My Sunday column

Wandering around the Internet this week I came across a lighthearted photo feature called Places We Miss Most (www.walletpop.com/ specials/places-we-miss-most).
The feature listed 29 beloved businesses that no longer exist. Most I was familiar with (Bennigan’s, Steak and Ale). Some (Farrell’s Ice Cream Parlor and Restaurant) were complete mysteries A few I adored.
Po Folks.
Remember when there was one of those marvelous “real country cooking” restaurants on Walnut Avenue, near the current site of O’Charley’s.
In the late 1980s I went there with former Daily Citizen managing editor Terry Smith.
I can’t prove it, but I suspect it was that visit from us that did in the franchise. On that crisp Sunday afternoon we set the world tag team record for fried chicken consumption.
Of course we both paid the gastronomical price the next day at work, for which Terry held me completely to blame. Yup, I had held that 240-pound Vietnam veteran down and forced those gravy biscuits down his throat!
Burger Chef.
I had my first Burger Chef meal in Wheeling, W.Va.,when I was a young’n visiting relatives. It was quite the revelation for a tow-headed country boy.
Apparently I was not the only one so affected.
Daily Citizen staffer Jamie Jones sings the praises of the downtown Dalton Burger Chef, once a mere block from this newspaper office. “Best hamburger in town” confirms another Daltonian, May Englebert.
Jamie also recalls his glory days at Bry-Man’s Plaza, when a Saturday afternoon with buddies consisted of too many hours blasting Space Invaders at Funway, scarfing pizza at Godfather’s and slurping ice cream at Kay’s Kastle for dessert.
None of those fine establishments survive here today.
(Another Daily Citizen staffer bemoans the passing of Paper Dolls, but he asked me not use his name.)
I had my own doomed favorites in Summerville.
McGinnis Drug and Jackson Drug were across the street from each other.
Jackson Drug had a great comic book stand and one Tuesday a month all the new Marvel comics would magically appear. At the time they were only a quarter apiece, so a begged dollar and three hard-earned pennies netted me four comics.
McGinnis Drug didn’t have comics, but they had something almost as wondrous, an ice cream fountain. Just like one in a Tab Hunter movie.
Both these superb establishments have since been crushed by the steamroller of modern commerce, in this case a chain pharmacy, which has neither comics nor an ice cream fountain.
For years Summervillians were denied the pleasure(?) of mass market fast food chains. One of the first to finally roll into town was Jack’s.
Good stuff.
The Big Jack burger was a quality slab of meat and they made a mean shake.
Eventually Jack’s failed and reopened as a Dairy Queen. (A Dairy King had already tanked in another location, as had a Maryland Fried Chicken.)
Dairy Queen sold a lot of ice cream, but not much else and eventually succumbed. The building now houses an insurance company. Can’t imagine they make a good milk shake.
Although I am not a native Daltonian I joined with many of you in mourning the loss of Lizzi’s Deli last year. The wings were terrific and once, many years ago, I may have had a beer or two in there.
Anyhow, what do you think? What local businesses — culinary and non-culinary — do you miss? Hundreds have come and gone, but which ones stir your memory and bring a smile to your face?
Call me at 706-272-7735 and leave your name and the name of the late, lamented business you still miss. Or e-mail me at jimmyespy@daltoncitizen.
Just don’t talk too much about Lizzi’s, that one makes me cry.

Jimmy Espy is executive editor of The Daily Citizen. He blogs at Espysoutpost .blogspot.com