Wednesday, May 5, 2010

1957 McGarvey's Ad

Keeping with my restaurant ad theme, here's a 1957 phone book ad for McGarvey's, the late, great Vermilion restaurant.

Everyone went to McGarvey's at some time or another. For my family, a trip to McGarvey's was for special occasions only, and we had to dress up. I remember being annoyed (along with my brothers) that we had to sit there in a sport coat and tie, when many of the boating patrons were sitting there in comfortable T-shirts and shorts!

The well-remembered "toy chest" for the kiddies was always kind of a dud for me. I remember one time coming out of there with a plastic Ratfink-like molded monster. At the time I didn't even know what it was, but now (courtesy of the internet) I know that it was either a Weird-Oh or a Nutty Mad. I wish I had kept it, because it was probably pretty cool! (I should have been happy to get any kind of free toy back then; what restaurant does that now?)

Rather than just swipe the history of McGarvey's from other people's websites, I'll give you a link. You'll find a nice history of McGarvey's on this great Vermilion website, which is definitely worth visiting.

And if you're interested, here's a link to the recipe for McGarvey sauerkraut balls.

5 comments:

Anonymous said...

The one thing I remember about McGarvey's is how often the were flooded when the river thawed.

Hoy hoy,

Jeff Rash

Anonymous said...

I loved working their. Eddie Soloman was the owner and a wonderful man he treated his employee with honor and respect. Top notch food and fantastic systems set in place to make the restaurant a superior place to work. I loved salad boats in dining room a wood boat artfully turned into a salad bar. The food was of the highest quality and the place was the cleanest place I have ever worked. Cleaner than a hospital.

Anonymous said...

I have an Irish Whiskey mug with a caricature of "Capt'n Eddy" on it -- something I snatched on a first dinner date as a souvenir . . . with a guy who ended up being my husband for the last 32+ years.

LOL Fond memories of McGarvey's!

Anonymous said...

Your link to the sauerkraut recipe didn’t work. That’s how I found this website......reminiscing about the restaurant and looking for a sauerkraut ball recipe to use for New Year’s Eve! We loved to go to McGarveys growing up. If you can give a good link to the recipe, I’d love it!

Dan Brady said...

Sorry about the bad link (it was eight years old). Here’s a good link:

http://grandmasrecipebooks.blogspot.com/2012/04/mcgarveys-sauerkraut-balls.html