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Maid-Rite's
Date: 12-03-2006
By: Tom J
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As a Hammond High student, I spent many a lunch period at the Maid-Rite restaurant across the street and a block north of the school. I'm going to guess that many of the readers of this post also have fond memories of Maid-Rite's. I dearly loved those loose meat cheeseburgers they served.
Those burgers, which consisted of that delicious loose meat concoction served on freshly steamed buns, the comraderie of fellow students, and that good old rock and roll music emanating from the juke box all contributed to the wonderful experience that lunch at Maid-Rite's truly was.
I left Hammond in 1973, and I don't know when Maid-Rite's shut down, but it is very sad that they are no longer in business.
I thought our Hammond Maid-Rite was the only Maid-Rite restaurant, but I learned only about a year and a half ago that there is a Maid-Rite franchise. I was overjoyed to learn this, and I called the franchise headquarters to find the location of the nearest Maid-Rite to my home in Kentucky.
When I told the lady at the franchise office how much I enjoyed my lunches at the Hammond Maid-Rite during my high school days, she told me that there had never been an officially sanctioned Maid-Rite in Hammond. She said that our Maid-Rite must have been one of the many copy-cat establishments. Oh well, those were the best burgers I have ever had, whether our Maid-Rite was part of the franchise or not.
The franchise changed hands several years ago, so maybe our Maid-Rite really was an official one under the prior franchise ownership?
I learned that the nearest Maid-Rite to my home would be the one in Springfield, IL. This was very good news, because I go to a location within 30 miles of Springfield on business occasionally. I could hardly wait until my next trip up there!
I got my chance this past summer. After waiting 39 years, I finally had some Maid-Rite cheeseburgers! They were delicious. Too much time had passed for me to remember exactly how they tasted during my high school days, but the burgers I had in Springfield certainly tasted like I thought they should.
If you are passing anywhere near Springfield, IL, you owe it to yourself to go to the corner of N. Pasfield and Jefferson, right in the middle of town, and visit the Maid-Rite restaurant. Be advised, they close at 5:00 PM.
The Springfield Maid-Rite is registered as a National Historic Place. It is purported to be the home of America's first fast food drive-thru, and it is located on historic Route 66.
Give Sam Quaisi, the owner and operator, a call a couple days in advance, and he will freeze some of those burgers for you to take home with you. 217-523-0723. You can also call and place an order for frozen burgers to be shipped to you, but the shipping cost for overnight delivery makes the burgers very expensive.
Below are some pictures I took during my Maid-Rite visit on June 20, 2006.
Tom
[IMG]http://i4.photobucket.com/albums/y145/tsjay/Maid%20Rite/WebP6200024.jpg[/IMG]
[IMG]http://i4.photobucket.com/albums/y145/tsjay/Maid%20Rite/WebP6190004.jpg[/IMG]
[IMG]http://i4.photobucket.com/albums/y145/tsjay/Maid%20Rite/WebP6190006.jpg[/IMG]
[IMG]http://i4.photobucket.com/albums/y145/tsjay/Maid%20Rite/WebP6200017.jpg[/IMG]
[IMG]http://i4.photobucket.com/albums/y145/tsjay/Maid%20Rite/WebP6200020.jpg[/IMG]
Hammond High Class of 1967 |
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