Any ‘Retro’ Food You Miss?

Ah, Royal Castle! In high school, my buddies and I would stop to get bait for fishing and buy boxes of those burgers for the trip. The Royal Castle was next to the bait store. Home of the Birch Beer, which I liked a lot better than root beer, and Orange Julius! I remember when they first opened in our area, the burgers were a nickel (gas was $.15 a gallon.)

There's still one location one, in Miami.

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I think this was just an east coast thing, but I remember Gino's. I was living in Maryland at the time, and this commercial played frequently. I still remember the jingle.


They had flame broiled burgers and onion rings like Burger King, and they also had fried chicken. And milkshakes. The slogan was "Gino's gives you freedom of choice", since they had so many things on the menu, and they were good. This is probably what doomed them: while McDonalds had 5 things on the menu, they had to keep so many different things in stock so they were available.

I worked there one summer when I was in high school. Every so often, I'd work the deep fryer. I remember the floor being so slick with grease spatter that I slipped and fell, like I was slipping on a sheet of ice. A helpful coworker saw this and started laughing. Fun times.
 
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Another thing I loved as a kid was jelly nougats. I can’t find them in the stores any longer, and even if I order them, they’re not shaped the same, which as any candy expert knows, ruins the whole experience. :laugh:

They used to come in little squares/cubes, but now, they’re round, like they’ve been sliced off a log, like sliced cookie dough. Blasphemy!
 
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