Chains- Damn em ta hell

CHAINS - DAMN EM TA HELL

Biggest restaurant changes in last 35 years…

Sloppy dress…Unruly kids...Non smoking…Obesity...Celeb chefs…Finger food…Raw food…Fancy pizzas…$3 Bottle water…$5 coffee…and CHAINS.

Back in my long ago there were none here...then along came HoJos.

  

   Back when quarterbacks called their own plays, presidents wrote their own speeches, and ham steak with pineapple ring was on every menu, usetabe every food joint was somebody’s mom and pop. Only time you used the word “Chain” in a sentence was to describe fences, bikes and pervy sexual positions. Cruise the 2-lane main drag back in the day and you knew who was who.

Lotta joints had their own names blinkin…

Lee’s, Oliver’s, Raimondo’s, Lloyd’s, Floyd’s, Christy’s, Cluie’s, Eyerly’s, Haley’s, Larry’s, Harrell’s, Hare’s, Tony’s, Vereens, Selvey’s, Morse’s, Moody’s,

From my open car window, going sixty, I could rattle off the names of the other owners as they neon’d by. They were all legends of the summer. The pioneers who came in loaded-down sedans. The ones who created from nothing. The ones with the balls to throw all their chips in one pot. All gone to the dining room in the sky.

Charlie Kordas at Seven Seas

George Anthony at Mayflower

Tony Carnaggio at Tony’s

Capt Juel’s at The Hurricane

Louie Achilles at the Broadway

Wimpy Anderson at Aunt Maude’s,

Tony Coury at the Rip Tide

Charles Fleishman at White Heron

Chris Moshures at Excel & Mammy’s Kitchen

Warren Cromley at Rice Planter’s

Sam Diminich at Roma

Eli Saleeby at Brass Rail

Johnny Burroughs at Peaches Corner

Sammy Vereen at Wayside

John Loud at Clipper Ship

Alex Karetas at Seaside

Spero Bogache at Ocean View

Cooter Jennings at Sloppy Joes and the Bowery,

Papa Chris at Mammy’s

Chris Drosas at The Colony

Lee Letts at the Pink House

Lattie Upchurch at Outrigger

Tony Thompson at Kozy Korner

   Now, goin sixty, your eyes blur with same-ification. One chain after the other on every highway. When did unique become bad, same good? 

Health Food

Stopped by the Health Food Store today waiting for my wife to stock up on some Vitamin D3. While I waited I ogled my time away watchin unhealthy, weirdly-garbed, sandle'd people seeking the fountain of youth with Vitamins A thru Z. They were being  tumerac'd, ginger'd, fish oiled, wheatgerm'd, zinc'd, selenium'd and horse chestnut'd.

All I could think of is... just come to our restaurant and have a healthy cut of salmon, side of asparagus and a glass of heart-healthy red. Or say f-k it and have a NY Strip topped with crabmeat and béarnaise sauce and a dirty martini.

Vitamins A thru Z ain't gonna keep us from dying.

Thanks for the memories

Wanted to take a moment to thank you for all the heartfelt notes, calls and personal visits  you've shared about Cagney's. Means the world to know it was a special place to work and dine for so many of you. It certainly was a special place for us.

Here's an interesting note.
In 1974, we bought the stained glass after they demolished the Red Springs, NC Baptist Church (built in 1911). Two years later we re-assembled a beautiful window which fronted the entrance to our Cagney's kitchen. A month ago, one of the members of the old church approached us to buy the window back. they wanted to build a special spot in the new church and back light it.

The gorgeous window has returned to it's original home!

Life goes on...
Thanks again for your friendship and memories.
Your old busboy/sweeper
Dino Thompson

Since Cagney's has closed my partner and I have had the pleasure of serving many of  Cagney's regulars at our sister restaurant, THE FLAMINGO SEAFOOD GRILL.
For 30-some years my partner and I took turns working one night at Cagney's, the next night at Flamingo Grill.

No we both work every night at Flamingo Grill.
We've been "business dating" for 37 years, now we're married.

DOES A NAME MAKE A DAMN?

I’ve had mighty tasty meals in joints with names like…

Black Cat, Chicken Shak, Donut Diner, Forks, Eats, Grubbs, Mammy’s, Punk’s Place, Hook’s, Hoar House, Skeeters, Sloppy Joe’s, Terminal café , Bearded Clam, Knife & Fork, Three-Spot Grill, Chat n Chew, Whistling Pig.

   And not-so-tasty meals in tight-ass tablecloth joints with names like Le Bon Repas, Bon Appetit,
Le Belle Cuisine, Auberge du Soleil, Legends, Par Excellence, Paradise, Parthenon, Penthouse, Pinnacle, Primo’s, Top of the World and House of Good Food.        

   So what’s in a name? Does a nifty moniker guarantee success or insure flopdom?

• Would Cary Grant have made it big as Archibald Leach? Roy Rogers as Leonard Slye? Ice-T as Tracy Morrow, Francis Gumm as Judy Garland? Muddy Waters as McKinley Morgenfield? I don’t tink toe Buckwheat.
• I mean how much 7-Up was sold before they nixed the original name, Lithiated Lemon? Trader Vic’s was first called Hinky Dinks.
• Couldn’t give a piece of Pantagonian toothfish away til they renamed it Chilean Sea Bass.
• Rose’ wine was dead as Nehru suits before they called it blush.
• Order snow crab and you might get toad crab, just as good but not such a euphonious appellation.
• Lake trout ain’t trout and has never been near a lake, it’s silver hake from the ocean. Orange roughy useta be call slime head.
• How many hifulters could actually fork a mouthful of pig thymus glands into their mouth if some clever cook hadn’t re-named it sweetbreads?
• Order marsh rabbit in Baltimore and you’re gonna get muskrat.
• I ordered spotted dick in Europe just to hear myself say it and I always picked Drop-Your-Drawers-and-Run chili at a local cook-off.
• How many shirts would you wear with Ralph Lifshitz logo’d on the front?

Lifshitz is Ralphee Lauren’s real name.

Slowly Emptying Cagneys

We've started moving things out of Cagney's. Every item, every piece of woodwork has its own unique story.

Lamps, barber poles, animal heads all seem to be sayin..."Hey, where you takin us? This is our home." I keep apologizing to inanimate objects.

From Dino Thompson
It's been a couple months since we dimmed the stain glass lights at Cagney's.
We're trying to get past it, but certainly not over it.  First I want to thank all our friends who so generously shared their thoughts, memories and sadness about Cagney's closing. It's been a tough emotional ride because it was such a huge part of our creative lives and our joy of serving others.

And of course a galaxy of heartaches to leave behind such a wonderful group of men and women. What an honor and privilege to have worked with so many fine and decent young people, many of whom blossomed into extraordinary men and women along side us. It's been a joyous ride to be a part of their lives.

Come see us at Flamingo Grill...We're still dedicated to putting a tasty smile into your evening and experiencing the joy of being of service to others and seeing friends.