New Sizzler in Fremont!

Epicurean Exploits - Food and Recipes
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Gawd, haven’t been to a Sizzler in years; what a Throwback Thursday!

Along similar lines, has anyone ever ventured into a Golden Corral? They seem to spend a lot of $$$ on TV ads for a chain that sells cheap-ish eats.

Bruce

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THREAD DRIFT ALERT!

Ha! You should be around for some of the family discussions we have.

I once went through a detailed description of the house and yard from my paternal grandmother’s place who passed away when I was 3 and a half years old (both grandfathers were already gone at this point). Mother kept telling me how I was wrong about this, that, and the other. Each time she did Pop - wide eyed and clearly taken a bit aback - would shake his head and day, “No. He’s right.” Oddly enough though I have only one memory of her herself, that of her laying corpse in the funeral home (Pop took me in alone to ‘say goodbye’ - that is another story altogether as things did NOT go as he expected). I simply was not around her. At first because I was supposed to leave the adults alone, then later because she was hospitalized and I was not allowed in the room (hospital policy prohibited anyone under about 5 or so from visiting). I remember the hospital lobby in pretty vivid detail, though, having spent many an hour there.

My earliest confirmed memory is from about age 18 months. There are others that could be earlier or later. Hard to pin them to specific dates.

All this memory and for some reason I simply cannot manage to remember people’s names. [swearing.gif] How I’ve tried to master that ability! Every mnemonic trick and technique for name recollection has thus far not been successful.

Back on topic, as long as there are people looking to stretch their dollars there will be a market for places like Sizzler and Golden Corral.

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Hey Bruce…Golden Corral opened two stores recently in Las Vegas. They were here long ago but exited the market. I’ve eaten in the one in St. George, Utah. The breakfast is ok, a buffet with eggs, etc. In Vegas, they are pitching shrimp night and steak night. Don’t imagine it is very good, but it’s all you can eat, so a good way to fill up the family.

Cracker Barrel also opened two stores recently in Vegas. Can Waffle House be far behind? Chick-fil-A is also opening a bunch of stores this month.

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Those are damned close to the originals!

But that drainage pattern is seared into my brain.

Oh! The memories of a cheap serrated knife grating against those metal plates!

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Close as I could get, the real ones were always kind of faded from being washed a thousand times. Here in Texas it was Bonaza, big deal to be in the big city and eat there.

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I surrender!

My Google-Fu is strong, but I cannot locate any photos of the inside of any of the places (REALLY wanted to find one of the serving line and kitchen). I can find buildings, plates, cups, etc. but no interior shots of a Bonanza, Ponderosa, Sizzler, Sizzlin, or Western Sizzlin from back in the day. I can’t begin to imagine the number of photos I have checked at this point.

This is the closest I can find. It is from 1978, so includes more than a few changes to the original place. Still, it gives the feel.

- YouTube

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Sizzler was a favorite of the junior cycling team I was on while high school. We’d be 6-8 teenagers who just burned about 5-7,000 calories riding or racing our bikes, in addition to what normal teenage boys burn, descending into what would be hell for our server and I’m sure the bottom line on their profits for the day. We could pretty much totally clean the place out of all hot food a few times over. By the 5th or 6th new plate the waiter/waitress would eventually make some comment about how much we could eat. We’d just tell them to keep the plates coming. It was not uncommon for each of us to go through 6-8 heaping plates of food each.

We would look for a Sizzler wherever we traveled simply as it was the only place that was cost effective to feed us when in full-bore training and racing mode.

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We did much the same thing when the concept of the all you can eat pizza buffet hit the market. They literally could not keep anything out for service as we ate everything they could make as fast as they could make it. If we had more than 4-5 guys they would almost cry when we walked in.

I once demonstrated my patented “No Touch Table Top Speed Pizza Grab” for the nieces and nephew. They were seriously impressed. This was a technique I developed to take my plate, slide it under at least two pizza slices, and with a wrist flip snap the slices up off the pan an onto the plate the instant the pizza hit the table. With our crew this was an essential skill if I was to get anything to eat for at least half an hour.

This was before the Great Pizza Shrinking. What is called a Large pizza today was smaller than a Medium pizza back in the day. It was not uncommon for one teenage male to consume a minimum of one large pizza, often more. Plus beverage in like quantity.

Lord, how I wish I burned calories today at the same rate!

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Early 90’s for the all-you-can-eat shrimp win. We’d go in with 4-6 guys and wreck the place. Best tally (including the bread) was 106 shrimp. Pretty sure my colon is still recovering…

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In Japan, close to where I lived, there was an all you can eat Korean Barbecue where you grilled yourself. Once the Americans discovered it, they could eat many times what a local Japanese could. They had to place a time limit of 90 minutes. One can still cook and eat a lot in 90 minutes!

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I used to work next door to that Sizzler. It was a Hungry Hunter several years ago. That bring back a lot of memories.

We used to gorge on the all-you-can-eat shrimp at the Sizzler in the late 80’s-early 90’s. The bet was that the person who consumed the most shrimp did not have to pay for dinner.

We also used to frequent Cattlemens when I went to school in Davis. That was a great way to have a 7000 calorie meal for a little over $10!

Thanks,
Ed

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That’s gotta hurt…

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Well done.

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Only till you get to the well done stage [wow.gif]

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Actually, it’s a rare occurrence.

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It’s how i was raised. WTF am I doing to my kids, 6th grade excessible ballin, berserker-style :slight_smile:.
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Alan Rath wrote:

Eric Ifune wrote:there was an all you can eat Korean Barbecue where you grilled yourself

That’s gotta hurt…
Only till you get to the well done stage > [wow.gif]

Personally, I always stopped well short of well done. [snort.gif]

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Back in the day when we were racing Karts on the local sporty car track, one of the racers lived in the town where the incorrigible youths were housed. He worked out a deal where those on good behavior were invited as a reward to help out as corner workers with their supervisors. On the return trip they were all treated to an all you can eat at a North’s Chuck Wagon which was a very “Big Deal”. On one of the excursions, a youth decided to pay a visit to his lady friend living in town. That pretty much ruined any future trips to the track and the Chuck Wagon. I’m sure that ungrateful kid got the living steak beat out of him by his hungry buddies.