BK has the Big Boy to end all Big Boys. The original building in Burbank is a marvel to behold.
On a somewhat lesser scale, the Big Boy on Wilshire in the Hancock Park area was a beauty in its own right, as was one way down on Hawthorne Blvd. in Torrance just a few blocks from where I worked for a while. Well, we all know that Los Angeles eats its own, and those are long gone.
I was never a huge fan of the traditional "Big Boy" burger so much as relative oddities like the "Brawny Lad" and -- I can never remember what it's called -- the ham sandwich with the special sauce on it that's simple but unique. Those tastes take me back in a Proustian way to college years when I'd have them at a Manners Big Boy in Cleveland. Is the Manners chain still around in the upper Midwest? It's Frisch's everywhere else I see it now. And of course it was always Bob's in California.
Now that I think about it, I haven't had that "Big Boy" in many years. Isn't it sort of like the Big Mac?
I forget what else I've eaten there. Did I ever order a regular cheeseburger? Probably, but I don't recall it. I remember enjoying the novelty of the chili and spaghetti, but having since gotten to know the real Cincinnati chili, I'm afraid those leave that in the dust. But I'm glad they still have it. Or do they?
