Landmark Restaurants

Poststructural Pub
1

I’m curious what restaurants might be considered
(possibly historic) landmarks in other folks’ areas.
I find it interesting how a community can collect-
ively become attached to restaurants that have
been around for a long time. One presumes such
establishments owe their endurance to suitably
delicious food, but I bet there are cases where
this is in dispute. Either way, history is neato.

I grew up on the west side of Charlotte, NC.
After scout meetings, we always went to this
Dairy Queen:

It has no indoor seating, and until the Brazier
corporation took over the franchise, it was only
open between March and October. My parents
went there when they were in High School in the
60s. Its huge roof top sign survived Hurricane Hugo
(barely), but had to be specifically grandfathered
into a new signage law Charlotte instituted several
years ago. As did the sign for this drive-in, just a
block down the road from the Dairy Queen:

Not sure why there’s such a royal theme in restaurant
naming along Wilkinson Blvd…

My parents’ first date was another ice cream parlor,
Tony’s Ice Cream in Gastonia. That building has been
around since the '40s.

They still make a terrific grape milkshake. It’s my Dad’s
favorite, and he talked it up to my mother the entire drive
there. Of course, they were out of grape ice cream that
day. Luckily, she married him anyway.

Gastonia has an old tradition of Fish Fry restaurants,
many of which would probably be landmarks, but due
to their wood construction, high use of grease and
sometimes shady owners, they’ve had a way of
burning down.

I live in Raleigh now, and the big landmark junkfood
here seems to be Char-Grill and Snoopy’s HotDogs:

The original locations of which are on Hilsborough St
(between NCSU and downtown, which probably helps)
and are both outdoor seating only. At Char-Grill one
orders by checking off items on a long piece of paper
and dropping said paper through a slot in the window
where it runs down a metal chute, finally arriving at
the grill. I only thought of this thread because I just
had a barbeque sandwich from Snoopy’s (Eastern NC
bbq, with slaw of course) and it was hellagood.

Speaking of barbeque, Cooper’s in downtown Raleigh
has an interesting history attached. The store is still
split down the middle into 2 mirror-image sections …

… each with a separate entrance. Until about 40
years ago, one entrance was for White customers,
the other for Black customers. Nowadays, one side
is mostly lunch counter seating and the other side
is table/booth seating.


So, what are your landmarks/eyesores? Post 'em if
ya got 'em.


EDIT: Had to rehost my Dairy Queen image.

2

A local BBQ place:
[u]Cave Man Kitchen[/u]
“You Choke 'Em, We Smoke 'Em!”

3

In Oshkosh we had an A&W when we was little, now it’s Ardy & Ed’s Drive In. The girls are
still on skates, couple of times I traded fresh caught fish for frozen mug root-beers.

4

5

We also had Leon’s frozen custard, but there was an unfortunate event there years ago so we don’t even drive down their street when we’re home.

6

Ouch, it was once an A&W but now it serves Mug
root beer? Quite the coup for Pepsico I guess. Nice
that they do barters though. Also, Skates! Awesome!

I was going to include Goodberry’s Frozen Custard
in my list of local hangouts, but I don’t know how
old it is. I thought frozen custard might be a newer
fad, but looks like it has old-cred!

(I swear Raleigh has some indoor seating establishments)

7

Ardy and Ed’s still make their own root beer but they serve it in frozen glass mugs. Leon’s make their own root beer. Leon’s has only been around since '47, so it’s still a fad, I doubt it will last.

8

Yeah, I was kidding around. I have a couple of A&W
glass mugs that I put in my freezer with just a little
water at the bottom. I pour IBC root beer cold out
of the bottle straight into the frosty mug. It makes
the root beer taste several times better than it does
just from the bottle (and that’s saying something for
IBC). Works well with milk, too.

9

In Santa Cruz, THE ice cream place is Marianne’s:

Generations of locals and visitors have made this tiny, crowded, shop on Ocean Street the place to be on hot summer nights. Even though the ice cream (which is wonderful!) is sold in other shops around town, a trip to the original shop is one of those summer rites that simply can’t be missed, even if you have to wait in line for a half hour for your scoop of “Highway 17” (aka “Rocky Road”) or “1020” (their signature flavor: caramel ice cream with a thick fudge ribbon). My current fave is their chocolate banana, which tastes as if it must be made with real, ripe, bananas.

When Tony was growing up, his family always made the trip down to Marianne’s when they summered in Mount Hermon. His favorite was (and still is) a licorice milkshake, which looks a little like liquid concrete, but I must say, tastes pretty good!

Sorry for the huge picture…I didn’t realize how big it was when I posted the link.

Redwolf

10

“Restaurants”?
A woman I know put her finger on it when she said “A Restaurant has tablecloths”. Dem’s looks like burger joints to me. Even if they don’t sell burgers.

Here’s the local one. Wor Wimpy. The family hits this joint after we play Badminton. It won a prize for the best kept/managed Wimpy in the UK (then they deported the guy who was managing it…) It’s still well run, though. Our Waitress is usually Jackie.

Marlow Wimpy - with review!

11

I’ll gladly pay you Tuesday for a hamburger today…

Redwolf

12

the second Tuesday of next week

13

Well, we’re pretty fond of our BBQ joints around here:

Bryant’s - been there since the 1920s.

A newer joint, but loved by many - Oklahoma Joe’s (it’s too bad the liquor store next door closed, you used to be able to eat and look through the plate glass window at people in the liquor store…the gas station part of the restaurant really is a gas station…that’s high class):

I probably shouldn’t put this here, but I still miss this place that was bulldozed over for the Sprint Center (the restaurant moved to another location…much bigger, but it’s still only open 11-3 Monday through Saturday) - you gotta love the name: