Pop culture can clash with memory. The shack right is the Lick-a-Chick in Sydney Mines, via the dishwasher. Dad's first placement as a minister was there and my 1970-71 recollection of this diner is exactly as in the picture. That tune from Reservoir Dogs - "Hooked on a Feeling" by B.J. Thomas - was inevitably on the radio when we were there. I can't contest Maher's food review [the crow shown lower left] being so long ago, except that Paul Weber's is not the best hamburger of all time - too busy and too pricy for the fragment of beef you get. There used to be a burger joint in Halifax [near Maxwell's Plum beside a furniture restorer with Strip in the name] that was the best - I think called Licks - and not the Ontario chain.
Honourable Mention for snack shack Hall of Fame: Bedford, Nova Scotia's Chicken Burger; the Pembroke potato chip wagon called Colburn's where people lined up for poutine for breakfast; the zapiekanki shack in Szczecin which used leeks as well as mushrooms.
Comments
Rob Paterson - October 15, 2003 7:33 AM
Have you tried Ozzies on the road from Saint John to Saint Andrews? The best fried clams in the world!
Alan - October 15, 2003 7:56 AM
I am pretty partial to Freds in Cap Pele, NB for the clams myself, but that is too fancy for a shack - I am talking about the van with extensions, a Quebec <i>casse croute</i>. The AK Lick-A-Chick in the photo must have a trailer at its heart. At least you should get the food over a counter. I know not Ozzies. The best regional <i>casse croute</i> food I have come across is the Gaspe shrimp on a bun you get around Rimouski.
christopher - October 15, 2003 9:30 AM
<i>Maxwell's Plum</i>? Are you serious? There used to be a great hamburger place called that in London's West End in the early 70s managed by the brother-in-law of my then girlfriend. I can't even remember whether it was in Fulham or a bit further in. Can you help out here, Rob? If the Halifax Maxwell's Plum wasn't/isn't a hamburger joint, what was/is it (I am very Halifax-challenged)?
Alan - October 15, 2003 9:58 AM
Maxwell's Plum is a bar in Halifax: see review here [I cannot disagree with much of this good Maritimes wide review at all except the fella did not spend enough time at Rogues Roost - tbe best brewed beer in the Maritimes espcially if you are a hop head. Maxwell's Plum is the only place you can get Caledonia 80 in the Maritimes - in fact I have not seen it in Ontario so there you go. What is the basis of the name of the London burger joint?