Thanksgiving at Howard Johnson's - 1957

Typical Howard Johnson's from that time period

Here's an ad letting us know what Howard Johnson's down on West Erie was serving up on Thanksgiving Day 1957. It looks like quite a menu.

For appetizers, diners enjoyed chilled fruit cups, celery and olives, and cream of celery soup. The roast turkey with giblet gravy came with a lot of side dishes, including Cape Cod cranberry sauce, mashed potatoes, sweet potatoes, hubbard squash, boiled buttered onions, sweet mixed pickles, hot baked rolls and butter and a Waldorf Salad.

Diners also had their choice of old fashioned squash, mince or apple pie with cheese, sherbet, frozen pudding ice cream, New England Plum Pudding with hard sauce, tea, coffee, ginger ale, Tokay Grapes, sweet apple cider, mixed nuts and mints.

Whew! And I thought we put out too much grub on Thanksgiving!

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Incidentally, if you want to experience a real slice of nostalgia for lunch sometime, stop in at Chris' Restaurant at the former Howard Johnson's on W. Erie. The food is great and pretty reasonably priced – and the menu is almost as extensive as that Thanksgiving feast from 1957. I stop in with my Mom every month or two on a Saturday afternoon for a perch sandwich just like, uh, mother used to make (if Dad had a good day out on the lake).