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[V-Adore]

Yeah, I copy on Waffle House. The food isn't anything to write home about, but the atmosphere is sometimes just what the doctor ordered.

As for Shoney's -- I know there's one near my folks' house, but I'm not well-acquainted with the national trend. Maybe it's changed by now.

That does remind me, though: has anyone else heard of "Village Inn," a sort of Shoney's/Perkins/Denny's-alike? Or are these only a Lincoln, NE phenomenon?

[arkabee]

i hadn't expected to be online this weekend, but 1- laaaate start yesterday and 2- "complimentary high speed internet access and remote printing".  my father's sage advice of "look out for all the trucks on 40, they are horrible" turned out to actually be sage.

that having been said, i must say that this may be my mostest favoritest thread of all time, since shooting the shit about eateries is easliy my best quality.  fuck the weather, how's the ac at perkins?  did they fix the draft in the back booth yet?

and lo, now where to start?  Shoney's.  The older i get the more i consciously acknowledge the subconscious patterns put into my brain from childhood.  Shoney's evokes images of Northern Virginia and my mother getting CUNT pie and being happy.  That being said, i was never a strong advocate of Shoney's, because i am Pro-Hashbrown, and they are fervent supporters of Breakfast Potatoes; and while i can certainly see the rationality behind favoring the use of Breakfast Potatoes in a Food Bar environment, nothing can curtail my delight in correctly cooked golden brown crispy yet unburnt hasbrowns.  I have, at times, considered writing a Decalogy on How to Short Order Cook Hashbrowns For Minimum Wage Slaves and Why It Can Make Your Painful Life Better Through Pursuits of Perfection.

But i digress.  There had been a Shoney's in town, but it went out of business (common thread).  It has been replaced with a BackYard Burger (local conspiracy theories abound regarding what is happening in the extra space in the building.) which had replaced a Corky's (world's worst bbq).

I am under the impression that Shoney's is a dying beast.  which, while i do not approve of their Breakfast Potatoes, i certainly endorse the concept of an all you can eat breakfast buffet.

and now to come full circle:  driving around last night, aimlessly, around the "airport district" of Nashville, the world's most beautiful woman and i happened upon the apparent corporate headquarters (or one of them) of BOTH Shoney's _and_ Captain D's.

Having now typed more content than my father's dissertation, i realize that it wasn't really _that_ exciting.

Waffle House.

I suppose i sort of put eateries into three categories, oft defined by the reaction of my lady:
Comfortable atmosphere for me.
Are you really going to wear that?
There is no possible way that you are going to wear that.

Thus:
Waffle House
Ruby Tuesday's
Mssr. FancyPant's Rue Oui Eiffel Detente

My feelings for Waffle House have been documented sufficiently elsewhere, but let me once again give the chain my hearty :thumbsup:

Village Inn.  i vaguely think Village Inn may be in northern wisonsin as well.  however, the memory is foggy, as it was the "going back to visit the long distance girlfriend from highschool after going to the UK for the summer and not really sure what the hell is going on with any aspect of life" type of thing.  I think it was called Village Inn, but you know how sometimes there are chains with a name and onesy mom & pop's with the same name (also the whole Huddle House phenomenon).

Saw a sign for "The Cotton Patch" on I40 going to nashville last night, however the signage on the interstate seemed too non-corporate such that i would think that it was a "onesy" occurence of an eatery with that name, rather than a link in the chain of The Cotton Patch Corporate shackles.

(urrrmmmmm.  i love the teeny-tiny little coffee makers in hotel rooms, but perhaps hindsight is telling me (in a loud, shrill voice) that maybe the reason that there are two teeny-tiny coffee filters of coffee, and two bottles of bottled water in the teeny-tiny fridge, is to offer an alternative to using sink water.  and one (as my hindsight is surely conjecturing) might conjecture that an alternative is offered because the default might not be such a good idea....)

Big Boy.  i love/loved that chain.  Whose Big Boy was it? wasn't it possessed of a Proper Noun?  i would surmise that Friendly's sort of stole the Big Boy model sans gigantor mascot.
erg.  having reread the thread, Jough promptly answered my question prior to me asking.  Bob's, indeed.  John's is very disconcerting.

Red, Hot and Blue as a replacement for Shoney's?  I was under the impression that Red, Hot and Blue was the series of "mix cd compilations" advocating safe sex and homosexual tolerance prevelant in the 90s.  

To revisit Steak and Shake:  I love onion rings.  Deep fried is always enjoyed, and a good Batter is always welcome.  Onions are delicious, and the mix of a Nice Sweet Onion covered in Crunchy Deep Fried Batter Goodness with salt and ketchup is a veritable taste EXPLOSION! of Happy Goodness.  Steak and Shake has very good onion rings.  However, the older i get the more i find that my ability to emulate the eating habits of Goats forsakes me.  The Steak and Shake of which i write is a good 45 minute drive from my normal abode.  Any review of Steak and Shake from me should always be temperred by the acknowledgement of any Pain, Cramping and Terror that might affect my Objectivity.  The onion rings are damn good, though.

I would heartily endorse trying White Castle or Krystal for the first time in a "safe environment".

Andalucia-  memory tells me that white castle sliders are about 2 inches square.  i could be wrong.

[CortJstr]

When we were in the process of looking for a house/moving to NoVa there were indeed Shoney's everywhere. In some areas there were more Shoney's than McDonald's. Seeing as I completely hate breakfast foods I liked Shoney's because they served lunch anytime. So while my parents were hitting the breakfast bar I had a kid's speghetti.

It was Bob's Big Boy. I can only hope that Bob wasn't a creepy uncle or something.

The former Shoney's all turned into different things. One became a Kentucky Bell, another Ruby Tuesday, but a couple became Red, Hot, & Blues. Which is a BBQ chain based out of Arlington. Supposedly there were some legal issues between them and Stickyfingers with one claiming the other stole their sauce.

Recently my parent's town got an outlet mall and by they opened a Bob Evan's restaurant. I had never heard of anything like this. What's a sausage guy doing with a whole restaurant? Is it going to turn into an Outback/Lone Star situation where Jimmy Dean will start his own restaurant and open it across the street?

[Nabubrush]

It was Bob's Big Boy. I can only hope that Bob wasn't a creepy uncle or something.

We had Bob's Big Boy in Alaska when I was a little kid, complete with giant fiberglass mascot. I remember eating there when I was like five.

Supposedly there were some legal issues between them (R, H, & B) and Stickyfingers with one claiming the other stole their sauce.

What did they expect, from a business named Stickyfingers? I don't think they have any basis for a challenge when it's been made so clear that you can't trust them. The legal precedent, of course, is millions of kids saying "I'm going to swing my arms, and if you get hit it's your fault."

[Bozack]

God, since moving to New York, I've been basically weaned off of fast food, simply because what seemed delicious in Kentucky, in a relatively clean Burger King franchise, seems horrible when you're sitting in a room filled with homeless men. There have been some other problems; a few weeks ago, in order to get the Hello Kitty toy, I bought a McDonalds Happy Meal. This was a horrible idea, as it turns out; apparently, if you don't eat McDonalds for about a year or so, your body forgets that it's supposed to be food and not some horrible alien parasite. However, I've never actually had that problem with the Grilled Stuffed Burrito at Taco Bell.
RE: In and Out Burger. I've never actually had an I&O, but there's a little place here called Blue 9 Burger that I'm in love with; the menu consists of 3 different permutations of burger, bread and cheese, french fries, shakes, coffee and fountain drinks. That's all. And apparently they're a pretty good approximation of I&O.
The few times I had Whattaburger, they were pretty tasty.

But for me, the holy grail of fast food foodstuffs is the Chicken Burrito, black beans, medium salsa, at Qdoba Mexican Grill. God, I used to eat one every other day junior year of high school. I've found an alright replacement at Chipotle, but damn...I long constantly for that burrito. How come the best restaurants never made it to New York?

[Carlos del Vaca]

There's an Arthur Treacher's here in Fairfax, VA.

Five Guys is frikkin' awesome.  They just opened one right up the road in Chantilly.  Yaaaaaaaaaaaay!

[CortJstr]

Five Guys is frikkin' awesome.  They just opened one right up the road in Chantilly.  Yaaaaaaaaaaaay!

Thank you!

[AugustWest]

But for me, the holy grail of fast food foodstuffs is the Chicken Burrito, black beans, medium salsa, at Qdoba Mexican Grill. God, I used to eat one every other day junior year of high school. I've found an alright replacement at Chipotle, but damn...I long constantly for that burrito. How come the best restaurants never made it to New York?

Oh yeah baby yeah on the Qdoba!  Loved it for a long time and was exspecially psych-ed when Frankfort got one.  Grilled veggie burrito (what other fast-food place has grilled eggplant on the menu?) or seasoned beef burrito.  Man!  And the habenero salsa simply rocks.  It just rocks, I'm telling you!  I'm going for lunch tomorrow, I've decided.  Even though it is all the way across town.

Did you know that Qdoba is owned by the Grisantis?

Also, driving by fast-food headquarters is no big whoop for us Louisvillians.  KFC has been headquartered here since God was a boy.  Now YUM (i.e. KFC, Pizza Hut, Taco Bell, LJS, A&W) and Papa John's Pizza are both here.  The mostly defunct Rally's, too.  Fazoli's is headquartered in Lexington as was LJS until Pepsico (now YUM) bought them.

[sjlimmer]

That does remind me, though: has anyone else heard of "Village Inn," a sort of Shoney's/Perkins/Denny's-alike? Or are these only a Lincoln, NE phenomenon?

I didn't know that Village Inn went that far east, but yeah, I know them.  They were definitely preferred above Denny's for general hanging-out in my HS-college years (I've wasted many a day in the VI in downtown Salt Lake, near the University of Utah).  They were no match for local chains like Dee's Family Restaurant (RIP) though.

I'd never so much as heard of Waffle House before I move out here to MO.  I've yet to actually go to the one in town, and the "grits with everything" philosophy seems odd to me.  But the hashbrowns smothered with everything look pretty damn good.

[Gimpson]

When I was going to school in Houston, there was a Checkers in an area I frequented, so I can make a report on the food.  The burgers were about Sonic like in quality, which I consider a good thing.  The best thing about Checkers was they sold these Apple Nuggets, which were like the old deep fried McDonalds Apple Pies, but in nugget form, the shape of apple wedges.  Those alone made the trips to Checkers worth it.  

Then the Checkers dropped that from their menu, and went out of business within in the year.  Here in Kansas City I've seen the shells of two out of business Checkers as well, as well as a few White Castle husks.  All make me sad when I drive by.

[andalucia]

The best thing about Checkers was they sold these Apple Nuggets, which were like the old deep fried McDonalds Apple Pies, but in nugget form, the shape of apple wedges.  Those alone made the trips to Checkers worth it.

That does sound vaguely awesome.  One of my American friends tells me that the McDonalds healthy menu doesn't exist, or is different in America, but  when I once in Ontario accompanied a friend who wanted cheap ice cream to McDonalds, I ended up buying a small packet of apple slices with accompanying caramel dip, and I thought that was rather fucked up but quite delicious.

[Turbo Ninja]

I know of two Arthur Treacher's restaurants in Ohio.  One is in Lancaster, Ohio, on Route 33 between Columbus and Athens.

The other one is in Cuyahoga Falls on State Road near Broad Boulevard.

There's also one on Pleasant Valley Rd and one on W 130th, both in Parma. But I live 4,000 miles away from there now.

And now I have to ask, are you from the Akron Area? 'Cause there aren't many exuceses for knowing stuff about Cuyahoga Falls....

I did grow up in Cuyahoga Falls.  That's my excuse.

[AlohaDawg]

No shit. My dad's office was right on the corner of Grant and State across from Rick Case and that HUGE American Flag. That thing sounded like a thunderstorm whenever they flew it. He sold it years ago, I don't know what it is now.

I went to Revere. 20 years ago...

[arkabee]

Ruby Tuesday's has the best French Fries i've ever had.
their chicken sandwich is pretty good, as well.

but the fries are amazing.

The "chicken crips" at Chili's are too die for.

um, that is all.