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I recently made a trip to Quincy, Illinois for my class reunion.  I made sure that I ate at all the “classic” places that I ate at when growing up in Quincy, Illinois.  One of the places was Elder’s Family Restaurant.  Some Quincy people say that they are famous for their chicken.  However; I ended up ordering a hamburger and fries.  Was not bad tasting.

We also stopped off at Gem City Pizzeria.  Here I am eating pizza.

Picture of the pizza at Gem City Pizzeria.  My half is on the right hand side.

Stopped off at Kelly’s.  We had their famous salad bar that includes soups, pastries and more.

Last, but not least, is the Maid Rite Sandwich shop.  This is close to being one of the longest standing restaurants in Quincy, Illinois.  They have signs inside the restaurant that read “No Tipping”.  As long as I can remember, this has been their policy about not allowing tipping.  For most of the years, the dress code of the employees was simply blue jeans and white shirts for the guys.  I forget exactly what the women had to wear, but it was pretty simple or comparable to what the guys had to wear.  For most of the years you would see them wearing paper hats like they did back in the olden days.  The tables, chairs and surroundings are pretty much the same as when I was a child.  I took a friend here on my last trip and it was agreed that their milkshakes are one of the better ones.  I like the butterscotch the best.  A Maid Rite sandwich is sort of like a sloppy joe, but doesn’t have any sauce.  They sell these Maid Rites in a regular size and a super size.  These Maid Rite sandwiches are something that everyone should try at least once in a life time.

One time I was asked to bring home some Maid Rites to Omaha, Nebraska.  This was going to be an incredible mission.  I went to the front counter at Maid Rite and bought twelve Maid Rite sandwiches.  When I told the woman at the front counter what I was planning to do, she was very helpful.  I think she even double wrapped the sandwiches for me.  She also proceeded to tell me that there has been several people who have shipped the Maid Rites to other cities while they were on dry ice.  I wrapped the sandwiches in aluminum foil and put them in a cooler that had lots of ice which was put in plastic bags.  Then I drove to Omaha, Nebraska without hardly stopping much along the way.  I telephoned my cousin and told her to have the microwave ready.  I have told her that had twelve Maid Rites on life support and they needed to be eaten right away.  I think she enjoyed them when I handed them to her.

You can read another one of my blog entries by clicking here: Alton Brown came to visit the Maid Rite.