Root Beer travels plus a little food

[greywolf]

Maybe I can quit highjacking threads by starting root beer stories by putting such stuff here. I'll even write rootbeer once for search purposes.

I like to do A&W root beer tours by searching for restaurants as an excuse to ride. The A&Ws at I-94 and county K east of Racine or I-90/94 and Rte 19 north of Madison in Windsor WI get a lot of attention as well as 113 S Lincolnway in North Aurora IL and Woodfield Mall in Schaumburg IL with the latter being more for a fix than a ride. Vaughn wrote about one in Wisconsin on the Mississippi at 507 Elm St in Boscobel WI that is a full day round trip for me but worth it. It even still has phones on the tables to make indoor ordering similar to the outdoor intercoms at the drive-in parking lots. Each store makes their own draft root beer so there is some variation. The ones above all do a great job, serve in frosty mugs, and have large windows for bike viewing. The ones coupled with KFC franchizes often don't do as well in my experience. The one closest to me is such an outfit and don't even have frosty mugs available. I really like the A&W grilled chicken sandwich which my cholesterol count mandates as usual fare over grilled hamburgers. At A&W, the hamburgers actually taste grilled.

Somebody recommended The Spot in Kenosha WI as even better. I got to try it today. It's a real drive-in with no indoor seating. I got a little cold eating at a concrete outdoor table in 50F temps and was glad to plug the heated gear back into the bike for the trip home. The root beer did come in a frosty mug and was good, but different from A&W. Different tastes will probably prefer one over the other. I would say the A&W has a deeper taste, whatever that means, and I still prefer it. They had no grilled chicken and the hamburger was as greasy as promised. It was mostly external grease though, being all over the bun and wrapper rather than in the meat. The texture was good, indicating it was probably never frozen, but I prefer Redamaks in New Buffalo MI for a greasy hamburger trip. For the rare local greasy burger fix, I prefer Byrons in Chicago or even Wendys. For really good, not so greasy, high quality restaurant burger, I still prefer Tommy Nevins pub in Evanston.

Now, at least, I have a thread to refer root beer stories to instead of doing so many off topic posts in other threads.

[Dorzok]

I love A&W. not many around here. one old original drive up and one with a KFC that's too franchisey. But, it does have good draft w/ DIY free refills. buy a float and they give you real ice cream in a frosty mug and you pour your own. finish the float and fill up the mug again. mmmmmmmmmmmmm.
the other "real" one has better food...and cruise night.

[greywolf]

I went to a California A&W on the last Reno rally. It would be a stretch to call it Southern California. It was the closest one in CA to zip 89452 where I was staying but I don't remember whether it was a KFC too.

[Dorzok]

I went to a California A&W on the last Reno rally. It would be a stretch to call it Southern California. It was the closest one in CA to zip 89452 where I was staying but I don't remember whether it was a KFC too.


What do you use for your searches? link please

[2mstone]

In a town just north of SLC there was a little hole in the wall called ....Carmacks...if I remember right. The owner made donuts in half the store, the other half was a hamburger joint.

His burgers were to die for. The onion slice was thicker than most meat patties you get elsewhere. When he put the cheese on he would cover the patty/onion/cheese with an old pan lid so the cheese was good and melted before he put it on the bun.

His rootbeer was the best I've ever tasted, served in frosted mugs kept in a special cooler by the rootbeer tap.

When I was just out of high school I used to make a delivery there once a week. When he would see my truck pull into the parking lot he would start making my Burnt Almond Fudge Shake. He would always overfill the mixing glass, but made it so thick that when he removed that tin mixing ring on the top the shake would be about an inch or more above the rim of the glass. Not for long though, I'd dig into my shake the minute he poured into the serving glass! It filled the serving glass about 2 1/2 times. That was my lunch for the day!

Sadly the store burned down several years ago, it was an institution and a real loss to the community!

[FieroDude]

Mmmmm.... Redamak's! They will be open again for the season soon, too! Just in time for me to be in New Buffalo every Thursday for class!

For a classic soda/ice cream counter style place, I can recommend the Driftwood here in Sister Lakes, MI (a wide spot in the road about 15 miles east of Benton Harbor/St. Joseph). They have some of the best root beer floats around.

[Mapsmear]

There is a place called 'The Rootbeer Stand' located in Sharonville, Ohio that was an A&W many years ago until it was privately purchased. The rootbeer is made on sight and is the best anywhere and so are their footlong chili dogs. I've been going regularly since little leaque as a boy (I'm 54) and have turned many a motorcyclist on to this over the years. It's just north of Cincinnati, Ohio near the juction of I-75, I-71, & I-275. Best part is, they are just four doors down from Sport Tour LTD showroom. I also live nearby so let me know and I'll buy you a 'beer'.

[Mbarb]

One night last summer I left Green Bay, passing several A&W's to ride out to Clintonville to have dinner at an A&W. Nice night for a ride and needed a reason to go.

Last summer I rode from Green Bay to Stevens Point for Italian Beef. Did a number of caches on the way out and back and made a day of it.

[Skinnifatkid]

GreyWolf, if you ever make it to Halifax Nova Scotia, check out "The Chicken Burger" just 10 minutes down the road. The place has been open forever...well not really, but as long as I can ramember and before! It's a classic style burger place that is doing something right because they are still open. They make the floats and have the old style atmospere. Always packed on sunny Saturdays and Sundays and has the big windows to see who is checking out the bike.

http://chickenburger.com/main.php

[greywolf]

I promised myself never to go to the northeast again. I've broken promises to myself before though.

[klr4ever]

For another A&W/KFC location, there is one in Hobart, IN across from St. Mary's Hospital (about 3 miles east of I65 on 61st ave).
It's right across from JD's Diner which is pretty good too.
Wednesday nights Classic car hangout in the parking lot adjacent to both.

Thursdays small farmers market downtown and Thurs nights free Bandshell concerts at the Lakefront Park, couple of miles from the A&W.

Dan

[GRS1959]

Anyone else remember Frostop root beer?

http://www.frostop.com/images/scans/mug_sign.gif

We had a Frostop in Salem, Ohio when I was young.

[greywolf]

Pure A&Ws have been better than the hybrids in my travels. The KFC and LJS franchises seem the take away from the focus.

[Heyload]

Anyone else remember Frostop root beer?

http://www.frostop.com/images/scans/mug_sign.gif

We had a Frostop in Salem, Ohio when I was young.

Yes! I do indeed remember Frostop, we had one in LaPlace, LA, seem's like. If not a Frostop, it had a very similar mug!

I love rootbeer. My current favorite, when I can find it here, is Weinhards. Big in the northwest, it is some mighty fine rootbeer. Pricey, though, but what the heck, every man has to have a vice.

[Chuck in Indiana]

Greywolf,

My wife and I were raised in the Kenosha, WI area; me in the city, her in the county. I graduated from the local high school in the era of Alan "Lino" Ameche, if your memory reaches back that far. We frequently went to "The Spot' when we were dating -- more than five decades ago. We still see it, it's still open, when we're back in the area visiting our siblings.

Great place to gather, good food, lots of good memories. We'll make a special attempt to stop there the next time we're in town.

Ride safe.

[greywolf]

I remember Alan "The Horse" Ameche. Ameche, Unitas, Raymond Berry, Lenny Moore and the 50's Colts pretty much brought pro football into the limelight with the OT championship game. I still like A&W draft root beer better than the Spot's.

[BDragon]

That's a different one. Dorzok is talking about the one in San Dimas. There is one far north on the way to Sequia, most likely what Greywolf is talking about. Now strawhat pizza is what I'm looking for. Almost all were bought out by round table. Bastards.

[greywolf]

I managed to ride to lunch in Wisconsin today. It was the first time the alley off the garage had wheel tracks through the ice that made it to pavement since very early December. There was one section that was very narrow between a couple of inches high ice on both sides but the bike really wants to go where the rider looks. It was great to ride again even in misty conditions in near freezing temperatures. A&W root beer tastes much better when it is tracked down on two wheels. February 2009 was the only month since the Spring of 2007 that I haven't ridden out of state for lunch.

[2mstone]

. A&W root beer tastes much better when it is tracked down on two wheels. .

True words, but everything tastes better when it is tracked down on two wheels! :thumbup:

[Illinois]

A&W used to be the Saturday night hangout around here back in the day. Even had the servers on roller skates. If you didn't have a date that was the place to find one. Lot to be said for the simpler times. :mrgreen:

[greywolf]

That's the trouble with memory. It's selective.

[ozart]

The last frosted mug root beer I had was back in the late 60's. Think they were 5 or 10 cents :confused: Probably A&W.

[dancer]

At 12:00 AM CST on 2/2/10, the CNBC channel carried a special biographical report of the first A&W Root Beer franchising (in Washington, D.C.), back around 1927 by J.W. Marriott (yes, that Marriott). The first franchise opened in the summer selling only cold root beer in frosted mugs for 5 cents a mug. When winter came that year, business fell off and the Hot Shoppe idea was born to keep revenue coming in by serving food. Franchises kept being opened in D.C. until there were eight, before one was opened elsewhere. They survived the Great Depression just fine, and the Marriott empire of course kept growing -- reaching 18 Hot Shoppes in D.C., Baltimore, and Philadelphia by the beginning of WWII. Just FYI...

[greywolf]

Check off February. There was enough unexpected sun to melt the ice in the alley and I got in my out of state ride for the month. Not bad since the air temperature never got above 30F. Since January and February are the only months the alley has been iced in every day in past years, I ought to be good for the next ten months too. The thing I learned today - tape the sock connectors to the body wiring harness connectors. The left foot got almost cold enough to stop and take off my pants to plug the connectors back together.