wasnt terribly impressed with their fries at first but now love 'em. can't have a double double without them.

Zingerman's has great tasting sandwiches, but you pay for them. Also, they are relatively new. The age and patina of the building gives the illusion that it is as old as the University. But, it didn't even exist when my sister attended U of M.

^^^Arguments from from the M&B contingent. You also hear that Zingerman’s is elitist, somehow.

If we didn’t argue about “important” things like french fries and deli sandwiches, what would do all day?

Politely discuss the use of colored LEDs?

I don’t know how often you go to Fort Worth but there is a place over there by the Navy base called Kincaid’s they have a really good hamburger. They are in a old grocery store and you order from like a old meat market counter. Haven’t been their in years but always stoped by there a few times when I was in the area working.

If your ever in Minnesota and have chance stop by the Lions Tap in Eden Prairie. All the serve is burgers fries and beer (soda and water to). Back in the day their clam was that there meat is never frozen always fresh.

...and mods.

I was wondering if Foster's Freeze might be extinct: they were a 2nd. fiddle @ El Pollo Loco locations in SoCal, until EPL cut them loose entirely, a year or two ago. That did not appear to be a good sign, and I haven't seen any trace of them around here since. The one I miss is the now vanished Baja Fresh -- back from when at least some of them were pretty good. (If you can believe online reviews to any degree, consistency among their locations was not a strong suit.) Better than most of their competitors, at least.

If any longtime Angelenos are reading this, can you remind me the name of the smaller but far superior taco / burrito chain that got bought up and then extinguished by Del Taco ? I believe it began with a "J" (something like 'Jalisco', maybe ?), and they had locations in The Valley. This could have gone down in the mid-80s or 90's ? Per news reports at the time, Del supposedly wanted some of their recipes, to which I say BS: they wanted those locations and those leases, and for a competitor to Go Away. Such are the realities of Business.

This has been teased as effectively as any peekaboo ad campaign, or the news story hinted at in the beginning of a news broadcast, but you just know they will barely manage to squeeze it in near the very end. The WORST is when you watch the whole half-hour or hour to catch said item, and they never did get to it -- which happens. (CNN does this, and not so infrequently, either.) Another reason why the DVR was a great invention !

Naugles.

While the Baja Fresh locations in Michigan all closed a few years ago, I ate at one a few weeks ago at McCarran Airport in Las Vegas (Delta Airlines terminal near the gate areas).
The Burrito Ultimo was just as good as I remember them from years ago. Only about $11.00 with a drink which is only $2.00 more than at the stand-alone locations a few years ago.

I think there are a few by their corporate office in Orange County.

"Nic's North American Hamburger Tour" (aka I'm coming to fix you burgers!)

I've played Eclipse (but I prefer Black Hole). Eclipse felt a bit too easy to me - and I'm not a good player.

I love mine. Great game and not as aggravating as black hole

Nic, do you have contact information?

Plan on flying into Fort Myers this spring and it would be nice to check out.

Mayor McCheese played out the end game where the Hamburglar lead to the downfall of the kiddie clown. What you do about it is of course up to you. Good luck with all the fish.

Pacific pinball museum? Hmm, would be a good fit.........
https://www.pacificpinball.org/

As would Seattle pinball museum.... http://www.seattlepinballmuseum.com/

Have to keep the discussion open at least until Friday.

Well might as well add one from Virginia then.
https://www.roanokepinball.org/

Definitely an eclectic collection with a few rare pins mixed in.
Not sure I really like the truly hodge podge arrangement of pins,
Something inside of me would want to shift them around to some other sort of order.
Wish I could have found a (inexpensive) building to permanently house my collection back in the day.

I am thinking Pinball Molly's @ Pins & Needles in So Cal.....???

Thanks for that. Could not recall the name, but I did remember it being rather good. I have a similar query for anyone who knew the La Mesa area well, circa 1975. [If Yelp or Urban Spoon or some site like that had a section for answering historical restaurant questions like this, I would inquire there, rather than going off-topic here. If you know of such a site, please let me know.]

In Post 1811, Mr. Bally wrote:
"While the Baja Fresh locations in Michigan all closed a few years ago, I ate at one a few weeks ago at McCarran Airport in Las Vegas"

I'm slightly fascinated by how a few scattered stragglers manage to survive, even after a chain seems to have gone belly up. (We still have a "Radio Shack" open here, still using the old corporate signage -- even though it's not really the RS of old. Which may be a good thing, depending on how you look at it.) If you never saw it, "The Founder" starring Michael Keaton is quite interesting. He plays Ray Kroc, who may not have *invented* franchising, but was certainly instrumental in its development. The goal was to insure a reliable, repeatable, unitary customer experience, whether the location you walked into was in Albuquerque or Kalamazoo. That, and a system for optimal production efficiency. If any owners deviated from the standards set by corporate, they were in danger of losing their franchise rights.

I agree with pinwiztom about the arrangement of those pins. Several of the titles mentioned can be found at Banning, I think. Haven't played some of them, but now that you have called them to our attention, I will make a point of looking for them.

pinwiztom also noted:
"I am thinking Pinball Molly's @ Pins & Needles in So Cal.....???"

I regret that that venue did not exist, back when I lived in L.A. It's definitely on my list to visit, whenever I might get back there. (But I would not feel comfortable parking a nice car in that neighborhood . . . . )

And finally, you mentioned:
"I made the Pinburgh tournament list and will be making the journey there in July."

In our conversations, it did not sound as though you had much interest in tournament competition ? But I expect you would be good at it. That said, the level of competition seems to get steeper every year. (Or am I just imagining that ?) And then a 13 year old kid comes along and wins PAPA, and I just have to wonder.

Glad to help. I think everyone was thrilled with the food-related thread-jack here!

Now, back to our regularly-scheduled programming...

Yeah, good call. I need to visit Molly's next trip down that way

That Cyclopes looks interesting! Such a risque backglass/theme and the cyclop is drooling too. Dare I ask why he's drooling?

You're all wrong Amer's is Ann Arbors best deli sandwich.

If you were closer I'd give you a hand.

Looks like a chemical strip job so you better be wearing that respirator, I prefer sanding when possible.

I much prefer Chemical strip to sanding cabinets. No lead paint dust that way.

I take it that you got the Pinball pimp stencil kit?

Great!
Personally, I don't mind the smell.

My Old Chicago repaint really turned out nice, I'm sure yours will too - the wife even lets me keep it in the family room.

It will work either way, but I prefer to never use a chemical stripper on any porous surface; it comes from my automotive background and with 8 or 6 inch air operated DA sanders I can knock down the old finish pretty fast, even after stripping you need to do some sanding.

It's definitely personal preferance but it looks like Nic will be samding next time.

I will be sure to check it out the next time I'm in town for a game!

Just caught up on the last 100 posts or so. Lord have mercy. That was a lot of burger and fries talk. *phew*

Also...

...this came as a surprise to absolutely no one. *LOL* When's the podcast battle, guys?

I always found Black Hole interesting, challenging, baffling. And there is no denying the coolness of that 3D backglass. Would really welcome some guide on how best to play it, as I basically have little clue. And wasn't this pin said to be a maintenance nightmare, with various standard components that really should be replaced with later, less trouble-prone equivalents ?

Haha, I agree! I'm hoping that we can discuss and play some of my faves as well. Did I mention I have a bank of seven Sweet Hearts lined up beside each other?

...

nah, I don't have any Sweet Hearts, but I do like that game.

Nothing too crazy, but it is a big, heavy cab. There are some recommended service things to do to make it more reliable. As one might expect, having a ball travel vertically from lower playfield to upper is the most difficult challenge, and there are a few things that you can do to prevent issues if a ball gets stuck on the upkicker. Same stuff for Haunted House. That said, I've never owned one of either title, just worked on 'em.

Yes, a maintenance nightmare being a rout technician both when Black Hole and Haunted House were new. Stuck balls galore and fried coils on both. Not overfused, but mysterious coils locked on causing multiple burnt coils. Then the EOS stack plastic pointed spacer "blade". They both sucked. Sure as shit, 10:30 pm on a Sunday night I'd make my last call-in; Bel-Mark Lanes, (30 miles, each way from my home at the time) Black Hole, OOO (Out Of Order). We had to make the run.

Although I didn't have to move machines from our shop to locations (when the money was flowing, we had five guys who moved machines, and they did not have Escalaras or Lectro-Trucks); us technicians had to move machines to work on them. No dollies, just lifting, pulling and dragging. Those Gottlieb heavyweight pins sucked.

Then came M*a*c*h*3 ; What could possibly go wrong there?

Can't say it's a surprise to hear this. On pretty much every visit I've made to PHOF, the BH was turned Off, designated for service, with the manual prominently in view under the glass. At Banning, both BH & HH have been likely to be seen ditto, although their tech corps seem to be more on top of things as a rule, and with a better system in place: problems are frequently specifically identified on a form on the machine, down to parts that may be on order. I'm sure that must help with a larger collection.

Too bad, since I happen to like both games. Their distinctive features did not seem like mere gimmicks to me. But I never had much clue on what best to do (or not to do) in playing Haunted House, either.

i like the la croix drinks but i definitely wouldn't call them sweet, to me there's no sweetness at all especially in comparison to soda. around here they get mixed with spirits.

It's not quite the next Friday yet (and we'll know the Oscar winners before we know where Nic will be landing), but I'm gonna post this -- reluctantly -- in advance of the next clue drop.

http://start.att.net/news/read/category/news/article/newser-this_state_has_the_best_quality_of_life-rnewsernor

As a longtime Californian, I have to vehemently disagree ! Their "top 5" states are fine, if you happen to be a moose ! There are many other factors I'm sure they did not factor in. If you're out on the prairie, unencumbered by too many humans and vehicles and with relatively cleaner air, BUT the nearest hospital is 60 freakin' miles away, isn't that a quality of life issue too ?! I could add plenty of other examples about climate, about work and recreational opportunities, to say nothing of the local Pinfrastructure (hey, I like that . . . and no debt to DJT, either . . . ), which casts all this in a rather different light.