my custom restauarant

J

JonMyrlennBailey

Well-known member
It started out as a McDonald's 'Golden Arches' hamburger joint, but I turned the iconic building into a mom and pop using some wall content and sign content. The dark brick wall content covers up the original Mc Donald's signage. I wanted more class on my Trainz layout than Big Ronald Mack Dee's.

 
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How much will your cheapest egg sandwich cost me ? I went to Dunkin Donuts yesterday and their cheapest was over 5 bucks ! I don't get out much, but that was ridiculous. I stayed hungry until I got home.
 
JimDep said:
How much will your cheapest egg sandwich cost me ? I went to Dunkin Donuts yesterday and their cheapest was over 5 bucks ! I don't get out much, but that was ridiculous. I stayed hungry until I got home.
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I'm old enough to know that a fresh baker's dozen doughnuts was once $3.00 or less from a local shop. I remember PLAIN old-fashioned doughnuts as well. They are now paying these workers well above minimum wage. That's why a stupid doughnut might cost a customer more than a pound of Walmart chicken and you are paying Porterhouse steak price-per-pound prices for McDonalds "meals". If you buy a hamburger "meal deal" at any fast-food joint, you have paid an hour's wage for one worker there.

Living in Iowa as a senior American Veteran, my very best hamburger meal deal, outside my own kitchen, will come from a local Culver's.
 
We stopped at a couple of McDonalds when we were traveling in the midwest, and now you can't order at the counter, you have to use a kiosk screen. We found what we wanted but could not actually figure out how to get it ordered. Finally, a gal came and said she could help us at the counter. But when I asked for what we had seen, she could not order that either. So I think we are going to Dairy Queen from now on.
 
Dunkin Donuts is now owned by Bain Capital. They no longer make donuts locally and the donuts get trucked in from "somewhere". They used to taste a lot better and were a heck of a lot bigger. Today, they're made of neoprene rubber and make great dampening devices for noisy motors.

In the olden days, a cup of their black coffee was hot enough to survive a 25-mile trip to my house and still be piping hot when I got home. Today, it's not even close and doesn't even taste the same. It's more acidy and has less coffee flavor to it.

I remember the days of $2.00 for a dozen donuts in the 80s from a Dunkin Donuts location in South Lawrence, MA on Broadway (Rt. 28) and the donuts were made right there and not in some factory.

Today, Dunkins is good for hospital lobbies, airports, bus stations, train stations, and gas stations. What was once a great brand is mediocre now if that.

When I go for donuts, I now pay a lot more than $2.00 and close to $20.00, but the donuts are twice the size of a Dunkins's donut, taste a lot better, are twice as thick, and taste so much better than Dunkins ever did. It's a baker's dozen too meaning 13 instead of a dozen. They are also made fresh daily at all their locations and they serve real coffee if I want to get that too.
 
JonMyrlennBailey said:
There's one DQ in Des Moines, Iowa. I like the Wisconsin-based Culver's Butterburgers & Frozen Custard the best.
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I've never heard of them. They must be a Midwest chain.

Dunkin Donuts originated in Quincy, MA. One of the brothers split from the company and formed Mister Donut, a mediocre chain that made okay donuts but never had much of a market outside of Massachusetts. There's one, or used to be one in South Lawrence on Rt. 114 (Salem Turnpike) and their donuts were greasy and heavy.
 
Back in my older California days, Winchell's doughnuts was all the craze. Then there were terrific mom and pop shops too. Donut Stop in Redwood City, CA and Hunts in the San Francisco north bay even in the 1990's.

<iframe width="748" height="561" src="
" title="Winchell&#39;s Donuts 1979 Commercial" frameborder="0" allow="accelerometer; autoplay; clipboard-write; encrypted-media; gyroscope; picture-in-picture; web-share" referrerpolicy="strict-origin-when-cross-origin" allowfullscreen></iframe>
 
JCitron said:
I've never heard of them. They must be a Midwest chain.

Dunkin Donuts originated in Quincy, MA. One of the brothers split from the company and formed Mister Donut, a mediocre chain that made okay donuts but never had much of a market outside Massachusetts. There's one, or used to be one in South Lawrence on Rt. 114 (Salem Turnpike) and their donuts were greasy and heavy.
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Wisconsin-based. They are all over my state of Iowa. Is there a truly superior hamburger chain in New England?

<iframe width="997" height="561" src="
" title="Culver&#39;s Commercial 2023 - (USA)" frameborder="0" allow="accelerometer; autoplay; clipboard-write; encrypted-media; gyroscope; picture-in-picture; web-share" referrerpolicy="strict-origin-when-cross-origin" allowfullscreen></iframe>
 
JonMyrlennBailey said:
Wisconsin-based. They are all over my state of Iowa. Is there a truly superior hamburger chain in New England?

<iframe width="997" height="561" src="
" title="Culver&#39;s Commercial 2023 - (USA)" frameborder="0" allow="accelerometer; autoplay; clipboard-write; encrypted-media; gyroscope; picture-in-picture; web-share" referrerpolicy="strict-origin-when-cross-origin" allowfullscreen></iframe>
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I don't know if there's a decent hamburger chain outside of the big commercial ones. Fuddruckers is probably the better of them. My dad designed their logo and did some other artwork for them ages ago. We got some free meals once. I ate there again in Rapid City, SD and the burgers were consistently good.

Other than the chains, we have local places and there's one of the old beach-road ones not far from me. Rt. 110 was the only road to the beaches up until the early 1960s when I-495 opened. Up until that time, all sorts of restaurants, gas stations, and convenience stores lined Rt. 110 from Lawerence to Salisbury. When I-495 opened, the majority of these places closed nearly overnight and today there are only a few here and there that have survived the generations. I suppose this is like the famous Rt. 66.

Located in Merrimac about east 10 miles from my house is Skips Hamburgers. This place still has a big neon sign and still serves some of the best hamburgers with homemade fries. Their onion rings are the best I've ever had too. When I was kid, we used to walk there from our house for ice cream. Oh, they also had homemade ice cream too, made right there on their premises. It seemed like a really long walk, but it was probably a mile each way.
 
JCitron said:
I don't know if there's a decent hamburger chain outside of the big commercial ones. Fuddruckers is probably the better of them. My dad designed their logo and did some other artwork for them ages ago. We got some free meals once. I ate there again in Rapid City, SD and the burgers were consistently good.

Other than the chains, we have local places and there's one of the old beach-road ones not far from me. Rt. 110 was the only road to the beaches up until the early 1960s when I-495 opened. Up until that time, all sorts of restaurants, gas stations, and convenience stores lined Rt. 110 from Lawerence to Salisbury. When I-495 opened, the majority of these places closed nearly overnight and today there are only a few here and there that have survived the generations. I suppose this is like the famous Rt. 66.

Located in Merrimac about east 10 miles from my house is Skips Hamburgers. This place still has a big neon sign and still serves some of the best hamburgers with homemade fries. Their onion rings are the best I've ever had too. When I was kid, we used to walk there from our house for ice cream. Oh, they also had homemade ice cream too, made right there on their premises. It seemed like a really long walk, but it was probably a mile each way.
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I still have my Skips Hamburgers " greatest hamburgers in the world " refrigerator magnate. I don't know about the " greatest hamburgers" thing, but it was nice having them close by. Now when Hadgee's Ice cream did their end of the year clearances, that was a major event !
 
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JCitron said:
Dunkin Donuts is now owned by Bain Capital. They no longer make donuts locally and the donuts get trucked in from "somewhere". They used to taste a lot better and were a heck of a lot bigger. Today, they're made of neoprene rubber and make great dampening devices for noisy motors.

In the olden days, a cup of their black coffee was hot enough to survive a 25-mile trip to my house and still be piping hot when I got home. Today, it's not even close and doesn't even taste the same. It's more acidy and has less coffee flavor to it.

I remember the days of $2.00 for a dozen donuts in the 80s from a Dunkin Donuts location in South Lawrence, MA on Broadway (Rt. 28) and the donuts were made right there and not in some factory.

Today, Dunkins is good for hospital lobbies, airports, bus stations, train stations, and gas stations. What was once a great brand is mediocre now if that.

When I go for donuts, I now pay a lot more than $2.00 and close to $20.00, but the donuts are twice the size of a Dunkins's donut, taste a lot better, are twice as thick, and taste so much better than Dunkins ever did. It's a baker's dozen too meaning 13 instead of a dozen. They are also made fresh daily at all their locations and they serve real coffee if I want to get that too.
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I hadn't been to a Dunkin in a long time, but their cheapest doughnut was $1.54 ! I ended up just getting a small ice coffee.........$3.25....and it was watered down. Wow........not again unless there's some major changes.
 
JimDep said:
I hadn't been to a Dunkin in a long time, but their cheapest doughnut was $1.54 ! I ended up just getting a small ice coffee.........$3.25....and it was watered down. Wow........not again unless there's some major changes.
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That was my most recent experience too. Never again.
 
JimDep said:
I still have my Skips Hamburgers " greatest hamburgers in the world " refrigerator magnate. I don't know about the " greatest hamburgers" thing, but it was nice having them close buy. Now when Hadgee's Ice cream did their end of the year clearances, that was a major event !
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Skips Hamburgers may have been the greatest hamburgers back in the 40s and 50s. Skip was my late babysitter's uncle. My babysitter was a friend of my mother and babysat me when my brother was born in 1966. Her father was Mr. Matthews the Chief of Police for Merrimac and lived down the street from me. All I remember about him was he was grumpy when I met him.

That magnet is a treasure. That's an awesome trinket.

I vaguely remember Hodgie's Ice Cream in Amesbury. We went there once. There's another old-timer down on Rt. 110 not far from where I live now. Lavallee's Ice Cream. Their old building dates back to the 1920s or 30s and looks the same as it did when I was a kid including the paint color. I went to school with their daughter. This is one of the other few surviving places on Rt. 110.

It's sad how the interstates decimated the businesses and livelihoods of people and impacted the local economies. This plays out right across the US. I saw this in the Midwest with the towns empty of businesses with only big chain stores up near the highway entrances.
 
We had some Fuddruckers out here for a while and I thought they were great, but they all packed up and left. Sad to see them go. We do have one Culvers nearby. When we were in New England in 2016, our friend in Massachusetts warned us "Remember, if you go to Dunkin' Donuts and want black coffee, be sure to order black coffee. A "regular" coffee comes with cream and two sugars!" :)
 
JimDep said:
How much will your cheapest egg sandwich cost me ? I went to Dunkin Donuts yesterday and their cheapest was over 5 bucks ! I don't get out much, but that was ridiculous. I stayed hungry until I got home.
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LOL> This got me thinking of my University days at Portland State. I lived in a dorm room with attached bath/shower and kitchen. Used to be able to eat really cheap back them by buying Totinos frozen pizzas for 25 cents each. Add fresh toppings and was good to go. Now those pizzas taste like crap, are square, half the size of the originals, and cost 2 bucks each. :ROFLMAO:


Rico
 
JCitron said:
Skips Hamburgers may have been the greatest hamburgers back in the 40s and 50s. Skip was my late babysitter's uncle. My babysitter was a friend of my mother and babysat me when my brother was born in 1966. Her father was Mr. Matthews the Chief of Police for Merrimac and lived down the street from me. All I remember about him was he was grumpy when I met him.

That magnet is a treasure. That's an awesome trinket.

I vaguely remember Hodgie's Ice Cream in Amesbury. We went there once. There's another old-timer down on Rt. 110 not far from where I live now. Lavallee's Ice Cream. Their old building dates back to the 1920s or 30s and looks the same as it did when I was a kid including the paint color. I went to school with their daughter. This is one of the other few surviving places on Rt. 110.

It's sad how the interstates decimated the businesses and livelihoods of people and impacted the local economies. This plays out right across the US. I saw this in the Midwest with the towns empty of businesses with only big chain stores up near the highway entrances.
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The last burger I got at Skips around 20 years ago wasn't bad but a little on the greasy side for my taste. I think " Best burger in Merrimac" would have been feasible, but the whole world ?
No......shaking my head.....just no.

Yes, that magnet brings back good memories when I glance at it. Sheesh...I typed " Magnate" up above....Oh man, and the warranty on my education expired a few years ago.
You nailed it about the interstates. Just one example, my long time buddy bought a restaurant / bar in the small town of Bethoud, Colorado. Hwy 287 ran right through town and he had a good business going, and then a couple years later, 287 gets rerouted and bi-passes Berthoud ! That killed his business and he has to sell it for a loss. I'm guessing the previous owner knew what was coming.
 
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