I like Panera/St. Louis Breads and Ruby Tuesday, neither of which are anywhere near me in Westchester, NY.
While we’re at it, how about a Skyline Chili and a Salt Lick BBQ? 
Not really a resstaurant, but in the dog days of summer i dream about having a Jamba Juice around the corner.
Is there a Soup Exchange/Sweet Tomatoes near you? IMO, they’re nearly indistinguishable from Soup Plantation.
As for the OP, I’d like to see a Dave & Buster’s near me, just for the easy access to the games. 
Sweet Tomatoes / Souplantation are the same company. Website and location finder.
I don’t miss any restaurants, but I’m going to echo Lou’s lament in re Trader Joe’s and IKEA. 16 million people in this state, most of whom are crammed into 4 metro areas, and we don’t have either. Tempe, AZ has an IKEA, for God’s sake – why don’t we?
I don’t know if such a chain even exists, but I’d love a fast food Indian type place. There are some good Indian restaraunts around, but they’re all the sit-down fancy schmancy type. I’d love like something like what Fazoli’s is for Italian food.
Curry n’ Naan here in SF seems to be doing that job. I come from the city that birthed Del Taco, and I soooo miss 'em, even in the land of the Mission Burrito.
I’d also like to have a Stuckey’s here, but mainly for the surrealism.
There’s a chain of Portuguese-style (“Peri-Peri”) chicken restaurants in the U.K. (and possibly some other countries that I would like to expand to the U.S.
Oops, I forgot to say that the chain is Nando’s.
Oddly enough, there’s only about 10 Burger King’s inside the beltway, and only a couple within 5 miles of me, and I live in a major metropolitan area.
I’d like to try an In n Out.
There’s no White Castle within 50 miles, and probably farther, which is damned silly. There used to be a local chain called Little Tavern, which had little burgers like White Castle, except they were fresher and meatier, and just freakin’ awesome. Sadly they’ve gone out of business, but you still see their distinctive little white buildings holding other businesses.
My city, Arlington, seems to have some kind of fast food phobia. Nimby pricks.
I keep hearing rumors that they’re opening an IKEA in Sawgrass Mills, the huge outlet mall in Broward County, in 2006, and possibly near the high-end Millenium Mall in Orlando as well. I’ll believe it when I see it, but that would be like a license to print money for that company, opening one or two stores in Florida!
We’ve got (at least) two Skylines out here, one in Dunedin on US-19 and one on Clearwater Beach. May be closer for you than whereever you currently go. Also, the Publix chains here tend to carry the stuff in the freezer section near the TV dinners, if you really need it.
I generally prefer smaller, less well known places than national chains. It may be because we have just about every chain here, except for In-n-Out.
They all became absorbed by Piccadilly Cafeteria, in case you have those. There aren’t any Morrison’s left now, even here.
Why am I giggling uncontrollably?
There is a Grandy’s in Gainesville, Florida. Great greasy Southern home-cookin’, awesome breakfasts, salad bar, fried chicken, all that good stuff.
Sonic and Schlotzsky’s. I miss them both from Tulsa. I see their commercials all the time, but neither are within miles of here (central Pennsylvania).
SONIC SONIC SONIC!!!
I had breakfast at a Sonic in North Carolina and a green chile cheeseburger at another one in New Mexico. WHY DON’T WE HAVE ONE IN VIRGINIA even though the stupid tv commercials are aired on our local networks?
I needs me some Sonic.
I’ve lived in three Florida cities, and Sonic advertised heavily on TV in all of them. Strangely, Miami never had any locations, and neither did Gainesville (although it has one now, since I moved away). Orlando has a couple, so it’s nice to finally get Sonicky goodness whenever I feel like it.
Sadly, we’ve lost several that I wish would come back…
Fazoli’s is the main one. They went out of business near me when a Golden Corral opened near them and took most of their business.
Fuddruckers is another I’d like to see in this area.
Lastly, is a Hardee’s. They always seem to have “interesting” burgers, not just the “typical” kinds you see at the other major burger chains.
Waffle House! There’s one about forty minutes away, but that’s really too far to be its own trip.
Five Guys – a local D.C. chain – I wish there was one either near my house or downtown, near my office, but the closest one is way around the Beltway and, again, too far for its own trip. (Although you can bet that I hit it if I ever get invited to a party in Old Town or Georgetown.)
I too would savor an In ‘n ’ Out around here, and I’d love to see Sonic. I love drive-ins (I’m from Akron, the only place on Earth where they actually survived from the 50’s to the present). I’ve never been to a Sonic though, even though I too see their commercials around here. There’s one near my folks’ place but whenever I visit them we always end up going nice places.
–Cliffy
Dude, if it was feasible, I would happily mail you some Waffle House or Sonic.
& Thanks to Bambi Hassenpfeffer
Well thats good info, I’ve been out of San Diego since 1989 and every time I go back I made it a point to go to SP. Last time was 98.
On their website they have nothing in the North East but I do travel to Tampa sometimes, so I will go to the Sweet Tomatoes in Tampa next time I’m there.