Tales from Fast Food Past

So, I was riding along in the car with Valerie and the kids and she looks at me and says, "Do you know what I miss?"

Expecting her to regale me with some memories of our past or something Ari used to do as a baby, I inquisitively replied, "What?"

"Rax."

"Rax?"

"I miss Rax," she said. "It was really good."

Confused, I just left it at that. I don't remember my reply to her, but we started talking about something else.

I have been thinking about Rax since then, and it was good. Their roast beef was great, and as a child, I often got one of those uncle Alligator squeeze bottles with my meal.

I did some research and Rax does still exist, but there are only a handful of stores left. At the height of their glory, Rax had 504 stores in 38 states. That's when they apparently got too big for their britches. They tried to become more of an "upscale" fast-food restaurant and drove away their core customers. Too bad. This led to a decline in sales, which led to a series of mergers.

Now I know more than I ever wanted to about Rax. I wonder if the stores that still exist have the same quality product that I remember from when I was a child. If so, I may have to make a road trip to Ironton, Ohio!

These memories of Rax triggered other fast-food memories of my youth, namely of Scotty's Sandwich Junction, where my dad used to work. Unfortunately, I have not been able to find anything about Scotty's as of yet. I will continue my search, though, and will let you know if I find anything.