Favorite jernts and favorite items:
McDONALD'S - double cheeseburgers & fries; later, the quarter-pounders w/cheese, some breakfast items.
WHITE CASTLE - the basic cheeseburger sliders.
ROYAL CASTLE - White Castle imitator that I think surpassed it, 1960s Florida, one briefly in Cleveland - cheeseburgers, chili, birch beer, cinnamon buns.
A&W - cheeseburgers, root beer when it was served in frosty mugs.
BIG BOY (Frisch’s in Columbus & Cincinnati, Bob’s in CA, Manners in Cleveland) - cheeseburgers (not so much the Big Boy), the brawny lad burger, whatever that ham sandwich thing is called, spaghetti with chili.
ORANGE JULIUS - chili dogs and of course the Julius.
GEORGE'S (?) at Hollywood & Las Palmas (or was it McCadden?) - cheeseburgers on the go.
TOMMY'S - chili cheeseburgers. (later: CARNEY'S - likewise.)
DOLORES DRIVE-IN - cheeseburgers, Suzy-Q fries, cherry lime rickey.
JACK-IN-THE-BOX - the “crescent supreme” breakfast croissant.
CARL'S JR. - western bacon cheeseburger, fries, onion rings.
SBARRO'S PIZZA - in malls!
CHICAGO HOT DOGS and ITALIAN BEEF - from any number of independent jernts all across Chicagoland.
PIONEER CHICKEN (I seemed to like it better than KFC, sure wish I could compare now).
ASTRO BURGER - cheeseburger & fries.
SKYLINE and GOLD STAR (love 'em both) - Cincinnati chili, always a 5-way.
SYCAMORE DRIVE-IN (Bethel, CT) - cheeseburgers (they were always smashburger style), fries, homemade root beer.
SHAKE SHACK - double cheeseburger w/lettuce, tomato, onion, NO special sauces.
PANDA EXPRESS - we only had it in our mall and we lost it, still furious.
Never had IN-N-OUT - I was only starting to hear about them when I moved east in 1989.
