We were introduced to White Castle Hamburgers by some American friends on a recent visit to the USA. Travelling between Indiana and North Carolina and visiting various historic Civil War sites en route we detoured especially to take in this regional chain. Our friend had fond memories of dining out 'en famille' during the 1950s with her father bringing out bags of the tiny square steamed burgers named 'slyders' to a car full of excited kids. Based in Columbus Ohio this was the first burger chain so you know who to blame. The first 'restaurant was opened in 1921 in Wichita Kansas and the whole thing grew from that. None of us admitted to being great burger fans and yet there is a sort of country innocence about these places that you don't find at a Burger King or a Mcdonalds. The company pioneered portable and prefabricated structures with wipe-clean interiors made of stainless steel and enamel, thus anticipating the bigger players by many years. Architecturally styled with crenelations based upon the Chicago water tower they emulate stereotypical fairytale castles, given a deal of artistic licence...incidentally much in the same way as some of the more 'historic' buildings here in New Anzac on Sea. For a hamburger chain it's miniscule with almost 400 outlets, none of which is franchised and the company is unencumbered by debt. They also pioneered the disposable paper hat (a bit like a printers origami hat but cleaner) for their kitchen staff who are immaculately turned out. Our sole visit to a White Castle was fun, not least in the ordering of some twenty hamburgers between four of us plus the obligitary hogshead of Coca Cola. It was all very blue collar and we lucked out in the chat with some jovial staff members who quite naturally failed to understand what the hell we English were talking about. A little piece of lost America that's still hanging on...
