Finally Del Taco Came Back

It has been a long wait for so many of us in the South, especially in the Atlanta are. Taco nights featuring real "Del Beef", beans that actually taste like beans and cheap California-style Mexican food that actually is fit to eat had been teasing the taste buds of everyone who remembered them. In fact, it took 20 years for Del Taco to really return since the sale of the East Coast units operated by franchisee WR Grace to Taco Bell in 1992. Many of us have heard the rumors, but those failed to come to fruition. Many of us were also highly disappointed with the low quality of the Del Taco/Mrs. Winners combination units that came and fizzled in the 1995-2003 period. Not only did this damage Del Taco's image in Georgia, but it nearly put Mrs. Winners out of business.

The story of Del Taco was complex since it arrived in a very big way in 1980. While these restaurants were extremely popular, the problems started when the original company stupidly sold the rights to the name in the late 70's, leading to a big mess and a very troubled company in the early 1990's. This is how Del Taco was split into two completely different companies operating the same concept: the western one that is alive and well today and the eastern one owned by WR Grace: the one that ran the Georgia units. The eastern division also had the less common "Taco Villa". Not only did WR Grace sell out those units to what I view is far inferior Taco Bell, but many of those never actually opened as a Taco Bell due to an asbestos issue with all the buildings.

Del Taco Location in former Fazoli's in Snellville, GA. The first photo is of the Kennesaw, GA location prior to opening.

Del Taco drive-thru sign for curiosity at the Snellville, GA location.

Today, the landscape of North Georgia is littered with former Del Taco locations. One in Rome is now a Bojangles. The one in Cartersville is now a Dairy Queen. Krystal took the Acworth and Canton locations. Others have been many independent concepts. I covered the one in Cedartown awhile back that was completely abandoned (and well-preserved). These forgotten locations were not lost on the company, either, as they have made very real strides to come back to the Southeast, and this time they are not riding on the whims of franchisees to do so.

Former Del Taco in Boiling Springs, SC outside of Spartanburg. This photo was taken on June 15, 2010.

Here is a view of the building itself. Note the logo has changed somewhat since this store opened in 2009 (and closed in 2011). Photo taken June 15, 2010.

When Del Taco left the East Coast in 2003, the very last location to leave was a store in St. Simons Island, GA. This location was the only one at that point not to be a co-branded concept, and still sported the WR Grace look. When it closed, the location was replaced with a Chick-Fil-A. In 2009, franchisees John Webber and Rusty Acker were the first to bring Del Taco back, opening a location in Boiling Springs, SC along Hwy 9 outside of Spartanburg. I created a post documenting this hoping to help them promote the location. As the lone wolf in the Taco Bell wilderness, the location did well but the franchisees decided to pull up stakes and closed about a year ago. Situations like this are why Del Taco opted to reopen in Atlanta with company-owned stores. Del Taco is still seeking to return to the Spartanburg Market since that location closed.

Former first generation East Coast Del Taco in Cedartown, GA. This was the only location to remain closed years after it was abandoned in 1992. Photo taken in May 3, 2008.

While the restaurants were far darker, I found the old design more authentic and inviting than the modern concept.

Before the Boiling Springs store opened, Del Taco tried another failed co-branding experiment partnering with Captain D's in Nashville. The locations closed as quickly as they arrived, mostly due to the company seeking to permanently end co-branding concepts after the RTM disaster. Del Taco also opened locations in the Orlando market around this time as well. In addition, a franchisee in Douglasville, GA also announced a future Del Taco location that ultimately never came to fruition.

The Del Taco sign and look sported here was actually not the original look when they arrived in 1980. The original stores were lighter and brighter like they are now. This was a late 1980's redesign. The St. Simons Island, GA location was the last store open to have this look.

Last view of the old, unmodified Del Taco in Cedartown.

Now, after some rocky years financially and many setbacks, Del Taco has finally gotten serious about a return to the Southeast. Their Atlanta return came this February, and it is an ambitious one with 60 planned locations in Atlanta and Athens as well as a return to Macon. So far, Del Taco has opened two locations in the Atlanta market. Their first in Snellville was also, unfortunately, the last remaining Atlanta-area Fazoli's. The Kennesaw location, however, is brand new opening May 9th this year in a recently built-up section along Chastain Road between I-75 and I-575. Oddly, Taco Bell is opening in the former Del Taco/Mrs. Winners combination nearby. Del Taco has also purchased one of the former El Pollo Loco locations on Cobb Parkway in Smyrna and is in the process of converting it. Units in Woodstock and eastern Cobb County are also in the works.

Del Taco taking shape in the former El Pollo Loco location in Smyrna. This was one of my favorite places to eat, but Del Taco definitely tastes better and has more to offer. I once said that I wished that was a Del Taco instead. I guess I'm getting my wish.

If Del Taco meets their 60 store goal is anyone's guess, but the current results are promising. The Snellville location met and exceeded sales goals, and the Kennesaw location draws a regular crowd. Their quality is also excellent, and hopefully will stay that way. I also noted there are plans with a franchisee to expand in the Charlotte market. Franchisee Jeffrey Marx owns the Rock Hill, SC location, and he has plans to expand elsewhere in the Charlotte market eventually. My best guess is that the chance of massive expansion in the Southeast will depend first on how well Del Taco gets re-established in the Atlanta market. Should Taco Bell make a run for the border this time?

NOTE: This is an update of a post written May 29, 2009 about the bumpy road Del Taco has had in the Southeast, and also celebrating their return to Atlanta.

Village Inn Pizza Parlor: Lenoir, NC

Wherever a vintage dead mall is to be found, it seems nearby that other vintage items tend to linger.  Places like this ultimately survive, but tend to not update due to multiple factors including that they simply do not have to since they are surrounded by old things and probably do not get the business to modernize as often.  In Lenoir, I found many such places along Morganton Blvd including an abandoned car wash, a very retro 2-screen movie theater and last but not least this gem of a pizza place.

Village Inn Pizza Parlor is not to be confused with the larger Village Inn chain, but does seem to be part of a once national chain that was fractured into similar, but smaller operations run by local businessmen.  Other separately run locations of the same name are found in Michigan and Illinois.  I also covered on this blog a possible former location next to Tri-City Mall.  This place doesn't serve pancakes, and this set of restaurants only has 12 locations in the Foothills/Piedmont region of North Carolina.  This North Carolina group in particular is run by Ray Lackey Enterprises.  Reviews of the restaurant are generally good, but it is also stated that every location is very old as well.  All seem to have distinctive and dated designs, but the one I'm featuring here stood out enough for me to turn around for a few pics with a highly eye-catching Bavarian A-frame design coupled with a 1970's period road sign. 

A moody bavarian-gothic A-frame building with a dimly lit interior greets diners which apparently were few in number early in the afternoon.  The skies were just as moody with a severe thunderstorm about to hit.  The first photo is the sign posted along Morganton Blvd (U.S. 64) looking southwest.

Angry skies overlook a small, quaint and fascinating pizza place.

Since I did not try it, I have no opinion on the food here.  One thing I do know is that apparently each location has its own distinctive design.  The location in Morganton has a Spanish influence, including arches.  Its original location, according to the website, was in Statesville.  My guess on the chain is that it probably has not seen any significant update in 30 years hitting their stride in the mid-to-late 1970's.  I guess that they do what they can to stay profitable.  I would love to hear if anybody has tried this time warped local pizza chain.  Places like this are part of the joy of traveling: especially these archaic chains with dated architecture that give every community some distinction as well as something new for me to blog about.

Pal's "Sudden Service" Restaurants: Fast Food in the Tri-Cities Region

Aside from the Miracle Mall (better known as The Mall at Johnson City), Johnson City in my previous post offered few other points of interest retailwise.  Perhaps part of this can be attributed to the fact that most everything there aside from the struggling downtown area is new.  While this is also largely true of Kingsport, Kingsport is the largest of the Tri-Cities, and it is absolutely full of surprises.  It had the first mall in the region and it still has an abandoned 1960's strip mall relic, another big struggling mall and of course, the rather interesting Pal's fast food restaurants.

An older style of Pal's in downtown Kingsport, which I assume is the original location.  It definitely has that 1960's vibe.

Another view a bit closer to the building.

Pal's is found in Northeast Tennessee and Southwest Virginia, but mostly Tennessee.  It's furthest south location is Greeneville, furthest west Morristown and furthest north Norton, VA.  I did not have a chance to try it while I was there, but I can honestly say that it looks to have a standout menu compared to many larger chains for a rather diverse palate much like Hardee's used too.  Serving items such as the "Sauceburger", "Chipped Ham", "Chiliburger" and a chili dog alongside the usual burger and fries sounds a bit unique and fun.  Considering how the chain has grown, it must be decent.  It definitely seemed to attract more business than regional chain Jacks in Alabama did, but nothing on here could be easy for the waistlines of the area (except maybe the Chipped Ham sans mayo).

This much newer location is a bit frightening.  Most look like this.  This is across from Fort Henry Mall in Southland Shopping Center, which once housed a (Kuhn's) Big K.

Besides the food, what also stands out about Pal's is the absolutely frightful decor used on the place.  The logo itself is the name inside a sunburst, and the buildings themselves have hideous turquoise tile topped with a big fake hot dog.  In fact, the only location I saw that was different was in downtown Kingsport, which I am guessing is the flagship.  Both styles are featured here for comparison as well.  I guess it was good I went downtown or I wouldn't have seen both.  The older style looks more like a vintage 1960's piece in the vein of the early Burger Chef, but I found it was more eye-catching and appetizing than a cotton candy colored cube.

Here is the sign at the Southland Shopping Center location across from Fort Henry Mall.  After eating a Sauceburger, play vollyball with them.  Maybe they'll do tenis next week.

The whole phenomenon of local fast food joints are curious, though it is well known that all started out as such.  Probably why some are national while others are not has a lot to do with the location.  Consider that McDonald's and Taco Bell both started in California, which is probably how they obtained a national following vs. something found in a place like Kingsport.  I can think of many other examples of local chains like Pal's including fore-mentioned Jack's in Birmingham, The Varsity in Atlanta, Lion's Choice in St. Louis, Krystal in Chattanooga, Rush's in Columbia among others.  Some, such as Lion's Choice, I would love to expand out of their region.  In all, local chain restaurants are always part of my curiosity of making retail trips to cities across the South, I am glad to feature this rather unique local flavor.

Lizard's Thicket and More: Columbia's Local Restaurant Chains

One thing that makes Columbia truly special is that it has managed to maintain a certain sense of local culture that is rather unique across the sprawling sunbelt.  Despite its suburban surface, South Carolina's capitol city still maintains its own identity.  This is likely due to the fact that it has seen far slower growth and a less transient population than Greenville, Spartanburg, Myrtle Beach and Charleston.  Columbia, unlike Greenville and Charleston, sports very hot and humid summers and less access to scenic and recreational opportunities than its more heavily hyped neighbors.  While Mississippi comes readily to mind in that description, such is why places like Lizard's Thicket, Rush's and Maurice's BBQ are allowed to flourish.

Despite its mid-summer sauna reality, the fact is that Columbia is still the state's transportation hub.  This means that travelers en route to Myrtle Beach and Charleston from Greenville, Atlanta and Charlotte must pass through the city.  Indeed, many have and would be foolish to miss out on Columbia's best kept secret: Lizard's Thicket.  While the Geico Gecko comes to mind this day in age, I have known for all these years that Cracker Barrel tastes like cardboard in comparison to this place.  In fact, I was looking very forward to eating there again after a hiatus of about 15 years and was glad to see it was going very strong and the food was still delicious.

A cozy-looking Lizard's Thicket on St Andrews Road in Irmo.

Lizard's Thicket is true Southern cuisine with an enormous offering of vegetable dishes, meat dishes and the best sweet tea, all done traditional Southern style.  Columbia concurs, and locations are plentiful around the city, but they also stay just in the city choosing not to expand into a watered down corporate mess with the food declining similarly.  Nevertheless, finding this type of food in Atlanta, Nashville, Charlotte and other cities proves difficult, and tends to be far more expensive or far inferior.  Oddly, the chain itself has existed since 1977, itself joining the first surge of retail chains in Columbia while responding to the issue of fast food replacing the family meal.  Of course, Atlanta brought Columbia places like Moe's, but I think I'd rather have this any day than a Joey Bag of Donuts...sorry.

Another view of the St Andrews Lizard's Thicket.

Second, Rush's evolved in the 1960's from a Dairy Queen franchise into a major local chain across the city.  Rush's is definitely not for the diet conscious, but it appears to be a merger of the concept of fast casual with fast food before it even existed, offering typical fast food fare in a better-prepared diner style.  Essentially, it sounds like the forerunner of Five Guys with a more local flavor and more to choose from.  In fact, Rush's offerings consist of pretty diverse offerings such as all-beef hot dogs, burgers, fried chicken and barbecue.  This place I would probably be less likely to try, but it sounds good and definitely better than the criminally limited menu offerings presented at other local chains such as Alabama's Jack's Hamburgers.  However, I really cannot vouch for how good it is since I have never tried it.

 

 

Rush's on Decker Blvd. between Columbia Place and Decker Mall.  I also noticed one next to Columbiana Centre.

Last, Maurice's BBQ offers a taste of South Carolina's distinct mustard-based barbecue in a chain restaurant.  While I have not seen them anywhere outside the state, they are all over Columbia and recently expanded to Augusta, GA.  I have tasted Maurice's from the grocery store packages way in the past, and it is easily some of the best I have ever tried.  I am really a sucker for mustard-based barbecue, and I like mustard in general.  In fact, I tend to put mustard on top of barbecue sauce as a habit in the attempt to re-create that taste.

Maurice's sign and side of building located on Beltline Blvd.

Maurice's is not without controversy, though.  They got significant press back in 2000 when several store chains including Wal-Mart decided to pull the product over owner Maurice Bessenger deliberately flying the Confederate flag over one of his locations in protest over state sovereignty...an issue that lives on in South Carolina, but also an issue that caused the owner to be fined by the City of Lexington.  His beliefs, which erupted into his business practices, have gained him notoriety, but this apparently has definitely not hurt business for him.  After all, South Carolina did not exactly cheerfully rejoin the Union in the 1860's, thus feelings remain strong there even today.  Nevertheless, it erupted into a firestorm of controversy since his actions were considered offensive to many people.  This likely would have not gotten so far out of hand if not for him also doing things like publishing a pamphlet entitled "The Biblical View of Slavery".  In all, the owner's politics tend to leave a cloud over Maurice's.  Nevertheless, it is possible to find Maurice's barbecue sauce at Piggly Wiggly locations in lieu of the drive to Columbia, and it is definitely worth a try.

Maurice's locations carry a very distinctive design that stands out far more than most fast-food places.

There you have one of the more neglected aspects of my site...chain restaurants.  They are retail, too, and few things stir passion in people like good food.  That is especially true on those who have deliberately deprived themselves of it on a diet, which would be required at places like Rush's.  Of course, in the case of covering Lizard's Thicket I feel very hungry and deprived, so that has tended to be a more difficult topic to cover.  This also wraps up my Columbia series until if or when some historical photos, current photos or additional information come my way.  However, much more on Columbia can be found on the Columbia Closings site.

Carey Hilliard's Restaurant: Savannah, GA

In post-modern times, two extremes seem to exist in retail: single location small businesses or huge national chains, so it is always fun to be able to cover a local or regional chain since so few exist today.  That is how Carey Hilliard's caught my attention.  Carey Hilliard's is not a restaurant that is known to those of us in the northern part of Georgia or much of anywhere else, but this seems to be a staple of Savannah.  It was also previously located in Charleston, SC as well.  Up here, there is much to choose from ranging from succulent and expensive down to tasty, reasonable local joints offering a unique taste: several of which have gone national such as Moe's Southwest Grill.  Carey Hilliard's, however, seems to have remained a local fare and a bit more old-fashioned.  Its founder of the same name died in 1982, but the restaurant has remained successful for over 25 years since. [1]

It should be noted that Carey Hilliards is definitely a family style restaurant, featuring an odd combination of two Deep South specialties: seafood and barbeque.  It is modestly priced, but is also not for the health-conscious as most of their food is fried.  All in all, it is basically a few notches above Shoney's, but with a more local flavor.  It has since left Charleston, but the restaurant not only lingers in Savannah, but also a new location was recently opened in Statesboro.  The second is likely there to serve primarily the families of college students and crowds of football fans that come to Georgia Southern University: a relatively strong market for inexpensive family-style restaurants.

The story of Carey Hilliard's is that it opened in 1960, and it has since expanded to about 8 locations.  The location pictured here is likely one of the first, if not the original.  The Statesboro location opened this year as one of the newest locations.  Historically, Carey Hilliard's was quite popular and highly rated, though some of the latest reviews and Charleston closings suggest the chain unfortunately may be struggling.  I thought about trying it on my last visit, but did not.  Because of that, I have no opinion at this point: I just liked the sign and style of the place.  Nevertheless, I would be more than glad to expand this thread about the place once I find out a little more about it.

I really cannot vouch if this place actually has good food, but it is nice to see that a few popular local restaurant chains continue to operate such as this one.  If it is a good place to eat, places like this give a unique taste and identity to a city that helps to draw more people to visit.  While the buzz these days is largely around Paula Deen's restaurant, I wanted to focus on a low key local classic that came long before Ms. Deen put Savannah cuisine squarely on the national map.

1. http://www.postandcourier.com/news/2009/jan/08/the_legend_carey_hilliards67691/

Del Taco

Del Taco is a staple in the southwest, and more than once attempted to gain the
national exposure of Taco Bell. Unfortunately, this did not seem to work out so well for the company, which has retracted completely to its core market with a few exceptions. Today, the only Del Taco remaining in Georgia is on St. Simons Island, which as of recent still looks exactly the same as its initial entry into Georgia.


Del Taco's grand entry into Georgia came in 1980 where it opened many, many locations across the state. While it was initially quite successful, its fortunes began to wane across the state by the end of the 1980's. In 1992, after only 12 years, every single Del Taco closed with exception to St Simons, meaning lots of vacant restaurants and an end to an era where Georgians were offered an alternative to Taco Bell for fast-food Mexican.


Alas! Del Taco wasn't through with the Peach State yet! In 1995, it came back but this time with a different logo and all new locations. The new locations were almost all joint locations with Mrs. Winner's, which to those not from Georgia is a local chicken restaurant. The only free-standing one to knowledge was in the Food Court at North Point Mall, which actually may have been there longer. Unfortunately, this new concept of two in one lasted even less long than the previous, and the locations all fell into poor management by the end of the decade. By late 2001, Del Taco was removed from all the Mrs. Winner's restaurants that it shared, now all just Mrs. Winner's.


Today, unless you're visiting St. Simons Island, Del Taco is not on the menu in Georgia. Nevertheless, a few of its scars remain including this notable one in the photos here in Cedartown, GA. Until recently, this location looked like it had just closed despite being closed over a decade. In fact, the sign continued to read "Closed. Thanks For 12 Great Years" with absolutely no vandalism or missing letters for at least a decade. Most of the others have been converted to other uses or demolished.