal bowl. Some of the best BBQ sauce I ever had as well. They even had a seismograph in the restaurant. For whatever reason, the sign for the strip mall it was in left the store’s name on it for something like 10 years after it closed (it originally became a Nation’s).
That would have been slightly before my time, so I don’t remember it. A few others I do recall from my childhood in the suburban Baltimore area:
• Lum’s. Apparently also a large chain (according to their Wiki page, at one point, the company bought Caesars Palace in Vegas).
• White Coffee Pot, Jr. (also a chain, but confined to the Maryland area)
• York Steak House (ALSO a chain - I guess that’s all we went to growing up). According to wiki, there is actually still one left (in Ohio), so I guess they aren’t technically gone.
There use be a favorite ice cream parlor called Roland in Ma, you could get a bowl of ice cream for one person but there was enough ice cream for 3 or 4 people ! I once brought some friends there were 5 people and one bowl was enough for all of us ! This place been closed fro years
You know kokomo IN had a burger chef that closed down due to the health department… its now the hardees
mandarin gate in Lancaster ca … not only was their Chinese food the best but they served all those 40s-60s trader vic type of tiki drinks and they made them stiff… many a Mongolian bbq friday I had to be carried out at 1 am
I miss the A&W here in Lancaster ca because of a managers special they’d have it was a rather large buck twenty five sandwich that was nothing but chopped up meat they cooked but didn’t use covered in a recipie that only the owner knew and theyed throw cheese on it just cause
youd get hamburgers hotdogs fish beef for cheesesteak (you never knew what youd ya get ) occasionaly … all in one …
the Jerrys diners chain in Indiana… I liked them better than dennys
Pioneer chicken here in ca at one time almost ran kfc out of town…there chicken and slaw were loads way better (tho the one here didn’t have biscuits oddly they used premade Hawaiian rolls)
The original golden corral when it was a steakhouse and not the vegas buffet it is now
And speaking of buffets just to show how lowbrow my eating habits get I miss the hometown buffet that closed down here… only time I seen a buffet shut down but it did
Another one was scottys sandwhich junction in kokomo … they were sort of a proto 5 guys type of place the ham and cheese sandwhich would be enough for 3 people type of thing (and they had a dozen or 2 types of sandwhiches… their idea of a kid meal option was a pb with honey and jelly that weighed a pound …
oh and they had weekend burger specials 19 cent burger Saturday and 29 cent cheeseburger sunday they always made our family of about 30 call on Friday if we wanted cheeseburgers on sunday
wow I hadn’t remembered some of these places in years
That’s the one I was going to mention. Our folks used to take us thereas a special treatevery once in a rare while. My youngest sis lives within walking distance of there now - I get all sad and nostalgic when I go visit her…
I grew up in Kokomo and for a few years lived on the same street as “Mr. Scott.” I don’t remember them being that huge, but I do remember the Big Scott was my favorite burger. I knew I was an official teenage boy when I ordered a second. I loved them but remember them more like a Whopper than 5 Guys. Also the original Ponderosa was in Kokomo (behind the Markland Mall). Another Kokomo place was the Sweet Shop in the strip mall by Maple Crest. They had the best greasy burgers you could find. Hinkle’s in Bloomington were very close.
As far as Indy goes, I used to love going to Victoria Station. The building was made up of old train cars. I honestly don’t remember the food that much, but when I was around 13 or so and I was asked to pick a fancy place to go that was my choice. For anyone familiar with the area they were around Keystone and roughly 65th or so… just north or Glendale.
