Wednesday, April 16, 2008

My Restaurant Nostalgia Pick Is…

OK, as long as we’re talking restaurants that we miss (and Heritage House isn’t one of them for me), I’d like to put in a good word for…the Bombay Bicycle Club. I know, it wasn’t a “local” restaurant with a long lineage and all but I had a lot of good times there. I used to eat (and drink) there a lot in the ‘90s.

The building, now gone, was spacious and had a good atmosphere. The food was decent. We had an office Christmas party there one year, I used to meet up with friends there, eat nachos and drink beer at the bar, I also often used to take dates there during my single years. During that decade, I probably spent more time in BBC than any other eating establishment in town. Maybe more time than all of the others combined. I guess what it comes down to sometimes is not how good a place is on its own merits but what experiences you had there.

Update: Other runners up include:

Damons (for reasons similar to BBC plus trivia games)

Norb Andy’s (goes without saying)

Max’s (version 1.0)

The Golden Bear (we went there A LOT as kids)

The Flaming Pit (see if anyone remembers that one from the 70s)

Lums (just kidding, yuk!)

Tops Big Boy (WAY better than Sonic)

Gumbo Ya Ya (OK, there service could have been better)

4 comments:

Marie said...

Scampi's on North Grand had the closest thing to a Chicago hotdog I could find in Springfield.

Watt Brothers at 11th & Ash. Yes, it was a drug store, but they had good lunches, great hand-dipped milk shakes, real vanilla and cherry Cokes, and quite possibly one of the best fried egg sandwiches in town.

Since I'm on drug stores, I'll also say both downtown Thrifty's, but for no particular reason other than they were quick and easy to get in and out.

I do miss Norb Andy's. Still can't believe it closed after all these years. Short story: My mom proposed to my dad when he was home on leave from the War in the back room under one of the fish tanks at Norb's.

We also went to Golden Bear - mostly on Saturday mornings.

The Flaming Pit? I can't quite place that name. Could it have been a/k/a The Embers on Dirksen?

Dave, I notice you left out Chi Chi's.

Fleetwood.

Dave said...

Marie,
The Flaming Pit was in the Town & Country shopping center in the 1970s. It was one of the first nice, real sit-down restaurants my parents took me to. I think I was about 12. I don’t include the Golden Bear (located in the now closed Steak ‘n Shake building at 6th and Ash) as a nice, real sit-down place. We went there a lot on either Saturday or Sunday evenings, I can’t remember which now. It was a weekend treat there for a while.

Also, I did like Chi Chi's but I'm not sure enough to really miss it. There are so many Mexican places now. However, I think Chi Chi's did have a somewhat unique take on Mexican food.

Anonymous said...

my mom forgot to mention Lums. she never took me there, but i think we joked about going a few times.

Anonymous said...

Chi Chi's was an american version of mexican. Even the very best mexican places here in Spfld and Sherman don't serve the hot mexican food that is knownn for...mexican food. No place in Spfld is worth going to unless it is good tavern or a mom & pop place. Heritage house was run by locals and the food was prepared on site, not shipped in. Charlie Parkers, Darcy's, Spice Rack, Westwoods, Coz's, Top Cats, The old Walt & Deanies now Billy's all have excellent food. I could name 20 others but the mom & pop places are still the best in Spfld.