The Old Timber Inn
While I live about a mile from The Old Timber Inn I had not been there since I moved to my house & rented a UHaul truck there - at the bar. For years they have had a sign out front or to the side usually advertising Half fish logs & St Fries. While I vowed in my callow youth to never let such an abomination as a fish log pass my lips, it gradually found it's way onto my bucket list.
And I can now tell you, dear readers, fish logs are, well, ok.
I think mine was overcooked. It's a deep fried fish filet wrapped in mashed potatoes & batter (?). You can get a whole or half log (half is fine for a lunch).
The owner came in while I was there & it turns out he lives up around the corner from me. He told me the mural on the outside wall was originally painted in 1983 & he was able to get the same artist to recreate it after the building was repainted in 2009. it had become fairly ghostly. He was a lot more interesting than Dr Phil & Judge Judy but I think the waitress might disagree.
The bar takes up a surprisingly small part of the building. The kitchen looked ok, the bar area was a mismatched hodge podge of old crap. It was pretty much what you'd expect from looking at the outside.
The Old Timber Inn on Spring Grove Avenue @ Crawford is open from 10 - 8 Monday thru Friday.

Rating The Old Timber Inn from one to ten:
♠ Ambience 8 - dark, piles of junk, ancient wood paneling - the blue urinal was worth the price of admission
♠ Food 5 - it's exactly what I would have expected
♠ Service 6 - ok, I was the only one there, tho
♠ Hot Waitress 8 - jeans, sweatshirt & long brown hair…. can't argue with that

Frisch's is aiming for a younger customer base. Apparently their old customer base is dying from hypertension, diabetes, and other ailments. No, actually, they are probably pretty well preserved. Eating there every day might wind up saving money on embalming costs down the road.
One of the things I always loved about Big Boy was The Adventures of Big Boy Comics. The food is fine, this is where the chain should be looking to update their clientele.
The comic would feature a couple stories featuring Big Boy, Dolly and the pup, Nugget, some puzzles, games, jokes (so bad they were good (especially while stoned)), craft projects and a kids menu. The stories usually had some educational tidbit or focussed on some morality issue.
The concept was born in 1956 and creative chores were handled by Timely (which later became Marvel) comics with Stan Le and Bill Everett. I guess this made Big Boy a part of the Gay/Jewish Conspiracy.
riiiiiight......
Tying the comic to a website would be a good idea. They have a "Kids Corner", but there is room for a lot more integration. They have interviews, nowadays, with the likes of Brittney Spears and SpongeBob Squarepants. No reason they couldn't be expanding that to more serious people like Christine Todd Whitman. There would be less likelihood of the interviewee going haywire, like Spears.
More science and introductions to foreign language would be nice. Assuming the kid who is into comics would be into manga, an introduction to Japanese would fir real well.
Posting music files on heir website, allowing kids to manipulate ad jingles in software like GarageBand would be pretty cool.
They used to hook up pen pals. Heck, they could do that with a web based message board.
Anyway, suckin' the kids in should be a major goal. After that, the grown ups like the tradition.
Now if they could just bring back the car hop service, complete with clumsy waitresses who spill your milkshake all over the windshield of your car. Seriously, kids love that kind of thing.

Fishwrap story here (for now).

Robert's on Miami

I have had 2 occasion's to eat at Robert's on Miami in downtown Urbana, Ohio. Neither occasion was terribly celebratory (funerals) but the quirky atmosphere, great service and excellent food helped make for delightful events.

Seriously, my dining there has led me to recommend a friggin' restaurant in Urbana, Ohio !

Located at 116 Miami Street, just west of the square, it is easy to find & has a handy parking lot right next door.

they offer a decent wine list and a menu loaded with pasta, seafood & desserts.

Don't let the hideous website and photography fool you !

http://www.robertsonmiami.com/

(their area code is 937)