A "Royal" Portion of My Childhood...At Kings

I don't do the Chipotle's of the world. Not that there is anything wrong with those types of establishments, I was just raised differently. My parents liked to eat out. They didn't go to movies, bowl, or have card games. Going out to restaurants was their enjoyment, and when I came along it was something that they shared with me. They weren't big on fast food, but rather being served in a clean and pleasant atmosphere. Family restaurants were big then, and while Pittsburgh had its share of local, regional, and national chains, our standby was always Kings.

Kings has been back in the Pittsburgh news as of late, as founder Hartley King has finally found a buyer for the chain following a long search. A California firm is slated to take over the thirty-odd restaurants in the near future. The "Frownie Brownie" (a dessert designed to oppose rival chain Eat 'n Park's "Smiley Cookie") is said to be the first casualty following the takeover, with some menu changes and in-store remodeling to follow. Fortunately, my memories of Kings are from before the "Frownie" era of the restaurant chain.

When I was a toddler, my mother would walk us down to our local Kings Family Restaurant on nice afternoons. It wasn't very far from our townhouse, and at the time we were a one-car family. The staff all got to know me, and for the better part of fifteen years, I grew up in that building. As I aged, the waitresses would always comment that they recalled when I was being carried into the place. I was a well-behaved kid, though I do remember throwing a fit the evening that, shortly after recovering from some sort of childhood ailment, my mom would not let me order what I was craving. I also remember the night that the restaurant received a shipment of moldy hamburger buns. Screams and panic ensued as the management went to check on each table. The buns were slowly discovered and, aside from my own mother ingesting a portion of one, it became almost like a sitcom plot. I think that our meal was free that night. And for you wrestling fans, it was an early 1993 evening in that restaurant when my dad informed me that both Kerry Von Erich and Dino Bravo had recently passed away.

If anything, most Pittsburgers probably remember the old menus. Instead of a folding paper/plastic menu, all of your options were on the placemat in front of you. Kids received a separate placemat featuring all of the kiddie choices. Admittedly, I got to know the grown-up meals a lot earlier than most kids. I was a growing boy!

But if the food wasn't good, I wouldn't have many memories to begin with. Fried clams, a breakfast sandwich known as the "Eggel Bagel," chicken burgers, and of course their legendary soups were some of my favorites. Even my grandmother, a recluse by the time that I was born, once commented to me how good the soups were at Kings. How did she know?

By the mid-'90s, we had noticed that the quality of the chain had dipped. We weren't the only ones. Our favorite staff members started to depart, and my family began going to a local family-owned restaurant over the formerly dependable chain. Although my parents continued to go for breakfast, I could probably count on one hand how many times I went back from roughly 1998-2008.

Once again living very close to that location that I "grew up in," I still stop in for a bite. It's nothing fancy, but that's never what I've looked for in a restaurant. I was raised to appreciate good service and quality. In the past year or so, some menu additions for the chain have struck me as odd. "Artisan" sandwiches have been a main feature, with the famous aforementioned "Eggel Bagel" being wiped off the menu. It's my hope that the new ownership realizes what the clientele, families and senior citizens by-and-large, want what they are familiar with. Solid, traditional, homestyle foods. Comfort food. Not..."just exactly what is this?" food.

My family enjoyed other establishments such as Pappan's and Eat 'n Park, as well as national names like Denny's and Bob Evans, but we always came back to Kings. Apple pie and cinnamon ice cream? A Kings staple and an occasional treat for me, but I'd rather have another bowl of beef vegetable soup...

Leaving up the Lights: Old World or White Trash?

By this time of the new year, most everybody who had Christmas lights up has finally taken them down. Maybe. For the first week of the year, leaving them up feels like an easy way to extend the festive feelings of the holiday season.  The ham, peppermint sticks, presents, and egg nog may be gone, but the feelings remain.  By the second week, leaving them up feels like an awesome way of putting off the inevitable--dragging out the boxes and sending the decorations back to wherever they reside for the majority of the year.

As a child, I don't recall a January without Christmas lights and/or decorations.  My mom would say that we were leaving them up for "Russian Christmas."  We did have that ancestry, and although we didn't celebrate as we did on December 25th, I did get an idea of what the Orthodox Christmas meant.  There's a segment in Rick Sebak's documentary "Happy Holidays in Pittsburgh" (a great special for anyone in or out of The Burgh) where a woman with a large menagerie of Christmas lights utters the same "Russian Christmas" statement.  Apparently we weren't the only ones who went that route!

It wasn't until I grew older that I learned of the unfortunate "white trash" stigma of leaving lights up.  Sure, we can all picture the slightly run-down house with Billy Bob outside in his torn jeans and dirty shirt, waiting to come indoors when the electric icicles light up.  Nevertheless, I think that in recent years, movies and other media with a negative connotation have blown this into a way bigger concept than it actually is.  After all, so-called "ugly" Christmas sweaters weren't labeled as such while I was growing up, either, but that's a rant best saved for next Christmas.  Stereotypes may be based in truth, but I think that this is one that is really undeserved.

Now that we"re almost a full month into the new year, even a Christmas fanatic such as myself can safely admit that it's time for the lighted reindeer and inflatable Frosty to come down.  If they were up all year, what fun would it be to unveil them again next Thanksgiving weekend?  As for the trees and indoor knickknacks? You have a little while yet.  They can't judge what they can't see!