Memories of local non-chain restaurants

There was this little hamburger shack called Tom's in our hometown. Honestly the best hamburger I'd ever had. Everything was fresh and locally purchased. They opened a legit sit down restaurant after demand overtook them. They included more menu items, including pizza, and it was all still very good. But, they made a big mistake. They tried to cater more to children with video games and the like. I was a kid and I started to realize that children ruined everything. The owners let their kids run around the place and they started using a Sysco-like service to cut costs and the quality went way down. They were out of business within three years.

I grew up by Nasa. I remember going to Jimmie Walker's in Kemah with my parents. Rumor was even in the 70s-early 80s that it was a gambling den. Kemah was always sketchy. Now it's a sanitized amusement park.

I was a Navy brat growing up. We lived on Kauai for three years when I was 7-10 (back in the Dark Ages). We used to go to this restaurant called the Tahiti Longhouse. It was on a bluff overlooking the ocean in Poipu (I think). The salad bar was an outrigger canoe used in “South Pacific.” They would have a show with fire jugglers out on the lawn and Tahitian dancers inside. There was a great kitchy gift shop in the front. Looking back, I’m sure it was a huge tourist trap, but every time relatives would come to visit, we’d go there. I loved it.

Grew up in Macon Ga. Len Bergs , a local meat and two was fabulous , all the servers were old black gentlemen in white jackets , brought your iced tea or beer in a bottle in a small saucer . Order off the menu , by letters of the alphabet , Every June , HMFPIC ( homemade fresh peach ice cream . )

Cags , for special occasions , the owner was an European immigrant , always wore loud sportscoats. Had my first cocktail there ( A SHIRLEY TEMPLE .)

Shanes , stood in line to order steak , got your salad and fabulous desert off the line . ( a local sizzlers type restaurant . )

Spent a few summers during my teenage years in a town in Ohio. It was a bit off the beaten path. There had been an amusement park there but it closed in the 70s (and there's now YT videos of the remains of some of the amusements and coasters).

The restaurant was called The Oaks and it looked so glamorous and beautiful in its day. Ladies who dialed the phone with a pencil went to this restaurant, for sure! I heard it had been a railroad depot in the 1800s. The building was bought in the 70s by a gay couple and they made it fabulous.

It is still open - but not as nice/elegant as it used to be, nor is the food anywhere what it used to be. But it was a jewel in its day.

The Mills Restaurant in downtown Cincinnati. My Mom took me there when I was a little boy, to see an ophthalmologist about my strabismus. I had never really been in the city before, and I was amazed by nearly everything I saw. I'm pretty sure my Mom ordered a cheeseburger for me, but this was the early 60s, and my memory isn't that great. But I know my Mom ordered fried oysters.

When I was a kid in the 60s and 70s, we used to go to some of the local WASP eateries for holidays, with decidedly UN-ethnic fare. My father who grew up in the area said that when he was young those joints were referred to as tearooms; minds OUT of the gutter, girls! There would be a three-course prix-fixe menu with main courses such as roast chicken, potato, and green beans! 😮 I was always fascinated that one of the appetizers choices would often include tomato juice, as I couldn't see who would want to order that? Usually, it would be the four of us plus my father's aunt and her ne'er do well alcoholic husband. One time at the William Pitt in Chatham, NJ we were originally sent to a table on some sort of dais for some reason. My horrified father did not wish to have my uncle's behavior highlighted for the diners' amusement, so he put a stop to that before we sat down. There were similar joints in nearby towns as well: Wedgewood in Morristown, Llewellyn Farms in Morris Plains, Widow Brown in Madison and The Afton in Florham Park.

The other non-chain restaurant of note from my youth was the Hanover Trail Steakhouse in Whippany, NJ. The sirloin tips with steak fries was a huge favorite of mine! For some reason Lost In The Mists of Time, among my friends there was some sort of a pecking order as to which dining room was preferable to be assigned to your party.

Clifton’s Cafeteria in downtown LA, back in the Eighties. There was always some preacher shouting on one of the street corners outside, and the cafeteria had seen better days, but it still had greenery and a waterfall, and I loved being able to try different desserts. Always had the enchiladas. My mom took me because she used to work in downtown LA years before, and she would go to lunch there.

[quote] to see an ophthalmologist about my strabismus.

Is that contagious?

R9, No, but I must say, I was the cutest little cross-eyed boy!

In a similar thread some time ago, there was a poster whose father took the family to Joanne's Chili Bordello. The chili tasted like it was made from dog food and the waitresses were dressed as Old West prostitutes. IIRC, Dad couldn't understand why Mom was pissed.

Apparently, it was in Jacksonville, FL.

Manero’s in Greenwich, CT was an old school steakhouse that had been around for like 70 years before they closed down over a decade ago. The remaining family members didn’t want to be in the restaurant business and the land the building was on was worth $millions.

The decor was very dated and ambience was not particularly appealing. The menu never changed and it was cheap but they served prime quality meat (and had a retail butcher shop in the lobby). When I was a kid in the 70s and 80s it was $9.99 and by the time it closed it was either $19.99 or $24.99. You would get an appetizer (fruit cocktail, cantaloupe or tomato juice), Gorgonzola or regular salad, choice of steak with potatoes and vegetables and a piece of cake for dessert. It was so good. I loved bringing friends there when I was in college and my 20s because we could eat like kings for very little money.

Phil's Diner in Houston - They served a meat with three sides and quart-sized glasses of iced tea. On the wall were photos of grand champion steers from previous rodeos. Skinny waitresses named Ruby with hair dyed raven black would come by to take orders. I always had chicken-fried steak with mashed potatoes. It was succeeded by the 59 Diner. I'm not sure what's there now over on Farnham.

R13 I've heard of the "meat and three" restaurants.

The Windjammer on Chester Road to the north of Cincinnati! It used to be considered a fancy place (expensive!) but it had a long, slow decline before it finally closed.

The Parker House is a hotel in Boston which has hosted everyone from Charles Dickens to Judy Garland to JFK. The dining room was one of my parent's favorite places to take us out for dinner. It's still there and quite good, but it was one my favorite places to eat as a kid. Here's a luncheon menu from 1945. Nothing much but the prices had changed when I ate there in the 1960's and 1970's - a large lobster was about $3.50 by then.

A bit off (it was part of a chain with the other restaurants in NYC, Miami, Montreal, and Providence but as far as I know then, the others had closed) but Ruby Foo's Den in Boston's Chinatown was my Irish grandmother's - who lived in a Jewish neighborhood and thus knew her Chinese food as well as any non-Chinese person did back then - favorite place to eat and she took us there every time we went downtown to go shopping with her.

A zombie was 75 cents in the 1960's.

Burger Heaven on 62nd and Lex, which just closed after 77 years. So sad.