Farrell's Re-Visited

I know that i've enthralled all of you with stories of the Farrell's of old. You know, that place where I met your Mom, and on account of that, you folks actually exist! So not insignificant.

Farrell's of the era where your mom was there, and a lot of my friends was owned by a group of local people, with the overall company by the founder Bob Farrell. Well, after a time, the whole kit and kaboodle was sold to the hotel chain Marriott. Bad fit. Under that management, and penny pinching that the chain folded and was extinct for decades.

A new owner in California decided to rekindle the brand and so a few stores opened in Southern California. They have the name, many of the traditional trappings, and they are working hard to make the chain viable again. They even had some help from a CNBC show that works to help companies make profits.

So that's the background.

This weekend while on a trip to said Southern California, I had time to visit one of the stores.  It looked very much like the hayday of Farrels of old. Some differences were noted.

• The waitresses don't wear the skirts and colored garters anymore. Black Slacks instead.
• The waitresses do now wear the 20's hats, something that only the guys used to wear.
• There are many more variations of the Happy Birthday, Adams Family themed, that Spanish Macarena deal that was viral a few years ago and more. Several birthday announcements while I was there, and no two songs were the same. 
• No cashier, you get the check in those little folders to give to the waitress.
• The fountain guys pour wine. Wine is new to the restaurant.

I had a Sarsaparilla instead of a root beer, and a "Bob's Burger". Pretty close to my standard choice back when I was sparking your mom.  Burger was good. Fries were average.

I decided to splurge for dessert, after all it's an Ice Cream themed place, and figured what I remembered as a small sundae, I ordered the Hot Fudge Sundae. It was huge, and different. In the bygone days, you;d get the ice cream with a metal cup of fudge to top the ice cream as you went. And it was a 'normal' sized sundae. Here, I got the ice cream, fudge, a hefty portion of whip, nuts and a cherry all in a super-double glass. It was a very big sundae. Not a super sized Pig Trough (Double Banana split), a Mount Saint Helens (used to be Rainier), or a zoo, but pretty big. I made it. 

All in all, a nice trip down memory lane.

Dad