Sunday, August 29, 2010

Shortstop Burgers and Golden Chicken

When I moved down to Laredo in 1992, two of my favorite places to eat were Golden Chicken and Shortstop Burgers. Don't blame me for terrible taste in food. Rather, blame my aunt and uncle. They would always drag us down to eat at these two places during the weekends. Now, these places have both closed down or changed names, but the bitter taste of their flavore still remains in my mouth years after.

Shortstop Burgers had a location, that I can recall, on the intersection of Zapata Hwy. and Loop 20. Their burgers would always be semi-burned and their salty fries were always a nuisance to my taste buds. But because they were inexpensive, Shorstop Burgers always had a long line of waiting customers, especially on Friday nights. They closed down sometime in the mid 90s, I believe. Now, a Tortas Yukon stands where the famous Shortstop Burgers were once located.
This is similar to the one I remember. Not the exact one though.

The other eatery that I cherish from my terrible teen years, was Golden Chicken, located downtown across the street from Int'l. Bridge 2. Again, as kids we were taken there because of its inexpensiveness. The chicken at said restaurant was so greasy, it made Church's look like a healtshake. I even recall that Golden Chicken had this cheesy TV commercial, a parody of Ghostbuster's "Who you gonna call":

"Dime a donde vas. A Golden Chicken!  Pollito Caliente. Sabor Diferente. Dime a donde vas. A Golden Chicken!"
I don't recall the exact lyrics of the TV commercial, but from what I recall, I would see it on KLDO back sometime in 92' or 93. Every wedding or Quincera that I attended between those years, had the obligatory Golden Chicken as the food of choice. I miss the 90s.


2 comments:

Anonymous said...

Where to start? Short stop had food considered a delicacy if you enjoy the unadulterated taste of salt. Sure they had cheap burgers for a family of 20 to enjoy but I honestly think that wimpys burgers was a better choice. At 50c a pop, you couldn't beat that deal. Plus their fries weren't that salty either. Match that we cheap cola and you're set to go. As far as golden chicken, the only thing I enjoyed about it was the innovative commercial. Now I cant get that stupid song out of my head. Ahhhh!

xfiles7016atx said...

you gotta also remember Red Line Burgers on Saunders in front of the HEB! Cindies burgers...now that was a heart attack waiting to happen...not to be mean but we stopped going when they placed the pictured of the Late Cindy in back of the register...that was like a warning sign....Ritchies burgers on arkansas in front of the maverick market...those were the days of making our POS paychecks last....

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