People have strong feelings about their favorite dishes from restaurant chains. I am thankful to all those who poured their hearts out on the subject on Jane & Michael Stern’s ever-fascinating Roadfood forums. I have excerpted the following wistful memories from “Long-gone regional franchises” which took on a life of its own and ran for years. After each snippet is the pertinent chain restaurant.
— The burgers were awesome, the onion rings superb and the soda cold. [Charco’s]
— Oh, those hot dogs steamed in beer. [Lums]
— Loved those frosty mugs of root beer and Big Boy hamburgers! [A&W]
— I went for the Ollie Burger. They bought the sauce from “Ollie’s Trolley.” [Lums]
— Shrimp salad. Chili spaghetti size. Navy bean soup. [Bob’s Big Boy]
— Frothy orange drinks and orange chili dogs. [Orange Julius]
— Tuesday night 10-cent “Coney Island Dogs.” [A&W]
— Orange colored cheese on their cheeseburgers, not the pale yellow stuff of today. [Wetson’s]
— The Cheese Frenchies were unique. [King’s Food Host]
— They also had a Tuna Frenchie, a Hot Dog Frenchie. [King’s Food Host]
— Greasy fish and plank-style chips. [Arthur Treacher’s]
— Orange drink with pulp in it. Tuna sandwiches. What fast food chain would have a tuna sandwich today? [Chock Full O’Nuts]
— How exotic it was to have a sandwich on a bagel. [Bagel Nosh]
— Good hot dogs. Never touched, cooks used plastic gloves. [Chock Full O’Nuts]
— My first straight cut fry. [Wetson’s]
— I remember eating and loving my first Apple Fritter there! [Hamburg Heaven]
— Coffee and Apple Fritters (hush-puppy shaped apples in dough, deep-fried and powdered sugar coated). [Dutch Pantry]
— Pickles, diced onion, relish, mustard, ketchup and mayo were all available. [25 Cent Hamburger]
— Yummmm. A cheeseburger with ham and barbecue sauce. [Roy Rogers]
— Broasted chicken and french fries with a sweet sauce to die for. [Arctic Circle]
— I can remember stopping in for a soft drink and a basket of crumbs. [Squire Jacks]
— Ketchup was free. The fries weren’t like the “wavy,” half-fried or quick fried potatoes of today’s ilk. [Toot ‘n Tell]
— I haven’t had the heart to stop in and see if they still had Strawberry Pie. [Big Boy]
Who was first to realize that they could cover bad plaster on their ceilings and walls with canvas and call their restaurant a covered wagon or a chuck wagon? The idea seems to have struck initially in the 1930s, at least that’s when the first Covered Wagon restaurant I’ve found dates from. It was in the Old West – no, make that Minneapolis, with a second in St. Paul. Red checkered tablecloths covered the tables and in the 195os the female waitstaff wore long calico dresses with aprons, a fact I know thanks to the well-illustrated book Minnesota Eats Out. There was also a Covered Wagon in Chicago in the 1940s, presumably under different ownership but with the same tablecloths.
The wagon-esque theme caught on big during the 1950s, inspired partly by TV westerns and partly by the fame of Las Vegas chuck wagon buffets which provided grub for gamblers from midnight ‘til dawn. If not for Vegas envy, why else would there have been one in Miami Beach in 1955? Apparently seeing no local cuisine worth merchandising, restaurateurs there chose from a grab bag of themes such as Smorgs, Polynesian, and Ken’s Pancake Parade. (“Grandma’s Kitchen” was the town’s most venerable eating establishment at the time.)
Around 1960 a Potsdam NY man got the idea of franchising 
During the war (1941-1945) the creation of 17 million new jobs finally pulls the economy out of the Depression. Millions of married women enter the labor force. The demand for restaurant meals escalates, increasing from a pre-war level of 20 million meals served per day to over 60 million. The combination of increased restaurant patronage with labor shortages, government-ordered price freezes, and rationing of basic foods puts restaurants in a squeeze. With gasoline rationing, many roadside cafes and hamburger stands close.
1941 When the restaurant in the French pavilion at the New York World’s Fair closes, its head Henri Soulé decides he will not return to a Paris occupied by Germans. He and ten waiters remain in New York and open Le Pavillon. Columnist Lucius Beebe declares its cuisine “absolutely faultless,” with prices “of positively Cartier proportions.” – Chicago cafeteria operator 
1946 Like health departments all across the country, NYC begins a crack down on 
1949 Howard Johnson’s, the country’s largest restaurant chain, reports a record volume of business for the year. HoJos, which has not yet spread farther west than Fort Wayne IN, plans a move into California.
Not many people get as excited as I do about books of obsolete restaurant reviews. I especially like The New Orleans Underground Gourmet. In the 1973 edition reviewer Richard H. Collin zapped a few well-known tourist places as well as some less expensive restaurants which had “little or nothing to recommend them” in order to “spare the reader’s time and stomach.” He not only performed a service but produced enjoyable reading for anyone inclined to find humor in bad reviews.
It's great to hear from readers and I take time to answer queries. I can't always find what you are looking for, but I do appreciate getting thank yous no matter what the outcome.
Restaurant-ing through history 