Big Bore is overjoyed that the local greasy burger joint has re-opened after going into hibernation for the winter. The Lo-Mar has been around since the extistence of time. It's one of those little huts with no seating--just walk up to the window, put in your order, and stand around to wait for your bag of food. No drive thrus, car hops, or special frills at Lo-Mar. Just good ol' juicy burgers, fries, and malts at a reasonable price.
When I was a growing teen with a need for mega calories, I tended to gravitate to Fredonia's creme de la creme of junk food, The Cozy Cafe. The Cozy, as it was better known to its clientele, was located in the middle of the south side of the town square, so it was basically at the hub of action in the downtown area. It was a sit-down restaurant, with booths and bar stools, but the menu was mainly burger fare. The absolute best thing about The Cozy, though, was not the food but the music. Each booth had its own mini juke box selector, with files of choices to flip through. At five cents a play, we could loiter most of the afternoon, listening to our favorite hits and gossiping about the main topic of the day....BOYS!
Closer to my house was Long's Lunch, located on the highway between 9th and 10th streets. It was also a service station, thus the eye-catching sign outside: Eat Here and Get Gas. The gang in the neighborhood would gather in the horseshoe booth at the northwest corner of the cafe, and we'd always order burger baskets. Long's was generous with the fries, which I considered the best-ever. For some reason, though, I would dip them in my Coca Cola rather than in catsup. There was just one down-side to eating at Long's--no juke box, no lingering all afternoon. Eat and run.
There were a number of other food joints along the way that were popular with the teen crowd: the L&M Drive-In, I loved its pin ball machine; the Iceberg, with its crumbly beef burgers; and, later, Tri Mee Drive-In. The latter two are still in operation. The Cozy, however, quite sadly, went down in flames many years ago. Likely a grease fire, I'm not sure. And, to quote one of my favorite songs of all time, "American Pie," by Don McLean, that truly was "....the day the music died."
6 comments:
French Fries and Coca Cola!? Yikes. :-)
If you ever make it down to Winfield I will treat you to Burger Station. Big, fat greasy burgers in a hut with no seating and only drive-up room for about four vehicles.
I love Lo-Mar for its wonderful limeades and ice cream too. Mmm. Burger station doesn't offer those perks!
Yeah, those small el-dumpos are the best. Since you are pregnant with Flash, you can have burgers for two. Lucky you!
Ok, now I want a greasy burger! This makes me miss B&J's. They were good. Have you ever been to that place in Howard on the highway? I can't remember the name, but one time we went after a track meet and I got a burrito. They handed me a cup with a lid on it and I told them "I didn't order this." They said yeah you did, burrito. sure enough I opened the lid and I had a burrito in a cup. It was good too.
Oh, yeah. That's Toot's Drive-In at Howard. Big Bore and I stopped in there last summer. Didn't have a burrito in a cup, though. How unique!
Speaking of Winfield, they had the greatest bakery there we used to go to on debate trips. It was run by little old ladies. Now, I don't mean a little old lady like I now am, I mean old ladies who still stood on their feet all day and were at least eighty!!
My vote on the burgers went to Tri-Mi beefburgers. Gosh, I haven't had beef for about 15 years now!! Maybe those beefburgers weren't really beef either?
Oaky, have been out of town, so just catching up on everyone . . .does Nancy and the Diva know that at Homecoming for a fund raiser they sell the seasoning to make Beef Burgers at home? Tastes just like the ole' ones -- miss the steamed bun, but otherwise exactly the same.
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