# How have restaurants changed over the decades? **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [April 5, 2013, 5:24pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-have-restaurants-changed-over-the-decades/654934 "2013-04-05T17:24:30Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 6
**Author:** ![tdn](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/94ad74/32.png) [@tdn](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/tdn)\ **Post date:** [April 8, 2013, 3:29pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-have-restaurants-changed-over-the-decades/654934/101 "2013-04-08T15:29:09Z")
One really new trend is to serve food in paper-lined iron cone frames. Mostly I’ve seen fries served this way, but I’ve seen bread served like that too. Olive oil as a dipping sauce instead of butter is pretty common. Sweet potato fries! Yay! > [@Lynn\_Bodoni](#): > > Portion sizes have been supersized, as others have noticed, especially for the relatively cheap starches. And it seems that many, many places don’t bother to cook the food in the restaurant, they just heat and plate and serve. Yes and no. Portion sizes are definitely larger. But more and more places are cooking things to order. I remember 1970s Potato Hell. I was at a men’s club in the early 70s. (They allowed women, but really it was a place to go to get away from the wives.) I ordered hash browns with my meal. When I got them I was stoked. Mmm, fresh grated potatoes skillet fried to a crispy golden brown. Perfect, except that they were still frozen. Could any place that’s not fast food get away with that today? And I remember every place that we went, mashed potaoes were offered as a side. In every place my parents asked if they were real potatoes. Nope, instant, in every single restaurant. Once again, today’s places wouldn’t get away with that. And while unhealthy food abounds, it’s easier that ever to eat healthy. If I order a burger and fries, I might be asked if I want regular fries, curly, waffle, or sweet potato. If I say the fries I want are cole slaw or a house salad, I am almost never refused. Maybe I’ll have to pay an additional 50 cents, which is no big deal. ---
**Author:** ![Lynn\_Bodoni](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/e47c2d/32.png) [@Lynn\_Bodoni](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Lynn_Bodoni)\ **Post date:** [April 8, 2013, 3:34pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-have-restaurants-changed-over-the-decades/654934/102 "2013-04-08T15:34:36Z")
My point was that if someone wants fried chicken, then many fast food places provide a fried chicken like substance which can be eaten at a low price. I do agree that fast food restaurants are not really sit down restaurants, even if they have tables and chairs in them. I’m really pretty surprised that you can’t find fried chicken in a sit down restaurant, though. I wouldn’t have thought that San Antone was all that different from Fort Worth. It’s been a while since I’ve been in a chain restaurant, but fried chicken is offered in just about every place that I go to which serves American food. The only exception is [J.R.'s steakhouse](http://www.jrssteaks.com/food-menu), and I think that’s because it’s a pretty upscale place, the sort of place that only opens for dinner. Well, I should say the only exception that I’ve been to. Now, I’m going to notice whether or not a place serves fried chicken. I hope you’re happy. 😉 ---
**Author:** ![JohnT](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/johnt/32/15048_2.png) [@JohnT](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/JohnT)\ **Post date:** [April 8, 2013, 3:36pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-have-restaurants-changed-over-the-decades/654934/103 "2013-04-08T15:36:27Z")
_Ecstatic_. 😉 SA has many fried chicken fast food chains - more than any other city I’ve been in, and I’m from Georgia. But the availability of fried chicken in sit-down restaurants has been declining ever since people realized it’s not the heart-smart option. ---
**Author:** ![Lynn\_Bodoni](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/e47c2d/32.png) [@Lynn\_Bodoni](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Lynn_Bodoni)\ **Post date:** [April 8, 2013, 3:38pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-have-restaurants-changed-over-the-decades/654934/104 "2013-04-08T15:38:19Z")
> [@](#): > > And I remember every place that we went, mashed potaoes were offered as a side. In every place my parents asked if they were real potatoes. Nope, instant, in every single restaurant. Once again, today’s places wouldn’t get away with that. It seems to me that a lot of places DO serve instant mashed potatoes. However, I’m going by the taste, here, I haven’t asked. But if a place serves mashed potatoes that have that instant boxed flavor, generally I just don’t go back. ---
**Author:** ![tdn](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/94ad74/32.png) [@tdn](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/tdn)\ **Post date:** [April 8, 2013, 3:43pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-have-restaurants-changed-over-the-decades/654934/105 "2013-04-08T15:43:23Z")
> [@Lynn\_Bodoni](#): > > It seems to me that a lot of places DO serve instant mashed potatoes. However, I’m going by the taste, here, I haven’t asked. But if a place serves mashed potatoes that have that instant boxed flavor, generally I just don’t go back. Maybe they do and I just haven’t noticed. But a lot of places have chunks in theirs, which are hopefully not instant chunks! ---
**Author:** ![Kimballkid](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/b5a626/32.png) [@Kimballkid](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Kimballkid)\ **Post date:** [April 8, 2013, 3:56pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-have-restaurants-changed-over-the-decades/654934/106 "2013-04-08T15:56:07Z")
> [@elmwood](#): > > - Trucker diners. You mean truck stops? Still plenty of them around out here including [the world’s largest truck stop](http://iowa80truckstop.com/). ---
**Author:** ![Mister\_Rik](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/mister_rik/32/491_2.png) [@Mister\_Rik](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mister_Rik)\ **Post date:** [April 8, 2013, 3:58pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-have-restaurants-changed-over-the-decades/654934/107 "2013-04-08T15:58:36Z")
> [@movingfinger](#): > > Keep in mind this was during the War Years and prices were regulated by the feds. The prices seem ridiculous, but the Biltmore was then one of the two or three poshest hotels in Los Angeles. I worked at a diner here in central Washington that had been in operation since the 1920s or '30s under different names and owners. The current owner found an old menu from the 1960s that wasn’t too different, price-wise, from the one you found. I remember seeing steak & eggs for something like $1.35. > [@tdn](#): > > And I remember every place that we went, mashed potaoes were offered as a side. In every place my parents asked if they were real potatoes. Nope, instant, in every single restaurant. Once again, today’s places wouldn’t get away with that. My friend tells a story of how, many years ago, he was eating dinner at a friend’s house, with said friend’s parents and siblings. He helped himself to the mashed potatoes, took a bite, and exclaimed, “Hey, these are real mashed potatoes!” His friend’s family all looked at him like he was crazy, and were all, “What else would they be?” Well, see, my friend had already been working in restaurants for a few years at that point, and had gotten used to eating the instant mashed potatoes served there. ---
**Author:** ![Amateur\_Barbarian](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/59ef9b/32.png) [@Amateur\_Barbarian](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Amateur_Barbarian)\ **Post date:** [April 8, 2013, 4:04pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-have-restaurants-changed-over-the-decades/654934/108 "2013-04-08T16:04:51Z")
> [@Lynn\_Bodoni](#): > > It seems to me that a lot of places DO serve instant mashed potatoes. However, I’m going by the taste, here, I haven’t asked. But if a place serves mashed potatoes that have that instant boxed flavor, generally I just don’t go back. I can usually tolerate instant mashed - that, or I have been lucky enough not to run into too much of it in recent years. Most restaurant put “stuff” - garlic, onion, spices, broth - in their mashed and that may help disguise the flavor. What I can’t tolerate and will not return for is precooked meat. A new “cowboy steakhouse” opened near us a few years ago and I knew the owner through business associations. We ate there twice. Both times I had a sliced-meat dish (sliced tri-tip one time, maybe a shredded steak sandwich the second). Both times the meat had that slightly sweet, faintly gamy taste of stuff prepared and partially cooked, then frozen or refrigerated for later finish cooking. This was not a particularly cheap or low-end place that emphasized its beef; I found reasons to never go back. When I run into that taste on something that shouldn’t have it, it’s my last time at that restaurant. (I will sometimes let it pass on the diner or upscale fast-food level, but will probably not order that item again.) ETA: I asked the owner later and he finally admitted that nearly everything they served, except the steaks themselves, came pre-portioned and mostly pre-cooked from the central distributor for the chain; that was their secret big deal for franchisees - ostensibly competing with Outback and other steak places with 30% lower food costs. Blecch.) ---
**Author:** ![bump](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/7c8e57/32.png) [@bump](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/bump)\ **Post date:** [April 8, 2013, 7:02pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-have-restaurants-changed-over-the-decades/654934/109 "2013-04-08T19:02:20Z")
> [@Fionn](#): > > This might only apply to Tex-Mex restaurants in Texas, but when I was a kid and a teenager Mexican restaurants always brought salsa and a green avocado/sour cream sauce with the free chips. Nowadays, it seems like only salsa is brought out, usually a hotter and a milder version. This hasn’t been the case in my experience- generally, you get chips and salsa, without any variation in the type. Some places bring an alternate salsa as well- the avocado/sour cream stuff you mention, or a fire-roasted type salsa, but neither is ubiquitous the way that chips and salsa always have been. ---
**Author:** ![pancakes3](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/ba9def/32.png) [@pancakes3](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/pancakes3)\ **Post date:** [April 8, 2013, 7:43pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-have-restaurants-changed-over-the-decades/654934/110 "2013-04-08T19:43:26Z")
> [@movingfinger](#): > > Some years ago I bought a menu at an antique place from the Los Angeles Biltrmore hotel coffee shop. The Biltmore is still here on Pershing Square, but I doubt the coffee shop still exists. One of the reasons I bought the menu was the fact that it had the date printed on it: October 26, 1942; two weeks before I was born. > > On the menu are a number of items that I don’t think are seen any more: > > Olympia oyster cocktail (65 cents) > Kadota figs in cream (35 cents) > liver sausage sandwich on rye (20 cents) > Southern ham with country gravy (60 cents) > smoked beef tongue with cole slaw (70 cents) > imported sardines; French or Portuguese (70 cents) > mashed turnips (20 cents) > stuffed tomato with cottage cheese and chives (60 cents) > ox tongue sandwich (35 cents) > fried eggplant (30 cents) > green apple pie (15 cents) > pepperemint ice cream (20 cents) > > And on and on. An enormous number of choices, really. > > The most expensive item on the menu, which was apparently printed afresh every day, was the “Sizzling T-bone steak, with French fried potatoes and new peas” for $1.35, plus 3 % sales tax. > > Cocktails were available as was draft beer (15 cents) > > Keep in mind this was during the War Years and prices were regulated by the feds. The prices seem ridiculous, but the Biltmore was then one of the two or three poshest hotels in Los Angeles. > > Anyone ever heard of Kadota figs? According to the CPI, a dollar in 1942 would be worth $14 today. A 15 cent beer would be all of $2 today, and a 35 cent anything is roughly $5. The Tbone with the fixings is $18 and change - so still absurdly cheap with all the caveats: war time, pre-highway, posh LA restaurant, pre-globalization… > [@alphaboi867](#): > > When’s the last time anyone heard of a restaurant having a separate “Ladies menu” without prices listed on it? Never. When was this? Where was this? > [@monstro](#): > > Speaking of salad bars, remember Sizzler’s? That place was so 80s. Sizzlers left my area in the late '90s and I assumed they just dissolved. My vague recollection was that the lighting was dark and the food was delicious. Perhaps too delicious. According to wiki that they lost a ton of money from their buffets and never really recovered. Funny how places like Golden Corall was able to profit from the cheap buffet model but Sizzlers not. > [@Wendell\_Wagner](#): > > Those of you that don’t happen to live in cities where food trucks have become hipster fashionable places to go may be surprised by their popularity. Cities where this true include (according to Wikipedia) D.C., New York, Houston, Los Angeles, San Francisco, Seattle, Saint Louis, and Tampa. Yeah, it’s kind of a strange trend, but a lot of trends are strange. The reasonable allure for food trucks is that if you work in the middle of downtown and near a food truck hotspot, you can get non-cafeteria, non-chain food for lunch at more or less a reasonable price. However, the clientele for food trucks extends to hipsters, which is something I really don’t fully comprehend. ---
**Author:** ![tdn](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/94ad74/32.png) [@tdn](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/tdn)\ **Post date:** [April 8, 2013, 8:00pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-have-restaurants-changed-over-the-decades/654934/111 "2013-04-08T20:00:10Z")
> [@pancakes3](#): > > The reasonable allure for food trucks is that if you work in the middle of downtown and near a food truck hotspot, you can get non-cafeteria, non-chain food for lunch at more or less a reasonable price. However, the clientele for food trucks extends to hipsters, which is something I really don’t fully comprehend. I know a couple that will travel to the far side of the city to visit certain food trucks. It’s their “thing.” I don’t know that I’d call them hipsters, it’s just something they seem to enjoy. ---
**Author:** ![Amateur\_Barbarian](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/59ef9b/32.png) [@Amateur\_Barbarian](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Amateur_Barbarian)\ **Post date:** [April 8, 2013, 8:06pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-have-restaurants-changed-over-the-decades/654934/112 "2013-04-08T20:06:11Z")
> [@pancakes3](#): > > …hipsters, which is something I really don’t fully comprehend. I fully agree. 😃 Not quite the same thing, but we had a Mad Englishman drag us halfway across London to have a bite at his favorite place… which turned out to be a microscopic mobile crepes stand. It was worth the jaunt. ---
**Author:** ![pancakes3](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/ba9def/32.png) [@pancakes3](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/pancakes3)\ **Post date:** [April 8, 2013, 8:11pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-have-restaurants-changed-over-the-decades/654934/113 "2013-04-08T20:11:58Z")
> [@tdn](#): > > I know a couple that will travel to the far side of the city to visit certain food trucks. It’s their “thing.” I don’t know that I’d call them hipsters, it’s just something they seem to enjoy. Hipsters may be an unfair generalization. I was more getting at the fact that people who frequent food trucks at their inconvenience rather than convenience baffle me. The food that is truck-made isn’t better than the same food made in an easily accessible restaurant. If you want Korean bbq or Bahn Mi or Pho, there are thousands of places that serve the food better, with seating, and for cheaper than visiting a food truck. ---
**Author:** ![kenobi\_65](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/kenobi_65/32/13178_2.png) [@kenobi\_65](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/kenobi_65)\ **Post date:** [April 8, 2013, 8:57pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-have-restaurants-changed-over-the-decades/654934/114 "2013-04-08T20:57:19Z")
> [@pancakes3](#): > > Never. When was this? Where was this? {re: a “Ladies’ Menu” with no prices} I’ve never seen one, but apparently it wasn’t uncommon at upscale restaurants, at least through the 1970s (and may still exist occasionally today, according to this [New York times article from 2006](http://dinersjournal.blogs.nytimes.com/2006/08/15/disappearing-ink/)). The idea was that the “guest” (women, but also business associates or family members) wouldn’t know what the cost of their meal was. In the case of men taking women out to dinner, it was apparently considered to be a chivalrous sort of thing. ---
**Author:** ![Lamar\_Mundane](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/85f322/32.png) [@Lamar\_Mundane](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Lamar_Mundane)\ **Post date:** [April 8, 2013, 9:30pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-have-restaurants-changed-over-the-decades/654934/115 "2013-04-08T21:30:15Z")
> [@Athena](#): > > I think you missed my point - these are not brewpubs; there is no food, there are no waiters. They serve beer, and only beer. No wine, no mixed drinks, no burgers, heck I’m not even sure you can get a coke at some of them. Nothing but beer. > > Brewpubs have definitely been around for a long time. But this tasting-room/bar thing is new, at least to me. No, I knew what you meant. The tasting room places are a newer development. I was just piggybacking on your mention of brewpubs. Three decades ago, they didn’t even exist, now they are ubiquitous. ---
**Author:** ![DrCube](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/a3d4f5/32.png) [@DrCube](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DrCube)\ **Post date:** [April 8, 2013, 10:17pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-have-restaurants-changed-over-the-decades/654934/116 "2013-04-08T22:17:46Z")
When I worked at McDonald’s as recently as 2000, we accepted cash only, and so did every other fast food place. In fact it was probably 50/50 odds that stores in general accepted credit/debit cards. And man I miss the “upscale” Pizza Huts! I used to go there as a kid fairly often for Book It, listen to “Kokomo” on the jukebox and play Mario on the single arcade game there. Then I’d sit down and have a candle lit personal pan pizza with my mom. Mom doesn’t like pizza, so she’d get one of those delicious hot ham and cheese sandwiches Pizza Hut used to sell. Those were the days. ---
**Author:** ![Wendell\_Wagner](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/8491ac/32.png) [@Wendell\_Wagner](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Wendell_Wagner)\ **Post date:** [April 8, 2013, 10:23pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-have-restaurants-changed-over-the-decades/654934/117 "2013-04-08T22:23:03Z")
“Hipsters” was as close as I could come to describing the people who’ve recently begun frequenting food trucks. “Foodies” might also express it. The point is that food trucks used to be just for blue-collar workers who wanted to get something cheap to eat right next to their work site. Now in many places there are a lot of food trucks for the sort of people who like to try a variety of restaurants. The cuisines available are often quite varied and sometimes the food is quite good. ---
**Author:** ![elmwood](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/elmwood/32/3060_2.png) [@elmwood](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/elmwood)\ **Post date:** [April 9, 2013, 2:50am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-have-restaurants-changed-over-the-decades/654934/118 "2013-04-09T02:50:07Z")
> [@Kimballkid](#): > > You mean truck stops? Still plenty of them around out here including [the world’s largest truck stop](http://iowa80truckstop.com/). Nope. I mean diners whose primary clientele are truckers, that aren’t part of a larger truck stop. ---
**Author:** ![digs](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/digs/32/14889_2.png) [@digs](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/digs)\ **Post date:** [April 9, 2013, 2:53am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-have-restaurants-changed-over-the-decades/654934/119 "2013-04-09T02:53:33Z")
[QUOTE=NitroPress] … I mention that we eat together every night, or that I do most of the cooking, and they look at me like I just walked off the set of the Andy Griffith Show. ETA: I do not in any way look like I walked off the set of the Andy Griffith Show, by the way. [/QUOTE] Count yourself lucky. I hear _ **Amateur Barbarian** _ is the spitting image of Otis. ---
**Author:** ![pulykamell](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/pulykamell/32/3166_2.png) [@pulykamell](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/pulykamell)\ **Post date:** [April 9, 2013, 3:27am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-have-restaurants-changed-over-the-decades/654934/120 "2013-04-09T03:27:27Z")
> [@Lynn\_Bodoni](#): > > It seems to me that a lot of places DO serve instant mashed potatoes. However, I’m going by the taste, here, I haven’t asked. But if a place serves mashed potatoes that have that instant boxed flavor, generally I just don’t go back. Outside of fast food places and school hot lunches, I honestly can’t think of a single restaurant I’ve been to in the last 20 years that has had anything but real mashed potatoes. To me, instant mashed potatoes is the stuff of frozen dinners, school lunches, and KFC (and if they’re not instant, they’re indistinguishable from instant.) [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-have-restaurants-changed-over-the-decades/654934.md?page=5) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-have-restaurants-changed-over-the-decades/654934.md?page=7)