Maid Rite and Family-Owned Joints

This evening I was watching Alton Brown’s “Feasting On Asphalt” Part II. In case you aren’t familiar, Feasting on Asphalt is a Food Network show in which Alton travels the back roads and small towns of America looking for little eateries, road food, family-owned restaurants and other joys of eating. I wouldn’t post this here if it weren’t that I think independent artists and independent cooks occupy some of the same landscape. Getting away from the freeway is a lot like getting away from the box stores. And in this case, it’s special to me.

In Part II, Alton decided to travel the length of the Mississippi River from New Orleans all the way to where it begins in Minnesota. I think this is wonderful - I have a lot of family who live somewhere along the Mississippi and indeed, they live or have lived all the way from the ‘Sippi Delta into Minnesota. The Mississippi holds a special place in my heart.

In the episode I was watching he got into Illinois and I was sort of hoping he’d stop some of the places I know. Much of my dad’s family lives in Illinois, and my mom’s family lives across the river in Iowa.

To my surprise, he DID stop somewhere I knew - Quincy, Illinois. My dad lived there. My extended family lives there. Uncles, half-aunts, great uncles and aunts, cousins, you name it. But most importantly, that’s where my grandmother lived while I was growing up. And my grandmother’s favorite restaurant was the Maid Rite - which is JUST where Alton stopped! I’ve BEEN to that Maid Rite a number of times. My grandmother always wanted to go there.

I’m sure my grandmother knew the people featured on the show, since they’d been working there for 30+ years. This Maid Rite, while a franchise, has been a locally-owned shop for 79 years, owned by the same family in fact. They bake their own pies. They mix their own sodas. They want things to be good and they like who they are. And while I’m pretty sure they wouldn’t really know what Etsy is, the truth is they have the same one-of-a-kind, entrepreneurial heart.

Update: Thanks to the someone that posted this segment on YouTube, so you can see what I’m talking about! My dad updates me that he’s been going there since before that waitress worked there. My dad tells me that when he was a kid he had a Maid Rite with ketchup and a strawberry shake with fries!

You Tube Clip - Alton’s Maid Rite Visit, Quincy, ILL