Pre-Super Bowl musings on the Eat 'n Park
Did you happen to notice the following comment under an earlier post?
It is a PA chain based out of Pittsburgh but all Eat N Park restaurants will be closed during the super bowl.
Posted by: Bill | January 27, 2009 10:12 PM
I had never heard of Eat 'n Park before. I'm sure it's a very nice family restaurant, but I was bemused by the name. I wonder why you wouldn't call it Park 'n Eat? I mean, under what circumstances would you eat and then park? Or does it mean Eat or Park, that is, carry out or eat in?
Maybe Bill or some other Pennsylvanian can enlighten us.
Comments
Nothing says class like 'n in your name. It looks like they are all in the Pittsburgh area and the YoHaLa triangle .. Yo! Holla!
Reminds me of "Eat 'n peel shrimp"
Posted by: Owl Meat Gravy 2.0 - Now Gluten Free | February 1, 2009 3:05 PM
There's no such thing as a Pennsylvanian. You are in the Philly or the Pittsburgh orbit or you're in the that middle area which is like the Asteroid Belt. For me the Midwest starts at York PA.
Posted by: Owl Meat Gravy 2.0 - Now With Argon Lasers | February 1, 2009 3:36 PM
Eat 'n Park is a chain of diner-like restaurants in western Pennsylvania. I would also like to share that the Macy's in a Pittsburgh mall is closed until after the SuperBowl. Pittsburgh fans are fanatical!
Posted by: Nicole W | February 1, 2009 3:42 PM
Back in my high school years I was an ENP waitress and let me tell you, you must try a smiley faced cookie! delicious. It's just your standard diner fare. Here's why it isn't Park N Eat- from their website.
Why Not Park'n Eat
The original carhop concept was developed by Mr. Hatch, who understood in 1949 that cars meant the future and that the Pittsburgh area needed a restaurant to capture the spirit of the times.
It also needed a name that matched its function. Logically, a customer parked first then ate -- either in or out of the restaurant. However, in the late 1940's, "Park & Eat" was as common a sight as "Drive Thru" is today and could not be copyrighted.
In a brainstorm, Hatch and company decided to reverse it -- to Eat'n Park. The catchy name stuck, so much that while the once everywhere "Park & Eat" signs have virtually disappeared from American highways, "Eat'n Park" remains a tri-state tradition, even though the name no longer describes the restaurant's dining style.
Posted by: Kristen | February 1, 2009 3:56 PM
EL -- according to the Eat'n Park website, when the chain was founded in the late 1940s, the phrase Park & Eat was already in common usage. Since it would have been difficult to secure an exclusive copyright for Park & Eat, the owners decided to reverse the phrase, hence the chain's name.
Posted by: hmpstd | February 1, 2009 4:59 PM
For me the Midwest starts at York PA.
I'd say it starts at New Freedom.
Posted by: Hal Laurent | February 1, 2009 5:23 PM
I ate there last fall on a road trip and really enjoyed it. And the smiley face cookies are fabulous!
Posted by: Summer | February 1, 2009 7:30 PM
For me the Midwest starts at York PA
Actually, you have to go through Alabama, I mean Carroll county, then you're in the Midwest.
Posted by: Robert (the Single One) | February 1, 2009 8:22 PM
They do a good breakfast buffet, usually.
Posted by: Lissa | February 1, 2009 8:40 PM
eat'n'park is the pitssburgh equivalent of friendly's except they have their signature smiley face cookie
Posted by: attgig | February 2, 2009 11:01 AM
My roommate talks about this place CONSTANTLY. And last time her parents came down they brought a giant bag of these smiley face cookies that are supposedly really awesome but just tasted like the cookie-dough-in a tube with cement icing to me. But then again, my roommate would love sewage treatment plants if they originated in Pittsburgh. (She doesn't even LIKE football but she came in last night yelling about how the Steelers won. Spare me.)
Posted by: TwoToedSloth | February 2, 2009 11:34 AM
Go to their web site and prepare to have their song rewire your brain.
Posted by: Owl Meat Gravy - Smiling on the Inside | February 2, 2009 1:02 PM
One of the biggest thing I miss about moving here are the Smiley cookies (though they get rock-hard after 2 days). They also have great strawberry pie. It's also usually open 24 hours (except for the Super Bowl) . . . the place for smiles :)
Posted by: matt hudock | February 2, 2009 4:40 PM
@matt hudock. What's a Smiley cookie?
Posted by: Lisa | February 3, 2009 7:16 AM
Lisa,
Visit the Eat-N-Park link that EL posted above. This place features smiley cookies.
Posted by: PCB Rob | February 3, 2009 1:19 PM
just getting caught up on recent topics due to super bowl interruption. can't believe nobody came up with the fact that EatnPark is where you would go for a Bob's Big Boy burger in western Pa, as opposed to Shoney's in Ohio or the eponymous Bob's Big Boy in these parts- same double decker burger with the mystery sauce and sesame seed bun. mysteriously from the home of a similar inferior but much bigger-selling burger.
Posted by: yet another robert | February 3, 2009 8:48 PM
I go to MacArthur Park when I want a delicious treat:
Spring was never waiting for us, girl
It ran one step ahead
As we followed in the dance
Between the parted pages and were pressed,
In love's hot, fevered iron
Like a striped pair of pants
MacArthur's Park is melting in the dark
All the sweet, green icing flowing down...
Someone left the cake out in the rain
I don't think that I can take it
'Cause it took so long to bake it
And I'll never have that recipe again
Oh, no!
Oh that sweet green flowing icing!
Posted by: ceramic kitty | February 4, 2009 11:07 AM