Once again, Happy Monday. I LOVE Mondays! They’re my 52 Chances a year, in which I get to share Memories of My Mom with you.
While there isn’t an official Big Boy Birthday Week, many Big Boy restaurants often have special offers and events during the week leading up to and including June 15th, which is Big Boy’s birthday (aka: National Big Boy Day).
As I mentioned, in last week’s blog post, Big Boy Restaurants were among Mom and Dad’s favorite noshing spots – no matter where they traveled, they knew they could depend on a Big Boy restaurant for great food and friendly service.
Mom has 111 Big Boy recipe imitations listed in her Master Index (B), of which I’ve shared a mere “baker’s dozen”, so far, in blog posts and on the Recipes tab. Today’s blog post is dedicated to Mom’s (and Dad’s) love for a national symbol of Americana, an icon in the food industry – Big Boy Restaurants.
FROM MOM’S MEMORIES…
As seen in…
Gloria Pitzer’s Secret Recipe Report (Secret Recipe Report, St. Clair, MI; Issue 84, December 1980; p. 7)
WHERE DOES THE RESTAURANT SLEUTH EAT?
EVERY TIME I TALK to a radio audience I am asked the same question – ‘What restaurant do YOU like to eat at?’ When we travel, we look for Big Boy Restaurants because we can depend on their prices, and I know the kids will be pleased.
At home, [without the kids] we frequent the Voyageur restaurant more than any other because it is consistently good, the owners are there to supervise the operation and, if they’re not, they’ve been there that day or will return later, before closing time.
[Also,] the quality is in keeping with the price and the view is relaxing – of the river and the freighters going up and down – something many folks travel to Sault Ste. Marie to see, and we have it in our own backyard.
MY FAMILY’S KIND OF PLACE
I remember being a member of the Big Boy Kids Club (aka: Big Boy Birthday Club) when I was young and getting a free kids meal for my birthday. I loved their comics and coloring books. When all of my children were young, I enrolled each one of them in the club, too.
When I left home, to be independent, my first job (besides the family business and babysitting) was as a “Salad Bar Prep” at a Big Boy, in Port Huron (MI). I never shared their salad recipes with Mom, she figured them out on her own. Years ago, Mom and Dad used to enjoy breakfast at their local Big Boy, in Marysville (MI), almost every day. Mom once said…
“In my next life, I’m going to eat nothing but Frango Mint Cookies, Sanders’ hot fudge sundaes, pizza and strawberry pie from Big Boy!” – Gloria Pitzer, Gloria Pitzer’s Cookbook – The Best of the Recipe Detective (Balboa Press; Jan. 2018, p. 217). [A revised reprint of Gloria Pitzer’s Better Cookery Cookbook (Secret RecipesTM, St. Clair, MI; May 1983, 3rd Edition)].
In honor, below is a re-share of her copycat recipe, for imitating “Strawberry Pie, Like Big Boy’s”. As always, I’m asking only for proper credit if you care to re-share it, again.
“AT THE BIG BOY RESTAURANT the other day, I overheard two apparently confirmed bachelors, discussing why they ate out all the time. One said to the other: ‘I had a cookbook once but I never could do anything with the recipes in it.’
‘Oh yeah?’, questioned his friend. ‘Too much fancy cooking in it for ya?’
‘No,’ he replied. But every recipe started out the same way… ‘Take a clean dish…’ and that finished it for me!’” – Gloria Pitzer, Gloria Pitzer’s Secret Recipe Report (Secret Recipe Report, St. Clair, MI; Volume 8, Number 6; Issue 90, June 1981; p. 5)
MORE FROM MOM’S MEMORIES…
As seen in…
The Secret Restaurant Recipes Book (National Homemakers Newsletter, Pearl Beach, MI; Jan. 1977, p. 5)
[BIG BOY…] YOU’RE MY KIND OF PLACE!
WHEN YOU TRAVEL in the company of very short persons, who want catchup on everything from hamburgers to table cloths, and must be within walking distance of a washroom, you must pick your restaurants carefully. There are times when I really wonder about our children.
They will turn down turkey at Thanksgiving for a hamburger and fries at Big Boy… Based on a long acquaintance with the dish and five kids who think happiness is one-to-go-with-everything, I have developed a special liking for the hamburger sauce that the Big Boy people put on their [Big Boy®] burgers.
Duplicating it wasn’t difficult when I was finally able to identify it [as] a good Thousand Island dressing. The Big Mac® “special [sauce]” is much like the Big Boy® hamburger sauce, with the exception of a few spices, I’m sure.
What makes the sauce a favorite is, again, the exceptionally talented people who advertise their products. But anybody who has ever tried to make a hamburger at home taste the way it does out, knows it can’t be done [exactly].
So the trick is to cover it up with something that helps you forget you’re not being waited on in a place where somebody else clears off the table and does the dishes. It’s really the sauce…
AGAIN, MORE FROM MOM’S MEMORIES…
As seen in…
Gloria Pitzer’s Secret Fast Food Recipes (Secret RecipesTM, St. Clair, MI; March 1985, p. 39)
THE BIG BOY TRADEMARK IS BEING REPLACED!
IMITATION IS WORTH the attention we are willing to give it, simply because the food industry is constantly changing. Very few companies within the field have retained their original logo or trademarks or identifying signs.
Recently, Bob’s Big Boy (based in California) announced that the chubby little kid in the checkered overalls would be replaced with another trademark symbol. The full information about this pioneering franchise food company was originally published in our “Book 1” [revised edition] – dated February 1981.
For the sake of memories – and a little for the sake of history, too – I have reprinted that information [here]… ROBERT C. WIAN Enterprises, Inc., of Glendale, California, founded the “The Big Boy” restaurant chain. Over 1,100 Big Boy units were in operation in 45 states, Canada, and Japan as of February 1981.
For over 45 years, this food chain has been making history in the food industry. When Depression-Era entrepreneur, Bob Wian, started his own restaurant, he was content to keep things “local” and conventional.
As the legend goes, he attempted to please customers at every turn and, being imaginative as well as consumer conscience, he came up with the notion of slicing a burger bun [horizontally] twice so that two meat patties would fit into it.
The double-decker hamburger was probably Bob Wian’s personal creation, for it [was invented] long before McDonald’s “Big Mac” was even a gleam in the eye of its founder, Ray Kroc.
Bob Wian had four rules to be followed in his company: “Serve the best food… At moderate prices… In spotless surroundings… With courtesy and hospitality.”
In Colorado, the Big Boy chain is called “Azar’s”. In West Virginia they run as “Elby’s”. In the northeast, “Shoney’s” is the name. The “J.N.’s” are in Kansas. In Alaska, they are only called “Big Boy”. But, in Michigan and parts of Ontario, Canada they are known as Elias Brother’s Big Boy.
In Ohio, “Frisch’s” is the name over the Big Boy restaurants. Twenty companies make up the Big Boy Restaurants. It is now a division of Marriott. “Bob’s Pantry” was the 10-seat diner, home of the 10-cent cheeseburger, and the original “Bob’s Pantry” is pictured [above].
They like to hire teenagers, today, who have no pre-conceived notions about the restaurant business so that they can be trained form the beginning by Big Boy. Some of their top executives, today, started as dishwashers or busboys, themselves.
Menus will vary a little, depending on the location and ownership supervisor. You’ll note [as I did] there is a big difference between the tartar sauce served in Ohio and that of the Michigan restaurants, which causes some of our readers to write and complain that the recipe I have published is NOT like the tartar sauce they were served.
[As of 1985…] The Marysville [MI] Big Boy was recently owned by the Mourad Brothers – with another Big Boy on Cooley Lake Road in Union Lake and one on East Grand River in Howell [MI] – the ingenuity used in presenting their salad bar selections indicates that there is a good deal of liberty exercised among the 20 companies.
The original slanted roof unit used some 25 or 30 years ago [circa 1955-1960] by the Big Boy restaurants can still be visited at East Lansing [MI] on Stadium Road and also in Torrance [CA] on Hawthorn Blvd. Paul and I have been to both and it’s like stepping back into a time when we were younger – a nice experience.
ONCE MORE, FROM MOM’S MEMORIES…
As seen in…
Eating Out at Home (National Home News, St. Clair, MI; September 1978, p. 12)
[FOOD FOR THOUGHT]
FOR THE FIRST TIME, the entire system is co-opting advertising dollars nationally, the only difference being the franchisee of the operation (Elias in Michigan, Frisch’s in Ohio, Bob’s in California, etc.).
Even if the owners of the former Dixie Drive-Ins had not been granted the Big Boy franchise in Michigan by California’s Bob Wian, in 1951, chances are they would’ve been extremely successful [anyway].
Probably the biggest single reason for Elias Brothers’ success is their commissary – a warehouse operation that sells more than 95% of the food, equipment, and supplies needed by its 172 Big Boy operations in addition to three experimental Fast Freddy’s, the Pontiac Silverdome, and the Michigan International Speedway.
No other restaurant chain has a similar system for providing its outlets with the goods necessary to maintain quality, consistency, and reasonable prices.
LAST THOUGHTS…
Thanks for visiting! I hope you’ve enjoyed reading about my memories of my mom, her memories, and other related things. If you have any questions or comments, feel free to email me at therecipedetective@outlook.com. You can also find me on Facebook: @TheRecipeDetective.
IN CLOSING…
In honor of Big Boy’s Birthday Week celebration and Sunday, being National Big Boy Day, here’s Mom’s secret recipe for imitating what she called “Big Ploy’s Garlic Bread”; as seen in… Gloria Pitzer’s Cookbook – The Best of the Recipe Detective (Balboa Press; Jan. 2018, p. 161). [A revised reprint of Gloria Pitzer’s Better Cookery Cookbook (Secret RecipesTM, St. Clair, MI; May 1983, 3rd Edition)]. As always, I’m asking only for proper credit if you care to re-share it.
P.S. Food-for-thought until next Monday…
June observes… National Fresh Fruit and Vegetables Month, National Candy Month, National Camping Month, National Caribbean American Month, National Country Cooking Month, National Dairy Month, National Great Outdoors Month, National Iced Tea Month, National Papaya Month, National Soul Food Month, and National Rose Month – among other things.
Today is also… National Strawberry Rhubarb Pie Day. Plus, as the second Monday of June (for five days), it’s also the start of… National Business Etiquette Week (9th-13th, for 2025).
Tomorrow is… National Egg Roll Day, National Iced Tea Day, National Black Cow Day, and National Herbs and Spices Day.
Wednesday, June 11th, is… National Corn on the Cob Day and National German Chocolate Cake Day.
Thursday, June 12th, is… National Jerky Day and National Peanut Butter Cookie Day.
Friday, June 13th, is… National Kitchen Klutzes of America Day, National Weed Your Garden Day, and National Sewing Machine Day.
June 14th, is… National Strawberry Shortcake Day, National Flag Day, National Bourbon Day, and National New Mexico Day. Plus, as the second Saturday in June (for 2025), it’s also… National Rosé Day.
June 15th, is… National Smile Power Day and Nature Photography Day. Plus, as the third Sunday in June (for 2025), it’s also Father’s Day and Turkey Lovers’ Day (and it’s National Turkey Lovers Month, too).
Have a great week!
…23 down and 29 to go!
