Do You Remember Long John Silver’s?

The history of Long John Silver's turns out to be way more local to me than I realized. Growing up in Kentucky, I knew Jerry's restaurant was a treat because they had hot fudge cake and strawberry pie. My parents knew that after eating a meal, I couldn't do a whole dessert, so we split one among the family. I had no idea that Jerry's was related to Long John Silver's, but here we are. 

Long John Silver's was the second fast food restaurant in my childhood town, going up right as the interstate highway was built (KFC was the other, of course). In high school I discovered that they would sell you a basket of crunchies (the batter that floated away from the food) for a quarter, which was important when you had limited lunch money. It was a way to skip the real food and just get the greasy batter they were known for, cheap.

My current town still has a standalone Long John Silver's without the rebranding. I don't eat there because these days I cannot deal with a meal that's all deep-fried, even if it does include hushpuppies. Weird History has the tale of a fast food chain that's time has come and gone.