Loved there prime rib...I guess as folks went lower calorie and less fat thinks changed..I having trouble finding out what happened to the old locations and the railroad cars that made it up https://www.vicsta.com/ talks a little about these guys. I know of one location in the Boston Burbs.
I think what happened was they colossally overexpanded (they had over 100 very expensive restaurants at one point) and were hit by consequences of the 1985 tax changes and oil-based recession in some areas. If I recall there were said to be hard times for the restaurant industry in general about that time. There were press comments about their 'meat and potatoes fare' but it wouldn't have been hard for them to put 'green', vegan, etc. choices on the menu, freshen up the salad-bar choices, etc. if that had been a key to salvation.
Well we still have Victoria secrets.
There used to be a Victoria station restuarant on Queens Quay East in Toronto. I never saw it open, it was just a few old box cars sitting on a lot with an attached building but it's long gone. If you want to eat in a train car, you can do it at this place north of Toronto. The burgers are cooked on real charcoal, not briquets and are really good. On summer weekends the lineups are long but move quickly.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Webers
People get tired of theme restaurants.
They definitely over expanded but another problem they had was their advertising campaign. By using Johnny Cash as their spokesman they gave the impression that it was a family friendly (price wise) location similar to Ponderosa or Bonanza which it was not.
The whole "steakhouse" thing is pretty well obsolete. Tassels on the menus, dark wood paneling, velvet seats, dry martinis. It would never occur to me to eat in a place like that. I guess 50-60 years ago when you could expense such a meal for all your Mad Men pals, it was the thing but not anymore.
Looking up Johnny Cash to see where his Victoria Station TV ads would be...If anyone can help me please do so. The problem is that this way before the internet and digital media so it could be deep in some film vault somewhere in the basement of a local TV Station. In the meantime here is Johnney Cash for Lionel-https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UmPuj_MQlXA&feature=emb_logo
Victoria Station by Cash 1974
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ikl1H-FLNYo
54light15The whole "steakhouse" thing is pretty well obsolete. Tassels on the menus, dark wood paneling, velvet seats, dry martinis. It would never occur to me to eat in a place like that. I guess 50-60 years ago when you could expense such a meal for all your Mad Men pals, it was the thing but not anymore.
Tell it to Ruth's Chris and the other 'high end' similar establishments.
Never too old to have a happy childhood!
BaltACD 54light15 The whole "steakhouse" thing is pretty well obsolete. Tassels on the menus, dark wood paneling, velvet seats, dry martinis. It would never occur to me to eat in a place like that. I guess 50-60 years ago when you could expense such a meal for all your Mad Men pals, it was the thing but not anymore. Tell it to Ruth's Chris and the other 'high end' similar establishments.
54light15 The whole "steakhouse" thing is pretty well obsolete. Tassels on the menus, dark wood paneling, velvet seats, dry martinis. It would never occur to me to eat in a place like that. I guess 50-60 years ago when you could expense such a meal for all your Mad Men pals, it was the thing but not anymore.
Ruth's Chris isn't super-high-end. Yes it's expensive, but you do get your money's worth.
The scary one, the "expense account" kind of place, is Morton's Steak House. One of my brothers-in-law suggested we go there to celebrate Lady Firestorm's mothers 80th birthday.
As soon as I saw the menu with no prices on it I knew we were in trouble. We were able to cover the bill, but were very PO'd with BIL, an expense account guy, who should have warned us.
There's a local restaurant here with an outstanding reputation. I checked their on-line menu. No prices listed. "Fool me once..."
Yeah, Ruth's Chris and Morton's. Forgot about those but I was thinking more on the line of a now-closed Michigan steak restaurant with a hokey name adjacent to a highway on-ramp. Like "The Knight's Round Table" or something like that. I did go into the Ruth's Chris in downtown Toronto once. The female staff all were rather well-endowed to say the least- all a businessman's fantasy I suppose.
Flintlock76 BaltACD 54light15 The whole "steakhouse" thing is pretty well obsolete. Tassels on the menus, dark wood paneling, velvet seats, dry martinis. It would never occur to me to eat in a place like that. I guess 50-60 years ago when you could expense such a meal for all your Mad Men pals, it was the thing but not anymore. Tell it to Ruth's Chris and the other 'high end' similar establishments. Ruth's Chris isn't super-high-end. Yes it's expensive, but you do get your money's worth. The scary one, the "expense account" kind of place, is Morton's Steak House. One of my brothers-in-law suggested we go there to celebrate Lady Firestorm's mothers 80th birthday. As soon as I saw the menu with no prices on it I knew we were in trouble. We were able to cover the bill, but were very PO'd with BIL, an expense account guy, who should have warned us. There's a local restaurant here with an outstanding reputation. I checked their on-line menu. No prices listed. "Fool me once..."
It all falls under the 'thoughts of privilege' - "If you have to ask the price, you can't afford it."
Keep in mind that a proper steakhouse has, or in more civilized times had, two different menus, one with the prices and one (that used to be called the 'female menu' in kinder, gentler, more sexist times) that didn't. Men on dates or seductions could keep mere pecuniary considerations out of that part of the evening. Note that in some of these overly-stuck-up places you might have to ask for a menu with the prices listed, and they may have that Morgan 'take' on whether you truly "belong" there if you do. Midwesterners will likely chuckle over New York steakhouses, but I never had trouble getting a menu with prices in one; perhaps that has changed now.
What he was talking about with the tassels and the red velour and dim lights wasn't high dollars for excellent steak, though: it's the whole Lawry's vibe of the early Sixties about what 'modern luxury' was supposed to be. That dungeon/bordello thing gave you all the overpriced but not necessarily a good steak to justify it.
54light15 Forgot about those but I was thinking more on the line of a now-closed Michigan steak restaurant with a hokey name adjacent to a highway on-ramp. Like "The Knight's Round Table" or something like that.
Forgot about those but I was thinking more on the line of a now-closed Michigan steak restaurant with a hokey name adjacent to a highway on-ramp. Like "The Knight's Round Table" or something like that.
To keep the railroad theme, Marshall is where the old Michigan Central roundhouse that was moved to Greenfield Village originally was.
Steak & Ale- yeah, I believe that is the place. It's near Plymouth, isn't it?
54light15Steak & Ale- yeah, I believe that is the place. It's near Plymouth, isn't it?
The Steak & Ale chain was a member of the corporation that also had the Bennigan's chain. The corporation went bankrupt about a decade ago and all their outlets were closed. Some local managers were able to get financial backing to reopen their stores - some survived and others failed with their local ownership.
My experience with both chains was a reasonable meal for a reasonable price.
BaltACD 54light15 Steak & Ale- yeah, I believe that is the place. It's near Plymouth, isn't it? The Steak & Ale chain was a member of the corporation that also had the Bennigan's chain. The corporation went bankrupt about a decade ago and all their outlets were closed. Some local managers were able to get financial backing to reopen their stores - some survived and others failed with their local ownership. My experience with both chains was a reasonable meal for a reasonable price.
54light15 Steak & Ale- yeah, I believe that is the place. It's near Plymouth, isn't it?
So that's what happened to "Steak and Ale." I figured as much, a major foul-up on the corporate level. There was a "S&A" locally that we enjoyed very much, it was always doing good business, and then it was gone.
Same as "Friendlys." I haven't heard but I suspect it was another corporate level foul-up that caused them to crash.
Refer to my comments about "Some people are too smart for their own good."
PS on the "Mortons" episode. Afterward Lady Firestorm told her mother "Mom, we love you, but on your 85th birthday we're taking you out for pizza!"
Flintlock76Same as "Friendlys." I haven't heard but I suspect it was another corporate level foul-up that caused them to crash. Refer to my comments about "Some people are too smart for their own good."
Friendly's still exists - just not on the scale that it once did. I can think of about 10 that were within about 20 miles of my house in all directions - Google indicates there are only 2 left in the state.
Organizations think they have found 'the way' and overexpand their way into oblivion.
Then there was the Mafia/Teamsters Steakhouses that your name ended with a Hoffa or a O that might be your last meal and you never sit with your back to the door.see- http://www.diamondgrille.com/#since-1941 or Marios in Detroit...Love the Irishman Movie it is the Godfather for the 21st century.
Freindlys as well as HOJO's aka Howard Johnsons were the goto places in New England..Freindlys got dirtier and Hojos hotels and restarants got ran into the ground. No investment to spruce up the place for 30 years. Same with K-mart
The background of Ruth's Chris Steak House is an amazing story.
I lived in New Orleans during the time the restaurant grew.
The restaurant started in New Orleans. In the 1960s (I think) Ruth Fertel, a single mother, bought the restaurant for under $20,000 and made it into a nationwide chain.
Through the 60s to the 90s, the restaurant was the center of New Orleans politics. The mayor, the Louisiana governor, and every politician needing connections ate lunch there, and every journalist who wanted a political scoop ate there. It was in an old section of town, and there was no parking, but it boomed.
If I remember, it was the only major restaurant with all women employees.
I haven't lived there for a long time, and I believe Katrina ruined the original place, and I'm not sure if there is even a New Orleans Ruth's Chris anymore.
Backshop I find that the best prime rib places are independents.
I think you're right. If you want a great steak, check with locals. It may not be a widely known restaurant that has the best steaks.
York1 John
One has to wonder if business' desire to expand or die comes from some of the business schools. Having lived thru the New Coke fiasco that appeared to be a forgotten ---- Know your clientel and do not P--- them off, Another item is a new product comes out and sells well but there is not enough repeat business because 1. Persons do not like it. 2. More product is not yet needed as original has not been finished.
I have purchased a product , liked it, stocked a little more but took 6 months to finish and cannot find it any more.
BaltACD Flintlock76 Same as "Friendlys." I haven't heard but I suspect it was another corporate level foul-up that caused them to crash. Refer to my comments about "Some people are too smart for their own good." Friendly's still exists - just not on the scale that it once did. I can think of about 10 that were within about 20 miles of my house in all directions - Google indicates there are only 2 left in the state. Organizations think they have found 'the way' and overexpand their way into oblivion.
Flintlock76 Same as "Friendlys." I haven't heard but I suspect it was another corporate level foul-up that caused them to crash. Refer to my comments about "Some people are too smart for their own good."
I wonder if Flintlock was refering to Finley's, which is a small stakehouse chain in Michigan that still has some restaurants. Friendly's started out as a New England ice cream store, and spread thru the east.
Win Schulers also branched out, but I believe is just back to his original restaurant in Marshall. Bill Knapp's was another Michigan (not strictly stakehouse) chain that folded.
The best steakhouses are the ones that are locally owned, although they tend to be somewhat upscale and a bit pricey. There are several in Chicago, mostly located in the Near North area and you will get a good steak, but you will pay for it.
Friendly's was famous in Bergen County in the last years I lived there. Frequently went to the one on County Road. My father took to liking IHOP so he and I stopped going as frequently. Apparently the quality of service dropped off dramatically before the end. I don't think any Friendly's is still open in North Jersey; the familiar building on County Road now serves some kind of Asian food.
Still have Friendly's down in Florida ..
I grew up in KC .. any steakhouse where you have to order a baked potato on the side for $10 or more is not worth it :)
If you want good grub in any town, look for where the police and lawyers go. I was in Melbourne Florida years ago and almost everything there is a national chain but I did find a place with cop cars and Cadillacs in the parking lot- it was a place by the loading dock in back of a shopping plaza. Just one door and a window. I don't recall just how I found it, but the food was excellent. Then there was Jimmy Joe's barbecue joint on Highway A1A at Mebourne Beach- that place was awesome! There again the parking lot was full of cop cars and inside, police were enjoying that 'cue!
Utility trucks are also a good indicator
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