Country Focus: Remembering VC Restaurants of the Past

The other day I stopped by the new fast food drive thru by the interstate. As I was sitting in my car waiting, I remembered a Kentucky Fried Chicken used to be across the road to the west. If my memory is correct, it burned down. So that had me thinking, what other restaurants used to be in town?

During my years In high school over noon hour, you would see a herd of teenagers walking south on Central Avenue to Ole’s Donuts for a slice of Pizza Corner pizza and a donut. The second stop was at Ben Franklin to buy some candy before heading back to class.

Hardee’s was one of my Grandma Kunze’s favorite places. After Grandpa passed away, she rarely cooked. When I stopped by to visit after school, she would ask, “Should we go have a cookie at Hardee’s?” Sounded good to me! Her other favorite place to eat was The Broken Spoke. Her regular waitress, Joanie, always had the coffee ready and knew what she wanted to order.

As a youngster, we stopped at The Post for breakfast with my grandparents and great-grandparents after Sunday Mass. I thought the décor was so neat. Lots of dark wood and you had to go up two steps to the table which wasn’t like anywhere else in town. If my great-grandma Kunze thought greatgrandpa left too big of a tip, she would take half of the money and stick it in her purse. When I or my brother still had some maple syrup on our faces, one of the grandmas would dip her paper napkin in a water glass to wash it off.

I’m even old enough to remember the lunch counter at Woolworth’s. There also used to be a burger joint across from Oliver-Nathan that served good chocolate milk shakes. I can’t leave out A&W on the east side of town. The root beer floats were so delicious.

On that note, I better go grab some lunch!