I have to admit, even as a Gen-X’r I love 50′s diners. I grew up in a small town where I caught the “tail end” of the diner era, just before fast food killed them. We used to have one on Richmond Road called Rockabilly Cafe and were regulars. It’s a simpler food, and, the retro theme breaks us out of the hotspot-entrenched digital world that we work in each day. But Rockabilly closed and the much more hip and modern Panera Bread Co. took over. Ah progress.
I always thought Rockabilly was busy, but their managers had accounting backgrounds and must have seen something different in the monthly receipts – after all, it’s very hard to run an independent restaurant. I would have paid more for my meal to keep the place going but I know most wouldn’t. I also like their other gig, the Common Grounds coffee shop, but that’s another post.
Lexington has the Parkette Drive-in, which maintains some of that flavor – but we also try to break out of the car culture a little when dining as a family, and frankly eating in the car ain’t quite the thrill when you’re in a mini-van. To sit around a chrome-edged table with a juke box playing, sipping milk shakes straight from the blender cup is much more fun.
Johnny Rockets seems to be a well-honed system that is typical of a mature franchise. The closest are in the Cincinnatti area and now there’s one at Newport on the Levee near the Aquarium. I am hoping that one will soon be in Lexington – perhaps downtown or near campus. There’s nothing like it now. All I know is that we’ll be there.
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I used to work at the RockABilly Cafe on Richmond road. I was very sad to see it gone. But having worked there, it was not so much management as it was the owners. The owners never listened to reason and would not listen to management.
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