Menu for the Ages

My treasured menu collection

Patricia Murphy's in NY

Atlantic City Boardwalk

The Gingerbread Castle (A magical place for me when I was a little girl)

Howard Johnson's.....I'll have a "Tommy Tucker Plate," please.

South of the Border NC/SC......"Good morning, Amigos!"

Black Angus, Miami Beach

Ah. Road trips. My dad had a severe case of wanderlust. To make that statement, one would think he traveled to exotic parts unknown on regular occasion. Not the case in reality....but he did the next best thing. Pack his wife and two daughters into the Oldsmobile and drive as far as a day trip could get him, and wait for the big reward: Two weeks vacation during the last two weeks of July. I can still remember my mother saying, "Don, I'm not driving all the way to Miami Beach unless we have an air-conditioned car." Say no more, Ann......here comes the Dynamic 88. (Thanks, Rich for making me check this out....). So, at midnight, July 1964, two sleepy girls, one reluctant mother, and one very excited dad, piled ourselves into the car and set forth for the Sunshine State.

"Follow the White Dove signs...." to the Chesapeake Bay Bridge and Tunnel........"Mom, tell her to stop touching me"........."Don, I absolutely will not stay in that place"......."Pam is carsick again; we need to stop" (Did I mention that my dad smoked cigars in the car?)........"Mom, she's touching me again! Make her stop!"

Wait. Something to distract the girls. What are all of these signs? Pedro? Pedro, who? South-of-the-Border, 175 miles. What's this South of the Border? There's another sign! "Chili Today; Hot Tamale." "You Never Sausage a Place." "Keep Yelling Kids. They'll Stop." (We had that one covered). This place was awesome. At that time, 1964, South of the Border consisted of a little restaurant, and a cozy hotel. It was quite a shock when more than 20 years later, my husband and I took our two sons and two nephews on our first pilgrimage to Disney World. We now refer to the hotel as having "spider pizza." I won't elaborate.

But, we arrived at our destination: Miami Beach. Wow. Palm trees. Roadside orange juice stands. Angus Beef. Dining out every, single night! This was awesome!

In addition to our two trips to the southern part of the USA, dad's wanderlust took us to The Gingerbread Castle in Hamburg, NJ; Hot Dog Johnny's in Buttzville, NJ whenever we'd take the drive to visit family in Pennsylvania; numerous restaurants at the Boardwalk in Atlantic City; Patricia Murphy's in New York, and too many Howard Johnson's to remember.

Well, in any event, here are a few menus that I saved for who-knows-what reason.....maybe to place on this blog at this point in time. And maybe to give someone else a taste of the past.

Look at some of the prices!