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Chains of Days Gone By
On Sunday the three of us went out for breakfast. Teri wanted to go to Cracker Barrel again - she always wants to - and I was resigned to it. But Sebastian is sick of Cracker Barrel too, and swung the balance to a new choice.
Nothing against Cracker Barrel, by the way; they have great food. But we've eaten there too damned often, and I wish we could go to some different places once in a while. Not that we eat out all the time...oh, you know what I mean.
Anyway, I suggested we go to IHOP - the International House of Pancakes. I hadn't been to one in years, and to be honest, I missed it. There used to be a lot more of them around, but many of them have shut down over the past twenty years. I knew there was one on Route 1, though, perhaps a forty minute drive away.
Sebastian had never been to an IHOP. Teri had only been there once, long ago.
It was a long drive, but everyone was in a good mood. When we got there I was slightly disappointed: this was the only IHOP I'd ever seen that lacked their classic "A" roof architecture. But inside was a pleasant surprise.
The place was filled with a lot of families with young children. It was extremely clean and bright, a very pleasant place. Our waitress was soft-spoken, but couldn't have been nicer (we gave her a particularly large tip).
I'd told Sebastian about the five different kinds of syrup that they had there, to get him to agree to come. There were only three syrups at the table, regular, blueberry, and strawberry, but the waitress brought us large containers of the other two flavors: boysenberry and butter pecan. Both Teri and Sebastian loved the butter pecan particularly. I tasted it, and it wasn't bad; it reminded me of some unusual candy I'd eaten as a child, although I'm not sure what.
Boysenberry tasted like the syrup you squirt onto sno-cones.
Sebastian got sausage, scrambled eggs, and five silver dollar pancakes so he could try all the syrups to his heart's content. Teri got funnel cakes, hash browns, and eggs.
I got chocolate chip pancakes, of course. IHOP's chocolate chip pancakes are different; they use a chocolate pancake batter with chocolate chips. More chocolate chips are put on top of the hot pancakes, so they melt exquisitely, and the whole thing is covered with whipped cream. The whipped cream soaks into the hot pancakes and is just incredible. The chocolate flavor isn't too intense or sweet, believe it or not.
(If you're wondering, I only lost a pound over the weekend. But it was worth it.)
I'd feared that they'd have changed the recipe for chocolate chip pancakes since I'd been there last, but they hadn't.
Anyway, we had a great time, and we'll definitely go back.
The night before I was trying to get Sebastian to sleep. So instead of reading him a book or two, as I usually do, I told him a story about when I was a kid; he really likes to hear about that stuff.
I told him how my parents used to take me to Howard Johnson's on all-you-can-eat spaghetti night. Howard Johnson's had three foods that I absolutely loved:
One was a chocolate lollipop. It wasn't hard candy, though; it was actually chocolate. A clever combination of white and dark chocolate was used to make a picture, in chocolate, of an old-fashioned sailing ship or a windmill or that sort of thing. The work was quite delicate, and looked rather like scrimshaw.
Another thing I remember strongly was their ice cream. After dinner I'd get chocolate ice cream in a metal dish; the ice cream itself was good, but what made it special was a windmill-shaped sugar cookie that was stuck on the side of it. I remember that the ice cream itself was kind of odd. As a kid, I'd take one spoonful, and then smooth the hollow with the back of my spoon; then I'd use the edge of the spoon to sort of skim another layer of ice cream off of the hollow. The ice cream would actually crinkle. Sometimes I'd even dip my spoon in water to make the ice cream extra smooth. Alternated with tiny bites of the sugar cookie, it was almost too much fun.
Lastly, at the register they had candy bars - but not the regular kind that you see at every store. Actually, I've heard that there used to be a much richer variety of candy bars in the old days, but that the big candy companies bought up all the small ones and discontinued a lot of local favorites throughout the country.
The candy that I loved was chocolate-covered fudge bars. There were two pieces in each one.
Anyway, I managed to talk him to sleep, and a little later I went and looked up Howard Johnson's, just to see how the chain was doing. But the Howard Johnson's website was strictly about hotels. No matter how I searched, the only thing I could find that related to food was the breakfasts served in their hotels - and those didn't seem to be restaurants. So I Googled, and found a fan site for the restaurants.
To my amazement, there are only four left in the world.
Nothing against Cracker Barrel, by the way; they have great food. But we've eaten there too damned often, and I wish we could go to some different places once in a while. Not that we eat out all the time...oh, you know what I mean.
Anyway, I suggested we go to IHOP - the International House of Pancakes. I hadn't been to one in years, and to be honest, I missed it. There used to be a lot more of them around, but many of them have shut down over the past twenty years. I knew there was one on Route 1, though, perhaps a forty minute drive away.
Sebastian had never been to an IHOP. Teri had only been there once, long ago.
It was a long drive, but everyone was in a good mood. When we got there I was slightly disappointed: this was the only IHOP I'd ever seen that lacked their classic "A" roof architecture. But inside was a pleasant surprise.
The place was filled with a lot of families with young children. It was extremely clean and bright, a very pleasant place. Our waitress was soft-spoken, but couldn't have been nicer (we gave her a particularly large tip).
I'd told Sebastian about the five different kinds of syrup that they had there, to get him to agree to come. There were only three syrups at the table, regular, blueberry, and strawberry, but the waitress brought us large containers of the other two flavors: boysenberry and butter pecan. Both Teri and Sebastian loved the butter pecan particularly. I tasted it, and it wasn't bad; it reminded me of some unusual candy I'd eaten as a child, although I'm not sure what.
Boysenberry tasted like the syrup you squirt onto sno-cones.
Sebastian got sausage, scrambled eggs, and five silver dollar pancakes so he could try all the syrups to his heart's content. Teri got funnel cakes, hash browns, and eggs.
I got chocolate chip pancakes, of course. IHOP's chocolate chip pancakes are different; they use a chocolate pancake batter with chocolate chips. More chocolate chips are put on top of the hot pancakes, so they melt exquisitely, and the whole thing is covered with whipped cream. The whipped cream soaks into the hot pancakes and is just incredible. The chocolate flavor isn't too intense or sweet, believe it or not.
(If you're wondering, I only lost a pound over the weekend. But it was worth it.)
I'd feared that they'd have changed the recipe for chocolate chip pancakes since I'd been there last, but they hadn't.
Anyway, we had a great time, and we'll definitely go back.
The night before I was trying to get Sebastian to sleep. So instead of reading him a book or two, as I usually do, I told him a story about when I was a kid; he really likes to hear about that stuff.
I told him how my parents used to take me to Howard Johnson's on all-you-can-eat spaghetti night. Howard Johnson's had three foods that I absolutely loved:
One was a chocolate lollipop. It wasn't hard candy, though; it was actually chocolate. A clever combination of white and dark chocolate was used to make a picture, in chocolate, of an old-fashioned sailing ship or a windmill or that sort of thing. The work was quite delicate, and looked rather like scrimshaw.
Another thing I remember strongly was their ice cream. After dinner I'd get chocolate ice cream in a metal dish; the ice cream itself was good, but what made it special was a windmill-shaped sugar cookie that was stuck on the side of it. I remember that the ice cream itself was kind of odd. As a kid, I'd take one spoonful, and then smooth the hollow with the back of my spoon; then I'd use the edge of the spoon to sort of skim another layer of ice cream off of the hollow. The ice cream would actually crinkle. Sometimes I'd even dip my spoon in water to make the ice cream extra smooth. Alternated with tiny bites of the sugar cookie, it was almost too much fun.
Lastly, at the register they had candy bars - but not the regular kind that you see at every store. Actually, I've heard that there used to be a much richer variety of candy bars in the old days, but that the big candy companies bought up all the small ones and discontinued a lot of local favorites throughout the country.
The candy that I loved was chocolate-covered fudge bars. There were two pieces in each one.
Anyway, I managed to talk him to sleep, and a little later I went and looked up Howard Johnson's, just to see how the chain was doing. But the Howard Johnson's website was strictly about hotels. No matter how I searched, the only thing I could find that related to food was the breakfasts served in their hotels - and those didn't seem to be restaurants. So I Googled, and found a fan site for the restaurants.
To my amazement, there are only four left in the world.
no subject
The same sort of fate the old 'Roy Rogers' chain went a few years afterwards.
IHOPS and Bickfords are other slowly dying chains these days.
no subject
I've talked about this whole issue before, of course; the triumph of the American monoculture in the market, removing all diversity and regional flavor from what was once a much more interesting country to eat and shop in. It's a real pity.
I wonder if rising fuel costs might reverse that trend? If transportation costs get high enough, it seems to me that local stores (and sources of food and products) might actually be able to compete with national and international chains. Of course, there'd be major economic disruption along the way.
no subject
(Anonymous) 2007-02-16 05:02 am (UTC)(link)