The Padd. Locally owned burger joint. Damn good burgers.
A&W. Left Topeka in the early 80's and I still miss it.

In Louisiana, we had a chain that was not only in Louisiana, Sambo's (it was shut down long time ago), can't forget whataburger

growing up in a small town we had a variety of little resturants and diners. schoonovers cafe was a staple for years. others i remember were bammer's cafe, ray's country kitchen, the duck inn, and mace & mary's snack bar.

Now that you mention it, I believe they did. They were primarily in the Omaha/Lincoln, NE area, but I seem to remember one on 50 Highway in Raytown. I remember when we used to visit my grandparents in Nebraska, we used to always go there for my birthday. They would bring you out a little cake with the trick candles on it. There was one on the I-80 interchange near Greenwood, NE (Alvo Road). It's been gone for years.

Is there still a mexican restaurant in KC called Jalisco's??? My relatives always take me there when i go, havent been in several years but i remember it being pretty good.

Anyone in KC remember a roast beef place a while ago called Rax? I think there was one on like 87th near Antioch or something. My parents used to go there all the time

Grand fortuna- had the best mongolian BBQ ever.
Stones BBQ- mom and pop type place from the old school. never had anything even close since.
Burger Station- local place there cheese burgers were salty and greasy and sick, they were great.

from when i was real young and up north. the A&W in Excelsior springs and the pizza joint w/ the clown painting that burned.

And the burger cafe type place downtown. My Grandfather took me there.

Rays?????

Sambo's was awesome.

Most of them have already been mentioned-

Shakey's Pizza - this was the only place my dad would take us for pizza for a long time.
Sambo's - there is still a Sambo's in Lincoln City, OR
the real A&W, with the phones at the booths and the drive-up

Also,

Arctic Circle - had really good shakes
Bob's Burgers - a chain in Oregon. Had my first real job there when I was 14
VIP's- a 24 hour sit down restaurant, like a Denny's. Great place to get breakfast at 1 AM.

Burger Chef was bought out by Hardees who was bought out by Carl's Jr. [while they still retain the Hardee's branding in established markets].
I remember when I worked at Hardee's in HS finding some ancient Burger Chef promotional materials and training tapes in the back of the store room.

Mmmmmm....

Hi-Boy.

:drool:

Sambos were styled similar to Dennys, but were their own franchise.
And the original Santa Barbara location is still operating, at least as recently as last year.
http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedi...5px-Sambos.jpg