a couple of places in Indiana

[CBStew]

When I was a kid there were two places that my father would drive us to from the Northwest side into the great State of Indiana, now famous for being the home of the Great Mike Pence.  One was Phil Smidt's Restaurant. which in those days was "all you can eat", and the other was an ice cream place called Schol's, either in Hammond or Gary.  Does anyone remember these?

[flannj]

When I was a kid there were two places that my father would drive us to from the Northwest side into the great State of Indiana, now famous for being the home of the Great Mike Pence.  One was Phil Smidt's Restaurant. which in those days was "all you can eat", and the other was an ice cream place called Schol's, either in Hammond or Gary.  Does anyone remember these?

Frog legs and perch at Phil Smidt's.
Hell yes I remember it Stew. Several late lunches after the markets closed with a martini or 5.

[CBStew]

When I was a kid there were two places that my father would drive us to from the Northwest side into the great State of Indiana, now famous for being the home of the Great Mike Pence.  One was Phil Smidt's Restaurant. which in those days was "all you can eat", and the other was an ice cream place called Schol's, either in Hammond or Gary.  Does anyone remember these?

Frog legs and perch at Phil Smidt's.
Hell yes I remember it Stew. Several late lunches after the markets closed with a martini or 5.

Those were frog's legs?  My parents told me it was fried chicken!

[Tonker]

When I was a kid there were two places that my father would drive us to from the Northwest side into the great State of Indiana, now famous for being the home of the Great Mike Pence.  One was Phil Smidt's Restaurant. which in those days was "all you can eat", and the other was an ice cream place called Schol's, either in Hammond or Gary.  Does anyone remember these?

Frog legs and perch at Phil Smidt's.
Hell yes I remember it Stew. Several late lunches after the markets closed with a martini or 5.

Those were frog's legs?  My parents told me it was fried chicken!

Chicken of the pond.

[CBStew]

When I was a kid there were two places that my father would drive us to from the Northwest side into the great State of Indiana, now famous for being the home of the Great Mike Pence.  One was Phil Smidt's Restaurant. which in those days was "all you can eat", and the other was an ice cream place called Schol's, either in Hammond or Gary.  Does anyone remember these?

Frog legs and perch at Phil Smidt's.
Hell yes I remember it Stew. Several late lunches after the markets closed with a martini or 5.

Those were frog's legs?  My parents told me it was fried chicken!

Chicken of the pond.

This is going to be a typical Cubbieblue post.  My family moved from Chicago to San Francisco in 1949.  That was a time when there were still a few restaurants left over from the era between the 1906 Earthquake (if I were really a San Franciscan I would have said "The Fire") and the Depression.  One such place was "The Poodle Dog", which was a corruption of "The Poule D'or", or the Golden Hen.  ("Poule" is also slang for "prostitute".)  Anyway, that is where I was introduced to frog's legs and escargot.  My grandparents were not Kosher, but I am sure that they would have recoiled at their descendants eating amphibians and garden pests.  When I think of French cuisine I think "haute cuisine".  How is it then that they gave us things to eat that are so repulsive? 
One old place is still around, but it is old timey, not French.  John's Grill on Ellis Street near Market.  Read Dashiel Hammet's "The Maltese Falcon", when Sam Spade takes time out from looking for the murderer of his partner, Miles Archer, to have a lunch of lamb chops and tomatoes at John's Grill.  When you come to San Francisco, by all means go to John's Grill.  You will see the statuette of the Maltese Falcon from the 1940 movie. 

[Tony]

Phil Smidt's was awesome. I won't go into detail about family drama, but after my grandma died my brother and I were given the opportunity to take some stuff from her condo as a bullshit way or making up for not getting anything of actual value. The only thing I took was an old Phil Smidt's coffee mug.

I haven't had frog legs in a long time. That needs to change.

Also, I second everything Stew said about John's grill.