Buffalo, New York is the city that most chains arrive to only at the end of their cross-country expansion. In the meantime, local chains pop up to meet the demand. Buffalo has Mighty Taco (Taco Bell just entered the region a few years ago). Bob and John’s Subs, and Ted’s Hot Dogs, all with cult followings.
Denver has the usual local upscale big burrito and Asian places, but nobody mentioned Good Times.
Little Las Cruces, New Mexico – only three McDonalds, but there’s six Sonic outlers, and five Burger Time outlets. I think there’s only two Blake’s Hamburgers there – it’s mainly a north-of-I-40 phenomenon.
Burger Chef was bought by Hardee’s, I was told by someone who worked for BC.
We’ve got Steak 'n Shake, Denny’s, Bob Evan’s, and most of the biggies (except for Jack in the Box) here in Indiana. If there’s a Sonic, I haven’t seen one yet around here but they say they are coming soon (whoop-de-do!). Also, we have a Dog 'n Suds that makes a mighty fine root beer and onion rings.
I think all the Shoney’s and most of the Big Boys have left central Indiana.
Does anyone know if Bill Knapps is still operating? The last time I was in Michigan, it seemed they had all closed.
Weirdly, Indiana must have more buffets and smorgasbords than any other state in the nation. We have Golden Corral and Country Buffet chains, and several locally owned ones and they all thrive here.
I miss Arthur Treacher’s and A&Ws.
There are Bill Knapp’s all over the place in Michigan. They have been trying to change their image in recent years, to get away from what I had always understood to be a stereotype that they were an “old people’s” restaurant.
I used to live on Metric, and went there a few times…pretty good stuff, beats the pants off most other drive-thrus! If there is one down south (where I now reside) I haven’t seen it…
There’s a chain in Florida called Clock. At every Clock I’ve been to, every single waitron and every single customer was elderly. The only young folks in the place were working in the kitchen.
I wonder how restaurants get a reputation as being a hangout of the elderly. Clock is no cheaper than Denny’s or Perkins, but the customers at Clock are so much older.
All right, here’s one for Seattle-ites, current and ex:
Remember Herfy’s? Utterly mediocre burgers, but shakes in interesting flavors - I remember Boysenberry. IIRC their mascot was a scarily perky cow, apparently unaware of her fate.
Wow. I thought all the fast food I know would be covered by now. Ferrous got the A&W listed, but neglected to mention the Papa Burger, Mama Burger, and Baby Burger; the famous A&W Root Beer; and, best of all, Coney Tuesday’s – chili hotdogs at a ridiculously low price.
Nobody’s mentioned Arctic Circle – drive-thru fast food with a western slant.
My favorite is in the extreme southwest – Alberto’s mexican drive -thru’s. Best fast mexican around. Totally unhealthful. Bright red and yellow striped stucco buildings with drive-ups on both sides.
Add me to those who remember Herfy’s (they had them in California too).
In my part of the Pacific Northwest, Zip’s is ubiquitous. I don’t think they’re anything special but their soft serve ice cream is good and their menu is better-than-average in terms of variety.
Really? I’m willing to bet you that per capita there are more here in the Spokane area than where you are in Indiana (not that this is necessarily something to boast about).
Bill Knapp’s, a restaurant chain serving Michigan and Ohio, has filed for protection from creditors while it reorganizes its finances.
The struggling company, which serves lower-priced family style food, filed its Chapter 11 petition Tuesday in U.S. Bankruptcy Court for the Western District of Michigan.
Bill Knapp’s closed more than a dozen stores last summer because of a lack of customers. It also launched several unsuccessful marketing initiatives in the last few years, attempting to appeal to younger diners by offering beer and wine at some restaurants and changing its decor.
Switchboard.com lists 79Arthur Treacher’s in operation, mainly in Ohio and on the East Coast.
Checkers/Rally’s are the same company. Checkers is concentrated in the southeast (Florida) but have been spreading north and west. Rally’s is primarily a midwest chain (Ohio) that has a growing presence in the west (California). I’ve been to Texas’s only Checkers drivein, it’s in Beaumont.
The Roanoke, VA, based mall eatery Frank & Stein has great cheese fries and their specialty dogs are good too.
Another good mall eatery is Flamers. They also have cheese fries but they’re not quite as good.
If you’re ever in the DC area, be sure to stop by Five Guys. Best burgers in the metro area! Be sure to order a “little” if you don’t want a double burger. The fries are good but I’ve found better (see below).
Fuddruckers is still around but aren’t as convenient to me as Five Guys.
Red Hot & Blue started right here in Arlington. It didn’t start off as fast food but the original got so busy they opened a take-out location down the road from the original. Even the take-out counter eventually became so busy they added a seating area. Great Memphis-style barbecue and the best damn fries I’ve ever eaten!
Another good one around Chicago is Portillo’s.
The Itallian Beef is outstanding!
Is it true that Itallian Beef places are strictly a Chicago thing? Anybody have them anywhere else?
Chipotle is good.It was even better before McDonalds bought in and started stream lining stuff, but it’s a good huge meal for fairly cheap. There is also Qdoba around Denver, I have no idea if their anywhere else but they are a straight clone, but still good food.
Colorado also has a fast food chain called Good Times. Unfortunately there is much variation among the locations. I went to one and got the best tasting most fresh fast food burger I have ever had. But the one in my 'hood sells this strange chewy grey patty that bears very little resembance to meat , and covers it with lettuce and Tomatoes that are clearly WWII surplus.
I live in the Dallas area, and we have all of the above, except Dan’s/Fran’s Hamburgers and Short Stop. My opinion of some of them is somewhat different than sysop’s, but then I can’t imagine finding two people who would agree on that many things.
We also have Subway, Blimpie’s, Quiznos, Pizza Hut, Pizza Inn, Papa John’s Pizza, Cici’s Pizza, Boston Market, Buger Station, Burger Street, Chik-Fil-A, Colter’s Bar-B-Q, Country Burger, Dickey’s Barbecue Pits, Eggroll Express, Fuddruckers, Frullati, Great Outdoors, Mr. Jim’s Pizza, and Taco Delite (where I have only eaten once and don’t plan to ever go back).
I have been rather arbitrary with this list, including barbecue restaurants because you can walk in and immediately get fed, but excluding cafeterias and other buffets for no good reason at all.