Friday, June 20, 2008

Memories of Columbia's Past Part 3

Several people have asked why I haven't added any more restaurants to my list. Well The blasted hard drive on my computer went out and I just got the thing working again. During this hiatus I have been thinking of more restaurants to include on the list but my memory gets hazier as the number goes down. I still have a few places to write about but I am trying to collect my thoughts on the individual restaurants and why I found them interesting. In the mean time I am working on another blog which lists the old movie theaters that have been in Columbia and I am collecting information to create blogs on the old Biscayne Mall and Nowell's grocery stores.

Some people say I am wasting my time remembering stores that are no longer here, but I feel a sense of nostalgia when thinking and writing about these places. I as not satisfied with most of the stores in Columbia and feel the Columbia Mall is a wasteland for consumers. There are very few, if any locally owned stores in that mall and the chain stores located in this cesspool are the same stores located in malls all across the country. I talked to a business owner who's store had to leave the mall because a chain store was expanding. This gentleman said mall management tries to get rid of locally owned stores in favor of chain stores. That is his opinion but he was forced out. Unfortunately it is not just mall management but the nature of business. Think back when the Columbia Mall first opened and had such interesting shops: toy shops, book shops, music shops, arcades, etc. I realize the Internet and Wal-Mart have changed the way people shop but I also believe major stores and mall management tell us how to shop by charging the businesses extremely high rents limiting the types of stores that can open.

There is one good thing I must say about the Columbia Mall. They have done a wonderful job of controlling the gangs of kids that spread havoc on Friday and Saturday evenings. And with the increased security it does seem safer. Yes, I do have to shop at the mall but I try not to. I have made a better effort to shop at local stores whenever possible but there are so few offering so little. At this time my friend Mr. Ed is asking "What about the restaurants?" I will get to them in time but I must rant and rave a little. Coming up are memories of Katy Station, Haden House, Yen Ching and 63 Diner, but I will wait for another evening. A movie awaits to be watched. A person must have priorities.

Saturday, June 7, 2008

Memories of Godfather's Pizza

Years ago Columbia had a Godfather's Pizza across the street from the police station. College students being the pizza addicts we were went there for some fairly good pizza, drinks and the video games. Actually the main thing I remember about Godfather's were the video game tables where you could sit and play things like PAC -Man and other early titles. The pizza did not inspire any great memories but I remember going there with friends and having a good time.

I do remember the pizza toppings as the Canadian bacon was cut into small cubes or maybe it wasn't what I thought. The television commercials were a hoot with a gangster wearing a wide brim hat imploring you to go eat their pizza. I believe at the time there were some problems with the commercials because it portrayed Italians in a negative way. The ads were comical to say the least. If anyone else can add anything to this entry please let me know as my memory is vague at this time.

Memories of Tina's Pizza and Steak

One day at work I was surprised by a maintenance man who said he visited a new restaurant and that the owner asked him to say hello to me. He could not remember her last name and the description he gave did not help so I felt obligated to find out who this person was. When I entered Tina's I recognised her right away as an old employee who worked for me years ago when she was in high school. I knew her mom and dad real well but I never kept up with what Tina was doing. I remember hearing she had gotten married to a Mexican gentleman and they had several kids but I never expected to see her running a restaurant.

Tina and her husband Saul rented the old Denny's location on Texas Ave. and completely renovated the seating area. I had learned from conversations from Saul that he had worked at George's for many years while it was on the Business Loop. The menu at Tina's was greatly influenced by George's as almost everything offered was the same. As the months went by I noticed that the menu was changing as Mexican dishes were added and I felt Tina's seemed to be breaking away from the Greek style pizza places it resembled when it first opened.

I found the food there first rate with the pizza being outstanding. I always ordered the House Special which was a traditional Greek style pizza but piled high with toppings. It was awesome!
My kids would always order the Chicken Alfredo dish and loved it. I also tried several of their Mexican dishes which I felt was excellent but the serving size was too big. The last time I went there the place was full and it took a long time to get my food. Poor Saul was cooking by himself and was having a hard time keeping up. The food was still good but it just took a long time to get it. Soon after my last visit I heard Tina's had closed and I felt sad because they tried really hard to make it a go. I had known that the old Denny's location was in bad shape before they opened their restaurant. People in the food industry share stories of old restaurants and problems they had. The Denny's location had multiple physical problems and even though Tina and her husband fixed the seating area there were other problems behind the scenes. High costs and taxes probably added to the problems.

In a conversation I had with Saul he told me of his life in Mexico and how hard it was to become successful there. He came to this country and worked hard for a long time but had faith in the American dream that so many immigrants before him shared. He eventually got his citizenship, married, had children and opened his own restaurant. I have not talked to Saul since the restaurant closed down but I believe he will be back. He helped revive my faith in this country and how good we have it. We sometimes forget how blessed we are until we talk to someone like him who appreciates those things we take for granted.

Memories of Peking Restaurant

Writing about Chou's Buffet made me remember one of Columbia's better Chinese restaurants called Peking. It was located about half way down the East side of Ninth St. and it served many wonderful and tasty Chinese dishes. You paid more for the quality of the food but I feel you got your money's worth compared to the buffet type restaurants. Even though they have reopened I still feel it deserves a place in my blog.

Once you walked in the door you noticed all the red and gold colors that was everywhere. The Chinese find these colors very auspicious as they bring "luck" and "wealth" so they use them whenever possible. One of my coworkers Mary C. remembered the place as "elegant" and for Columbia I believe that to be true. The dining area was spacious and I believe I remember stairs in back that went up to a private party area.

But thinking about the food I hit a wall, I cannot remember anything outstanding that otherwise blew my mind. I do remember paying more for what I felt was less (remember I love buffets) but I do not have any bad remembrances of their food. Peking closed for reasons unknown to me but reopened some years later in a much, much smaller location on Green Meadows Rd. As much as I hate going to South Columbia, I will make a trip to eat there at this new location. Some of the same decor of the Ninth St. location is there and the owners are nice. The food is excellent so if anyone gets a chance give it a try. Until next time.

Memories of Chou's Buffet

Columbia has had a host of buffet type restaurants serving different cuisines but I will always remember Chou's Buffet as my favorite when it came to Chinese food. For a low price a person was able to fill up on a host of wonderfully flavored Chinese dishes. Other Chinese buffets, which are still around today, may have a lot of choices but all the food seemed to have a similiar taste, like they were cooked with the same sauce. At Chou's each dish had a unique look and taste that stimulated my taste buds. Now for some people this place may not have had the best Chinese food but for the cost you could not beat the quality.

I believe it was started by Dave Chou more than twenty years ago when he and his wife were attending MU. His sons helped out and I got to know one of them, Sam, thru another business he started, an auto repair shop that he built right behind the restraurant. This repair shop was awesome with excellent service and good prices. One time a belt came off my Mazda on a Friday evening and I had it towed to Sam's shop. It was closed at the time but I remembered he also worked at the restaurant so I went over to see if I could find him. I was directed to the back kitchen where Sam had an apron on and was cooking items for the buffet. He was friendly as always and we talked about my problem with the Mazda. In comes the auto repair office manager who was helping out by delivering food that evening. They took the keys to the car and told me to call the shop first thing Saturday morning. Well the office manager called me at home early the next day and said they had repaired the car and it was ready to pick up. There was no charge because the belt had been put on by them and was still under warranty. What service!

In the months that followed I had more car problems so I was able to talk to Sam more about the restaurant. He related that his parents were older now and they should not work as hard as they have over the years. Finding good help for the restaurant was hard and he himself was more interested in automobiles then running a restaurant as the hours were better and not so time consuming. They closed the restaurant during Christmas break and never opened it back up for a long time. He got married and experienced small micro breweries and wanted to open one in Columbia. Sam sold his auto repair place and renovated the old Chou's Buffet location and with a friend who knew how to make beer opened the Grindstone Brewing Company. That may be a blog entry in itself so I won't go any further. So ends my entry regarding Chou's Buffet and I hope others can remember more detail. My question to the readers, did they have a Japanese style steak house area in an elevated area of the Chou's? Let me know.

Thursday, June 5, 2008

Memories of Ed's Cafe

One of the first restaurants (or greasy spoons) I was introduced to in Columbia was this little place on the corner of Broadway and maybe Third or Fourth ST. I think there is a Chinese/Vietnamese place there now but I am not sure of the exact location. Anyway, Ed's Cafe was known for its daily specials and good stick to your ribs type food (with a lot of grease). I always ordered burger with fries which I thought was safe but my friends were used to the place and ordered the specials with no regrets.

My fondest memory of Ed's Cafe was the menu which was painted on a wall. It had the standard menu selections every little restaurant could offer but I will always remember the Scrambled Eggs and Brains that you could order. There it was on the wall but I know of no one who ever ordered it. Only one other restaurant comes to mind that offered Scrambled Eggs and Brains and that was the Spot Cafe in downtown Fulton.

Ed's Cafe closed because of a fire but the the building survived. I may appear to be hard on this place because it was clean in a way but old with that kind of run down look. It served good food and was popular with the locals and college crowd but it just wasn't around long enough for me to enjoy the food to the fullest. Although, the thought of Scrambled Eggs with Brains does come around sometimes, and I get misty eyed and I think old restaurants never die, they just burn down, but their memories remain.

Memories of the Flaming Pit Restaurant

No list of old Columbia restaurants would be complete without the Flaming Pit Restaurant which still comes up in conversations as a favorite memory of the locals. Located at the Eastern entrance of Parkade Plaza, this restaurant was known for the good food with adults and a favorite with children because of its treasure box of little gifts and the little umbrellas put in their drinks.

I never ate supper there but went to their lunch buffet several times with my friends. We would go for the great price and the huge amount of food offered on the buffet. I felt the food quality was just okay but for the price I thought it was worth it. Later on we discovered the Flaming Pit's Happy Hour in their wonderful little bar area with the extremely comfortable chairs. We would get there early before the crowd and leave before it got too crowded with patrons. Those too few Happy Hour meetings were a lot of fun with great friends and outstanding conversations and are wonderful memories, no matter if they are incomplete. So there you are readers, I finally put the Flaming Pit on my list and would like to hear other people's memories of one of Columbia's past great restaurants. Let us know your thoughts on this restaurant.

Tuesday, June 3, 2008

Memories of Shorty's Fried Chicken

I was talking to several coworkers today about their remembrances of Shorty's Fried Chicken and all anyone could agree on was its' mediocre service. It was sad because the chicken was not half bad. Shorty's Fried Chicken showed up in the mid to late 1970's around the Central Missouri area. I had just returned to Fulton after three years in the army and got my old job back as a manager of the KFC store in Fulton. My district manager at the time talked about this chicken place in Columbia that "stole" all the secrets from the Kentucky Fried Chicken playbook. After being trained at the KFC University in Louisville KY, trainees were given a large notebook full of recipes and procedures on how to run a store. Apparently someone got a copy of one of these notebooks and started their own restaurant chain. Having never ate at Shorty's I did not think much about it until I moved to Columbia in 1979.

Shorty's had two locations in town and maybe the same number in Jefferson City, at least that is what I remember at this time. They had a pretty good business and I had heard through the KFC pipeline that they put the Columbia KFCs to shame as far as quality and sales. (One secret was that both KFC and Shorty's shared the same chicken supplier and they would ask how much raw chicken was delivered to Shorty's.) I must admit, even though I am a Kentucky Fried Chicken man through and through, Columbia KFC locations were terrible as the food tasted bad and the stores were dirty. It was no wonder Shorty's took away their business.

Two things changed at KFC which may have been brought on by Shorty's influence. First, fresh baked biscuits were offered at Shorty's but at the time KFC only had tasteless, thawed out rolls that were heated to make them soft. Second was the way they cut the chicken. KFC had a nine piece cut that resulted in three white meat pieces, a keel or breast and two ribs that each had a small portion of the breast. Shorty's had a eight piece cut that resulted in two halves of the chicken breast that were large. The quality of their side orders was nothing to write about and to this day I cannot remember if they were good. The main thing I remember is the left over chicken that was available the next day. Shorty's sold cold chicken that was left over and it tasted better than the fresh fried product. I would go there when they first opened, usually the Paris Rd. location and buy the day old chicken. Nothing much comes back to me as far as memories.

I have searched the Internet and found nothing to help my memory of this restaurant chain. It did have a series of television commercials of the owner's mother or grandmother walking around with music and someone talking in the background on how great her food was. I think the lady actually lived in Sturgeon or someplace north of Columbia. Once again I quit going to Shorty's for reasons unknown and they had disappeared from the local business landscape before I knew they were gone. I would welcome input on any other info regarding Shorty's from the reading masses and even Mr. Ed if he can remember. Until next time.