Summer break in college one year I flipped burgers at a Henrys. Loaded the grill with 24 burgers at a time and would go home smelling like hamburgers after 8 hours over the grill. There still one Henrys open in Benton Harbor Mi.
@8Inch
There was a place in Atlanta called the Barbershop. I loved that place. They had freezers full of meats. You would get up, go to the freezer, choose the piece you wanted. You could either walk it over to a grill and grill it yourself or for a couple of bucks, they would cook it for you. I liked that place!
There is a place in Hong Kong that I would love to see in America, but the liability is just too insane. They use these lava rocks that get really friggin hot. They bring the meat to your table and a rock and you cook your own meat, at the table.
Dang - it's closed :(
tripadvisor. com/Restaurant_Review-g294217-d3610688-Reviews-The_Stonegrill-Hong_Kong.html
Sadly the last Farrells closed in 2019, in Brea Ca. We visited several in Nor Cal many years ago.
In Atlanta, it was prime rib and smoked salmon at Houston's.
And blackened catfish and crawfish bisque at Pappadeaux's.
Used to love Farrell's when I was a kid. My parents used to take us to the one in Pearl City HI. Always crowded, always fun. Never got The Zoo though.
"And Farrel's (sp?) Ice Cream parlors."
There are two Farrells in existence that I know of, both in Orange County, CA. One in downtown Fullerton, and the other down the street from Knott's Berry Farm. Still the same and still serve the Zoo.
When we moved to California, we got here on my 10th birthday. The people we were staying with took us to Farrells. We, of course, ordered the Zoo.
If you haven't seen this before, they put a giant tureen of ice cream, bananas, cherries, hot fudge, butterscotch, and a whole mess of other stuff, including some small plastic animal figures in the tureen. Then they put the tureen in a stretcher like contraption, and run around the restaurant with a siren going, drum banging, and everybody screaming and clapping and having a good ol' time.
So this performance starts. The guys are running around the restaurant with this thing. Screaming, yelling, clapping, drums banging, sirens blaring. And they are almost at my table with MY Zoo.
They turn the last corner, and the guy in back catches his foot on the coat rack. Ice cream and everything else all over the place.
Fun times I tell ya...
In Sudbury, Mass there used to be JTs Steakhouse that was an all-you-could-eat buffet. On the buffet was boiled Maine lobster, steaks cut/cooked to order, roast beef, baked stuffed shrimp and at least 3 other kinds of shrimp, roast turkey and all the fixings, chicken cooked in various ways, and on and on.
Drinks were served in 16 oz glasses and were $2.50 each, which even back then was fairly cheap.
I went there twice. It was about $16 the first time and a year later was about $2 more. I had the same thing each time, which was 5 lobsters, 2 steaks, half a dozen baked stuffed shrimp washed down with 2 Pina Coladas and a 1/4 of a watermelon and half a pineapple for dessert.
I asked if there was a record for the most lobsters in one sitting, and was told it was a wrestler named Haystacks Calhoun that ate 63 lobsters. If you liked lobster and had a healthy appetite, that was worth the price of admission by itself.
I believe this thread is intended to discuss restaurants we probably frequented as adults....
Can't say I loved them, but waaay back there used to be a Henry's hamburgers restaurant just a few blocks from a McDonalds. I always remember the food being almost identical to McDonalds. We'd (meaning my siblings and parents in the station wagon) often went to Henry's because, for some reason, the line at McDonalds was always longer.
Henry's is gone and a gazillion McDonalds are around now. I'm not sure if any Henry's still exist.
That's it!! The Zoo. Thanks Zinful!
Yup. Big enough for a small team- Little Leaguers were pretty small, but we ate a shitload of ice cream at Farrell's.
:-)
@NewYorkNicky ... Gino's reopened about 9 yrs ago in MD, maybe itger areas too ... but its not the same as it was back in the day.
@goodenuff,
The giant Farrells dish was called the Zoo, big enough for a small team. They also had the Pig Trough, big enough for 2-3, but often indulged by one.
@Wayne
I remember Leonardo's, the others I do not.
When I lived off campus, at the time, dunno about now, it was ONE street past the student ghetto. Just west of 13th on 6th place. At the time BB was next to the copy center on the corner of university and 13th, basically across the street from InNOut. What is messed up is that when I moved to California I thought the In N Out's here were from there! I didn't know they were not.
Skeeters was awesome. It was like a mandatory stop for a little asher then go over to Food4Less. I still miss those biscuits.
There was a place that started in South Florida called Lums. I am not sure if they made it to Gainesville. I don' think there was one when I was in school there, maybe earlier. There was another place in South Florida, Royal Castle. That was a take on White Castle.
As to the person who mentioned Farrells, yes that place was awesome. If you want to see something that is still similar, Look at Jaxson's ice cream in Dania. It came out (56) before Farrells and until about 10 years ago, the original owner was still there, every night greeting customers. That guy was so awesome in how he treated people, he even made it into an Obama speech!
The higher end version of Farrells that is no longer around, there was one in Gainesville on 34th, across from married housing iirc, Swensens.
Trying to think of national restaurants. I remember going to a few places as a kid that are no longer around...
Howard Johnson's for one. I guess I loved that because we went a lot and they had a kid's menu or place mat that we got crayons to color on the menu/placemat and napkins and table. I loved pigs in a blanket, and used almost the whole syrup container on them.
And Farrel's (sp?) Ice Cream parlors. I forget the name of the HUGE ice cream thingy that like 4 or 50 servers would come running around the entire place with and lights/bells (I think) going off until hey finally set the gazillion pound bad boy on the table and everybody dug in. It served a whole Little League team.
<p><a href="https://www.swinglifestyle.com/profile/lookup.cfm?usercode=41370601">eroticamazon</a>,</p>
<p>Yes, classic places to eat and hangout in Gainesville: In-n-Out, Skeeters, Burrito Brothers. I'll add to the list:</p>
<p>Louis' Lunch - My parents went on one of their first dates there, circa early 40's.</p>
<p>Tony & Pat's Pizza - Used to hang-out there a lot with the (now) owner of SLS.</p>
<p>Leonardo's 706</p>
<p>Farah's on the Avenue</p>
Ahh Shells.. University and Pines !
Steak and Ale. The food was great and affordable.
We use to frequent Shells when living in Florida. It was a great place to eat.
@Sorillo
Interestingly we never went to Casa Blanca :) It seemed to have closed during Covid. We have been here since 03, so any place prior, no idea.
Food is such an interesting thing here that there is a website that all it does is talk about places opening and closing!
santabarbara. com/dining/news/
Two places on State St. in Santa Barbara (eroticamazon, you might remember these). One was Casa Blanca, which was a hole-in-the-wall Mex place, kind of run down, but I rather like that kind of place. The other place was almost across the street, maybe a block up, I want to say it was called the Judge's Chambers, but it's been over 20 years since it shut down so my memory might be off. It was one of the locations for the film Steal Big, Steal Little with Andy Garcia, except they made it into a raucous bar for the flick. The bar was made from an old judge's bench and was beautiful. Used to switch off on Saturday breakfast between there and Esau's, which is still around in the downtown area.
Wouldn't this be much more regional and perhaps a single place? Not sure you are going to get many responses on this that make much sense to others :)
If we can go back a BIT. There was a place in Tampa called Shells. Shells was awesome. It was seafood. The place opened at 5pm and closed at 10. They did not take credit cards, cash only. It was on a paper plate with paper cups and plastic cutlery. You got a LOT of food, cheap. If you didn't show up at 4:30, the line to get in would be 90+ minutes. Shells eventually expanded and changed formats. It was ultimately bought by the company that owned Burger King and made to compete with Red Lobster. They lost that war and closed.
In a weird irony, there were some fast food joints called In n Out in Gainesville, FL. It was a hamburger joint. Yes, I think they pissed off their SoCal company of the same name. They were not related. They be gone :( Staying in Gainesville, there was a place called Skeeters. Skeeters were known for their biscuits. Their biscuits were AWESOME and HUGE. Imagine a KFC biscuit. Now take 8 of them. Make it 4 on the bottom and then 4 on top of those. That was the size of their biscuit. It could be a WEAPON :) The owner retired to South Florida in the late 90s and then got bored and decided to open up in Fort Lauderdale. It didn't take off. I think Wayne can comment on this :) Then we can talk about Burrito Brothers Wayne :)
Restaurants we loved but have gone out of business. I loved Gino's Hamburgers before they sold to Marriott who then re-opened as Roy Rogers. Let's take a trip down memory lane.
