Semi inspired by this thread about fast food resturants that seem to have gone away, what can’t you get where you are that you wish that you could? I know if I worked at it I could come up with most of this stuff, but I’m talking I want it to be a regular thing, a down the street thing.
I know that I’d love it if there was a Jack in the Box or a Sonic in the greater Chicagoland area. I also wish that I could get Full Sail, Blitz-Weinhard, Shiner Bock, Sonny’s Mean and Lean Lager and Bell’s beers (we just lost Bell’s thanks to a dimwitted distributor) out this way too. What are yours?
I wish there was a sports bar close by. I don’t need it every Sunday but every once in awhile it’s nice to be surrounded by 4 or so simultaneous games. The only decent one is miles away so I’ve not been in years.
Where I grew up you can get grilled/warm sub/hero/hoagy/grinder sandwiches that are deee-lish! They aren’t a specialty item, just the way everyone makes them.
I haven’t found the the same combination of melty toasty tasty anywhere else in my travels.
Wal-Green’s is open 24 hours, every day of the year. They must not be in your area. I was extremely grateful last year on Thanksgiving when my son woke up sick and we were able to get a prescription filled on Thanksgiving Day. They even have a drive-thru!
Chick Fil-A. Oh, my god, Chick-Fil-A. I love it like nothing else.
And Sonic as well, if only for their wacky, delicious drinks. This is exacerbated by the fact that Sonic advertises in the Chicagoland area even though their closest location is something like 3 hours away.
Movies. We have no cinema. The drive-in closed down 5 years ago, but even they didn’t show new stuff. We’re supposed to be getting a cinema complex next year. It’s the only good thing about having the beautiful historic homes knocked down and replaced by the hideous McMansions, and the traffic problems caused by the population doubling in the last 2 years.
I would love the Soup Plantation / Sweet Tomatoes to get to my area. I use to eat at the Soup Plantation often when I was in San Diego in the Eighties. On our last trip to Orlando in August, I made a point of taking the family to Sweet Tomatoes thanks to someone on the board letting me know they were one and the same.
Everyone in my family enjoyed the meal. This is saying a lot, my daughter is pretty picky.
Chipotle. My wife and I became addicted to it in Chicago, but they don’t have any in St. Louis (yet… please God yet). Whenever we go on vacation we research Chipotle locations first to find out if we’ll be near one.
That said, if I ever permanently move away from St. Louis, wherever I go had better have Sonic and Lion’s Choice.
Decent pastrami on decent rye with decent mustard.
Real good Chicago style deep dish pizza, like in Papa Del’s in Champaign Illinois.
A decent bagel place, better than Noah’s, that I didn’t have to cross the Bay for. We had some that were almost tolerable, then they got taken over by people who wouldn’t know a bagel from a hamburger roll with a hole shot through the center.
