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Colonial Cafeterias


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#1 Giraffe

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Posted 02 December 2007 - 11:35 PM

Why did all the Colonial Cafeterias shut down? There was one on Trail Lake Dr. at Loop 820 in the '70s (my Cub Scout pack had our Blue & Gold Banquets there, and I ate lunch there once in 1982 shortly before it closed). We often went as a family during Christmas. We enjoyed it a lot and hated to see it go. Why did it close? Nothing else has ever moved into that building after all these years.

There was another Colonial Cafeteria in Forest Park, wasn't there? Across University Dr. from the zoo. I think that one's gone, too.

The third Colonial I can think of was on Berry, close to the TCU campus.

Slightly off-topic: My dad used to work for the Texas Electric Service Company on 7th Street in downtown, and he liked to eat lunch at the Picadilly Cafeteria near that location. But that closed ages ago. I remember my mom, sister and I once took a shopping trip downtown in the very early '70s, rode the subway to Leonard's, and joined Dad for lunch at the Picadilly.



#2 Papaw

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Posted 03 December 2007 - 08:48 AM

The Horan family owned the Colonial operations. I think it was the two brothers Charles and Bob Horan. Charles bought out Bob then closed all but the Berry street location and then Charles turned the business over to his son and I think his son lost interest and closed. I remember the great Tarter Sauce they maid for their fried fish. An employee of theirs gave me the recipe and I still make it and take some with me if I go out for fish as no one else can match it.

#3 JulieM

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Posted 03 December 2007 - 09:35 AM

That was the very first place we ate at when we moved to Fort Worth in the early 70's. We were staying at the hotel at the intersection of University and the freeway...I think it was Ramada Inn then...while we were waiting for our house to be ready. We ended up there for a whole month.

#4 JBB

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Posted 03 December 2007 - 09:44 AM

There was also one in the Cityview shopping center for awhile, but I don't know if it was part of the original chain.

#5 Papaw

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Posted 03 December 2007 - 12:02 PM

I don't remember the one in Cityview but they had one in the center just South of 820 on Trail Lake for awhile and seems like one just West of University next to the river where the Church is now - or that could have been a Jettons, can't remember. I think it's Rogers Road.

#6 bhudson

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Posted 03 December 2007 - 12:59 PM

QUOTE(Giraffe @ Dec 2 2007, 11:35 PM) View Post

My dad used to work for the Texas Electric Service Company on 7th Street in downtown, and he liked to eat lunch at the Picadilly Cafeteria near that location.


Does anyone know where exactly the downtown Picadilly was? I wish there was one down here now.


#7 John T Roberts

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Posted 03 December 2007 - 01:11 PM

The Picadilly Cafeteria was located in a building on Houston Street between the current Houston Place Lofts and the Houston Street Bar and Patio. The building was demolished in the 1980's to build the current parking garage on the site.

#8 Giraffe

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Posted 03 December 2007 - 07:14 PM

Just remembered something else about the Colonial Cafeteria at Trail Lake & Loop 820. It had to have been open in 1984 because I took my entire family out to dinner there with my very first paycheck! (Dad left the tip.)



#9 Papaw

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Posted 03 December 2007 - 09:25 PM

I think they must have pressure cooked their Chicken Fried Steaks because they would melt in your mouth - and very tasty. This is something I notice in all cafeterias now - there is not much taste in the food. I guess they figure people are watching salts and the likes. Me - the more Cajun the better!

#10 WTx

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Posted 24 December 2007 - 08:51 AM

The last two Colonial Cafeterias I know of were the locations at 820 and one on Denton Hwy in Haltom City. Colonial closed maybe 5-7 years ago? I had eaten at the Haltom City location a few times before they closed.

#11 Papaw

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Posted 24 December 2007 - 07:07 PM

The dessert I miss most is their Black Bottom Pie - they really poured the rum flavoring in the chocolate layer!

#12 cjyoung

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Posted 26 December 2007 - 10:36 AM

QUOTE(Papaw @ Dec 24 2007, 07:07 PM) View Post

The dessert I miss most is their Black Bottom Pie - they really poured the rum flavoring in the chocolate layer!


The pecan pie was off the chain! cool.gif

#13 Roger_H

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Posted 26 December 2007 - 09:04 PM

As best as I recall, Colonial was a victim of their own overly ambitious expansion plans. In addition to opening several restaurants at once (the Cityview location was where Rio Mambo is now) they bought out Bill Martins Seafood restaurants as well.


#14 travelbear

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Posted 17 January 2008 - 09:52 PM

Don't forget the Colonial at 8th Ave. and Pennsylvania near Thistle Hill. That restaurant blew up from a gas leak.

#15 Papaw

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Posted 17 January 2008 - 10:37 PM

I had forgotten all about that one. It use to draw some good looking nurses from the med. district during lunch.

#16 Giraffe

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Posted 28 March 2008 - 12:04 AM

QUOTE (JulieM @ Dec 3 2007, 09:35 AM) <{POST_SNAPBACK}>
That was the very first place we ate at when we moved to Fort Worth in the early 70's. We were staying at the hotel at the intersection of University and the freeway...I think it was Ramada Inn then...while we were waiting for our house to be ready. We ended up there for a whole month.



You may be interested to know that hotel may soon be torn down. It was indeed a Ramada Inn at one time; I remember going there once as a youngster for an astronomy show held there in the early 1980s. Today there is a fence around it and it looks like it's about to be bulldozed any minute now.

#17 Dismuke

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Posted 28 March 2008 - 02:31 AM

QUOTE (Roger_H @ Dec 26 2007, 11:04 PM) <{POST_SNAPBACK}>
As best as I recall, Colonial was a victim of their own overly ambitious expansion plans. In addition to opening several restaurants at once (the Cityview location was where Rio Mambo is now) they bought out Bill Martins Seafood restaurants as well.



One of the other problems is the fact that cafeterias as a format have been in trouble for quite a while now. They were very popular with the World War II generation - and as that generation aged and had disposable income, cafeterias did well. The problem in the past couple of decades, however, is that younger generations, for whatever reason, are not very fond of cafeterias and prefer restaurants where they are waited on.

I guess I am weird - not having to deal with waitstaff is one of the things I actually LIKE about cafeterias. Wait staff tends to be too chatty and friendly (If I am in the middle of a conversation with someone, the last thing I want is to be interrupted with a generic "how is everything going?) or are not around when I actually DO need them. I also like the aspect of being able to SEE what I am going to get before I get it. Sure, you have to go through the serving line - but that is usually quicker than waiting at the table in a standard restaurant. Waiting at a table for service/food is ok if you are with enjoyable company - but if you are dining alone and did not bring reading material, it is a real bore. I am not sure why younger generations in recent decades are not fond of them. Whatever the reason, their lack of interest is such that most cafeteria chains have closed and those that remain are struggling.

Colonial Cafeterias were still open when I moved to Fort Worth - but I never went in one.

My favorite cafeteria when I was a child was one that used to be located in University Park right opposite the SMU campus. Almost everyone that ate there was OLD - and sometimes I would recognize elderly customers from previous visits to the cafeteria. The area is surrounded by nice older neighbhorhoods and it wouldn't surprise me if many elderly people in it ate at the cafeteria on a daily basis. That cafeteria always had salmon croquets and stewed prunes - both of which I loved and always got anytime we went there. Of course, that is the sort of thing that was popular with the elderly people who were still around at the time as well. I haven't seen either offered in a cafeteria in years.

The other thing the cafeteria featured was Miss Inez on the organ. Miss Inez was sort of a local legend in Dallas. She played on the old WRR radio back when the station was still on the AM dial, the movie palaces on Elm Street and for the ice shows they had at the Century Room at the Adolphus Hotel in the 1940s. She was also one of the first organists to play at baseball games. When all those things went away, Miss Inez continued to perform at the one venue where she could still be appreciated: cafeterias. After the one in University Park went away, she played at various Luby's locations - the one at the old Lochwood Mall and at Casa View in East Dallas. She passed away in 2002

I just looked to see if there was any info about Miss Inez online and came across a D Magazine profile on her from the early 1990s. You can see her perform on this YouTube clip of a brief video someone made of her at a Luby's in 1993. That was 15 years ago. Sadly, in another 15 years, cafeterias as such may end up joining the automat as just another memory that will only survive in a very limited and watered down form.


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#18 Sam Stone

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Posted 28 March 2008 - 08:52 AM

I don't think that a preference for being waited on per se has been the reason for the demise of those cafeterias. I think that cafeterias are alive and well if you include Asian and Mexican buffets. There are also a lot of popular restaurants that rely on counter service (like Pei Wei) rather than table service. I think that the reason places like Colonial and Luby's have gone/are going extinct is because of the food. I'm not saying that your standard Asian and Mexican buffets have fantastic food, but it does seem to hold up sitting out in those steam trays a little better.

#19 Dismuke

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Posted 29 March 2008 - 02:01 PM

QUOTE (Sam Stone @ Mar 28 2008, 09:52 AM) <{POST_SNAPBACK}>
I don't think that a preference for being waited on per se has been the reason for the demise of those cafeterias. I think that cafeterias are alive and well if you include Asian and Mexican buffets. There are also a lot of popular restaurants that rely on counter service (like Pei Wei) rather than table service. I think that the reason places like Colonial and Luby's have gone/are going extinct is because of the food. I'm not saying that your standard Asian and Mexican buffets have fantastic food, but it does seem to hold up sitting out in those steam trays a little better.



I hadn't thought about Pei Wei - but that is a great example.

As for buffets - while the modern version of buffets is clearly an offshoot of cafeterias and there are similarities, I think of them as being in very distinct categories with buffets being on a lower rung of the "food chain" (sorry, I couldn't resist!). Not that I have anything against buffets - I am a fiend when it comes to Indian buffets and could eat at one every day of the week and never grow tired of it. But I am afraid that there have also been instances when I have gone to a buffet place and been utterly grossed out. Usually this is the case when there are a lot of people and when parents allow their bratty little monsters to roam the place and help themselves at the buffet unsupervised. Some people in this world are just gross - like leaning over a buffet and coughing.

Verses a buffet, there is something reassuring when one goes to a cafeteria and sees a solid glass wall and counter top separating the line from the food instead of one of those pathetically inadequate "breath shields" and for the food to be served by uniformed ladies wearing hair nets. I do enjoy the ability a buffet offers of being able to help myself to larger or smaller quantities than the standard amounts that are dished out in a cafeteria - but buffets sometimes have a certain communal feel to them that I very much dislike.

Of course, one of the advantages a buffet format offers for restaurant owners is lower labor costs - the customers do the work of dishing out their own food and even low wage labor is undoubtedly more expensive than the additional amounts of food customers might consume at a buffet.

I also suppose one of the reasons that younger people do not like cafeterias is they perhaps might regard them as being somewhat institutional and regard that in a negative light. For the World War II generation, that probably was not regarded as such a negative. For a great many people growing up during the Depression eating out was a luxury and even then restaurant options were extremely limited by today's standards. Plus the variety offered by grocery stores at the time was also extremely limited. As a result, the typical person back then had much simpler food tastes than most people today have. For someone who grew up with the hardships of the Depression and endured wartime shortages and rationing (or military food), being able to afford to go to a cafeteria in the post war years must have been a real treat and, to them, the selection of food the cafeteria offered was probably considered to be wide and diverse. The novelty they offered to earlier generations is probably lost on most young people today - to them a cafeteria probably reminds them of school lunches and the selection they offer is no longer regarded as being all that wide in the context of today's dining choices.

Now I have just talked myself into going to a cafeteria while I still have a chance. If I could just find one that still serves salmon croquets.
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#20 bailey

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Posted 29 March 2008 - 03:51 PM

It's hard to figure out why cafeterias lost their appeal. The food is good, the price is reasonable, and you get a choice. Everytime I go in Luby's all you see is elderly people. As someone who grew up in the 50's, the treat of the week was going to Colonial on Berry street on Friday night. It was always packed. They even had to add additional space by taking in the building next door. I can still taste their vegetable soup which was outstanding and of course their chocolate ice box pie.

#21 Papaw

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Posted 29 March 2008 - 09:06 PM

I think as you get older you loose a lot of your taste ability. Colonial did have exceptionally seasoned food where as the modern cafeterias seem not to have any taste. I have to admit, however, I am from the old school - I want only REAL butter, rather have heavy cream than milk, never touch anything that is labeled "organic" and refuse to buy anything that is fat free. The other thing I like is atmosphere where I eat. I hardly ever eat anywhere that doesn't serve boos. I love the dim lite atmosphere and all the neon beer signs along with the laughter and noise of the customers enjoying themselves. This seems to help me feel like I am getting my money worth.

OK, I know, I am just an old weird fart. wacko.gif


#22 Giraffe

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Posted 30 March 2008 - 01:13 PM

David Feldman covered this topic quite extensively in his book, _Imponderables_. This is one of those Q&A books written for infotainment. (Another one of his books in this series has one of the greatest titles I've ever seen: _When Did Wild Poodles Roam the Earth?_) Feldman discusses several points about why cafeterias are more popular among the elderly than other groups.

"In all surveys, seniors mentioned price as the #1 reason they liked cafeterias."

"Seniors eat less food than any other age group except small children. Many complain that portions are too large in full-service restaurants. Older people overwhelmingly prefer ordering a la carte for this reason."

"Older people generally prefer 'home cooking' to pre-fab food. Many cafeterias cook virtually everything from scratch and even bake on the premises."

"Seniors tend to stay longer than younger patrons. At cafeterias, there aren't sulking waiters intimidating customers into hurrying along. The slower, unpressured atmosphere at the cafeteria (no live bands!) is a major part of the appeal of cafeterias to seniors. Although the turnover of tables is crucial to restauraneurs, older patrons compenate for staying longer by their predilection for eating earlier than young people. Older consumers are occupying tables at periods other than the mealtime crush, tables that otherwise might be vacant."

"Cafeterias tend to have a larger selection of food than full-service restaruants in the same price range. Many cafeterias offer 100 or more items every day. Older customers tend to be more finicky about the quality and selection of their food."

"As a group, the elderly tend not to be adventurous eaters. You never find barbecued alligator at a cafeteria."

Then there are psychological factors. (As you can see, Feldman investigated this pretty deeply.)
"Many elderly people are widowed or alone for some reason. Some may not have a close network of friends. For people of any age, dining alone is not the most pleasant experience, particularly in full-service restaurants, where management and service personnel sometimes make single patrons seem like interlopers. To folks alienated from fast-food establishments, cafeterias are congenial places. For many people, eating out represents a vital and enriching form of social contact. Unrelated seniors can eat according to their individual dietary and economic desires. Single seniors find new friends at cafeterias without any pressure to do so. Patrons can commune or merely consume, depending on their preference."

"If a cafeteria does a good job, older customers tend to reward the establishment with steady patronage."


Even so, with the Baby Boomers now becoming Gray Panthers, one would think that cafeterias would be more prevalent than they are. Luby's Cafeterias shut down a great many of their locations a few years ago. Perhaps the market was oversaturated, I don't know. But I do know that the Luby's on the service road of Hwy 360 in Arlington next to Six Flags was closed for a couple of years, then reopened as a restaurant called Palomina's. Having eaten in there before and after the changeover, I feel qualified to say that the only difference between the two is that they put the serving spoons on the other side of the tray. As far as I can tell, everything inside the place is exactly the same as Luby's was: You grab a tray, there are huge piles of food waiting for you, you pay for your meal in advance, and you waddle back out to your car. The food is the same; it's good and there's plenty of it. The place is always busy and the atmosphere is quiet and relaxing. Except for the new sign and the fact that you now serve yourself, you'd swear you were in a Luby's. I haven't thought to look closely until now, but it seems to me that the lunchtime crowd (which is the only time I've ever been in Palomina's) is made up primarily of middle-aged working-class folks on lunch break. I see plenty of older folks eating lunch at a nearby Pioneer Restaurant on E. Division (they're open only for breakfast and lunch), even though there isn't a place to live within miles of it -- and the Pioneer is PACKED SOLID every day (though it's not a cafeteria). If I were in my 70s I wouldn't be too keen on trying to fight traffic on I-30 and 360 to get to a cafeteria if I had other choices.

One of the spookiest experiences in my life was eating dinner at a cafeteria on the outskirts of Chicago a few years ago. I went with a group of friends and this cafeteria was literally the only business open inside a dead mall. That was IT. If you weren't hungry, there was absolutely no reason to go to this mall. Every other store was closed and boarded up. (I think that mall eventually was demolished.) And you had to walk quite a ways through blank, white corridors to get to the restaurant. I felt like I was in a bad science fiction movie.


#23 Dismuke

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Posted 30 March 2008 - 10:17 PM

QUOTE (Giraffe @ Mar 30 2008, 03:13 PM) <{POST_SNAPBACK}>
For people of any age, dining alone is not the most pleasant experience, particularly in full-service restaurants, where management and service personnel sometimes make single patrons seem like interlopers.



You got that right. At times they are downright nasty: "Only one????" as though that makes one a freak of some kind. Sometimes I just want to reply back: "Why, no - my friend Percival here will be joining me. You can't see him though. Only I can. He's invisible. We'd prefer a booth, if you have one!"
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#24 lonnzer

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Posted 26 May 2008 - 10:51 PM

The only two Colonials I had ever been to were the ones on Berry and the one on the corner of Pennsylvania and 8th. Ave. If I remember they were good... about the same as the Wyatts.

#25 empty

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Posted 25 June 2008 - 11:26 PM

If memory serves, the Colonial in Haltom City was originally a Wyatt's, but I'm not sure.

The Colonial at 8th and Pennsylvania brings up an old memory.

In junior high, I had an algebra teacher who was fairly old (probably about my current age). His wife had passed away and he'd moved into an apartment in that area. He told us that he ate almost all his meals at Colonial--he particularly loved their fried chicken.

One day, we had a substitute teacher. We were told that our regular teacher had suffered food poisoning from the cafeteria. He was out at least a week.

When he came back, we said, "You're not going back there, are you?"

He replied, "That's where I had dinner last night! Everyone makes a mistake now and then."



#26 Cranky Greg

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Posted 26 July 2008 - 09:49 PM

I remember a Colonial Cafeteria on the northwest corner of Collins and Park Row in Arlington. About 1978-79, I worked as a sacker at the Minyard's grocery store in the same strip mall area. We got paid on Thursdays, I think, and whenever we got our paychecks, we would cash them at the store and then go have lunch at Colonial Cafeteria. Since we were in high school at the time, we were by far the youngest customers in the place!

I also remember the Colonial Cafeteria on Berry Street. I ran for Congress a few years ago, and remember we had a candidates forum there.

I kinda miss those old cafeterias.

We used to eat at the Picadilly Cafeteria at the Forum 303 Mall in Arlington in the 1970's. There was one older, kinda dour lady who worked there and my sister and I used to joke about her. She would always say in a monotone voice, "Can I help you? Thank you. Can I help you? Thank you." Over and over again. She was having no fun.

And there was the salad lady who watched over her salads like a watchdog! She was hysterical. One time my father tried to grab a pickle or something and she whacked him on the hand! "I'll get it for you, sir!" she barked.

My sisters and I got a big kick out of that!

#27 SWRebel

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Posted 09 September 2009 - 06:56 PM

La Chandclire. My spelling of this cafeteria may be in incorrect, but it shared the Westcliff shopping center. North of the drugstore.

"To take from one, because it is thought that his own industry and that of his fathers has acquired too much, in order to spare to others, who, or whose fathers have not exercised equal industry and skill, is to violate arbitrarily the first principle of association, ‘the guarantee to every one of a free exercise of his industry, & the fruits acquired by it.'"

#28 bailey

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Posted 10 September 2009 - 07:59 PM

QUOTE (SWRebel @ Sep 9 2009, 07:56 PM) <{POST_SNAPBACK}>
La Chandclire. My spelling of this cafeteria may be in incorrect, but it shared the Westcliff shopping center. North of the drugstore.


Yup, I ate there many time as a kid. It was right next to Moreland's. It later became a camera store and last time I was by there it still had the entrance and exit doors the cafeteria had.

#29 GGJ

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Posted 15 November 2009 - 02:04 AM

QUOTE (empty @ Jun 25 2008, 11:26 PM) <{POST_SNAPBACK}>
If memory serves, the Colonial in Haltom City was originally a Wyatt's, but I'm not sure.

The Colonial at 8th and Pennsylvania brings up an old memory.

In junior high, I had an algebra teacher who was fairly old (probably about my current age). His wife had passed away and he'd moved into an apartment in that area. He told us that he ate almost all his meals at Colonial--he particularly loved their fried chicken.

One day, we had a substitute teacher. We were told that our regular teacher had suffered food poisoning from the cafeteria. He was out at least a week.

When he came back, we said, "You're not going back there, are you?"

He replied, "That's where I had dinner last night! Everyone makes a mistake now and then."



Great story about the teacher and the food poisoning incident!
Also, I believe you are correct about the Wyatt's Cafeteria on Denton Highway in Haltom City, in Haltom Plaza. I remember eating there in the 1980's.

#30 GGJ

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Posted 15 November 2009 - 02:19 AM

What a great topic!
Giraffe, I especially enjoyed your referencing the sociological background of cafeterias...really interesting stuff.

The only Colonial Cafeteria I remember was the one near 183 and Precint Line Road and Hurst right near NE Mall. Even though it is now a Furr's, the building is the original, as it is a faux "colonial" (get it?) style house. I think about its former life as a Colonial Cafeteria on the couple of times I have been there to Furr's.

I'm in my mid 30's and I don't have a problem with cafeterias (or buffets) at all, I just dislike bad quality food, regardless of where it is served. Although, I have to say that it is a bit more inconvenient to have to ask someone for seconds (or thirds) than it is to just serve myself! closedeyes.gif




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