We enjoyed that place for years until the Asian tsunami turned that corner into Ground Zero of The New Chinese Colony. I grew up near the one in East Hollywood (demolished by Kaiser hospital) and so, since we moved east, our new locale became the one on Valley and Del Mar in San Gabriel. Norm's is still around in SoCAl but they've closed many of them near(ish) to the center of LA.
It was one of those places "decorated" with license plates and deer heads and a juke box and assorted junk accumulated over 50 years of business.
Everything on the menu was comfort food like a full turkey dinner and meatloaf with smashed potatoes and vegetables in massive portions you could share or take home. They made pies that looked like cone heads with huge pointy piles of whipped cream rotating in one of those tall pie cases. GAWD! Best 24 hour place EVER, with big haired waitresses and one gay waiter who would say, "MMMMMmm Hmmmmm!" each time someone ordered an item. The early bird diners were so cheap.įor those who grew up in So Cal in the '60s-'80s, do any of you recall a not chain former truck stop diner on Harbor Blvd, south of Disneyland going toward Garden Grove called Belisle? Oh.
So many awful menu items I would talk people out of ordering.
I was a waitress in a So Cal Bob's Big Boy when I was 18-19. I have a friend who was a cook at the downtown SF Woolworth's lunch counter, but it was years before we met. Yes, Zim's was at Market and Van Ness (plus other locations.) Also recall Miz Brown's Country Kitchen and Miz Brown's Feed Bag. Mmm.īack then it was a great go-to spot because each location was different but you always knew what to expect and they delivered, and the prices weren't crazy. the rivers of ranch dressing! All generous portions in a big basket with grease-soaked paper. Everything was fried and served with rivers of ranch dressing, oh. And ice cold beer served in mugs kept in a freezer. They served giant 80's-style daiquiris and margaritas. The burgers were okay, but the nachos were huge and yummy, and the potato skins were great, and they had a great generous soup/salad/baked potato bar. The Death By Chocolate dessert was also really good and a good deal. The basic menu items were best.īack then the best thing they made was their Monte Christo sandwich. In the kitchen, most of the menu items were just stuff in plastic bags warmed up in the microwave and then poured over rice or pasta.
Once they "punished" me for showing up with only one flair point by making me wear an E.T. The joke in OFFICE SPACE about Jennifer Anniston being penalized by a manager for not wearing "three points of flair" is based on FACT.
In the 80's I worked at the Bennigan's in the Dallas Galleria mall, directly across from the ice rink, next to an arty movie theater, and surrounded by stores like Benneton and The Sharper Image. They have a lot of the same 80's menu, but. If you look on google images some of the locations have bland interiors similar to Denny's. Now the name and logo is the same but the interiors have been stripped and minimized. As Moe from THE SIMPSONS succinctly called it: "Deep fried food and a bunch of crazy crap on the walls." (Really special occasions called for a trip downtown to someplace like Trader Vic’s, which deserves a thread of its own.) by Anonymousīennigan's is still around, but vaguely resembles what it was in the 80's. It was a nice restaurant for a semi-special-occasion family dinner out. Their steaks were good, I think, although my experience with good steak was limited at the time. This was the first place I ever saw a salad bar, and it was a big, elaborate one. Old-school faux-colonial steakhouse décor and nice, quiet ambience. Sir Walter Raleigh Inn – a DC suburban steakhouse chain. My mother loved the place, perhaps because they made good margaritas. Their hash browns, served with massive amounts of sour cream, were amazing. They were the first restaurant, at least in DC, to smother their burgers with then-exotic toppings like avocado or blue cheese. The Hamburger Hamlet – an LA-based chain, I think. They had a branch at the mall where I worked when I was in college I’d go to the Magic Pan on my dinner break if I felt like splurging. I especially loved the fried ham-and-cheese crepe and the spinach souffle crepe, and their version of potage St-Germain. The Magic Pan – they served mostly crepes, although they had soups and salads as well. Anyway, here’s my list from my DC-area youth and young adulthood in the '70s and early '80s: Some of these are so long gone that I don’t know if I’d even enjoy the food now. The thread on old-school cafeterias got me thinking about old restaurant chains.