Best regional restaurant chains

You talking about Panera?

Went to St. Louis in August for a weekend and ate at a St. Louis Bread Company ... it was Panera with alternate signage (kind of like Rally's/Checkers or Hardees/Carl's Jr).

 

Yes. A little joshing about a well known "regional" brand. I believe they are rebranding to Panera even in St. Louis soon.

 

What's that one in SF?

San Francisco Soup Company or something like that. In the airport. Like getting a bread bowl of soup and an Anchor Steam.

And Georgia. Anyone mention The Varsity yet? What'll you have?

 

"Getting an Anchor Steam in San Francisco" sounds like something that has nothing to do with food.

 

I'm going to start making a list of SJ people who might be more perverted than I am.

 

The Varsity sucks. Wildly overrated for decades.

 

Anchor was bought out by Sapporo.
I haven't had any of their beer in a while. Don't know if there is any change in quality.


Best beer in SF = Speakeasy
Home

Which itself, just sold off, but not to a major corporate brewer - yet.

 

I jump on any chance I can to get Anchor Steam and Liberty Ale here in the Toronto area. The California Lager made a brief appearance here and it was glorious. I should have bought all I could get.

 

Lots of places that made the Food Channel are really great and they discovered tons of gems. But they've also given lots of PR to places that really are mediocre and their only claim to fame is that they've survived.

 

Or not survived. Out of curiosity while watching one of Guy Douchey's marathons over the summer, I started Googling the places he was visiting. It was surprising how many of them are no longer in existence.

 

There is a DDD-type show on the Food Network up here called You Gotta Eat Here. Sometimes they show places near us in the 'burbs or close to where we work in downtown Toronto. I looked up a bunch and found they had closed.

 

Showing my California roots ...

Togo's: Bay Area sandwich chain, hot barbecue roast beef (No. 25?) was my favorite. They expanded as far as Georgia at one point, but lasted a year or two at most.

Emil Villa's Hickory Pit: The one in my hometown featured a greeter who had been there since the place opened in the 1950s and wore Hawaiian muu-muus and long beaded necklaces every day. Clorox eventually bought the company and last time I was there, the recipe had changed for the worse. Plus, the original Oakland restaurant had been torn down -- and that smoker had decades of use, so the ribs were absolutely to die for from there.

Me N' Ed's: You can't swing a cat through the Valley without hitting one. Chowchilla, Tulare, Dinuba! Cheap pizza, cold beer. Great memories from Fresno State.

Round Table Pizza: Another California "cardboard" (thin crust) pizza chain. Again, last time I ate at one, the quality had dropped. But they seem to be thriving.

Cattleman's: I've eaten at the ones in Petaluma and Dixon. Big steaks, lots of fixin's.

Florida ...

Sonny's BBQ: The original in Gainesville was awesome. They had a small steak (not on the menu but special order) that came with a salad for $2.99. My first paid radio job was at WMOP in Ocala, and I could stop at Sonny's and get a side order of garlic bread for 40 cents on drive back to school. Again, sold to a conglomerate and just not the same, although my brothers believe the sweet sauce is still good for home grilling.

Indiana ...

Donato's: Reminded me of Me N' Ed's when we first came upon them in Norcross. Unfortunately, the chain restructured and closed all their Georgia restaurants. I think the closest one is now Somerset, Ky.

North Carolina ...

Bojangle's: Chicken and biscuits. Great sweet tea. Seasoned fries are addictive.

Char-Grill: A Raleigh institution. Awesome milkshakes.

Goodberry's: Frozen custard. Excellent.