When I was in high school, the kids used to hang out at the A&W all time! We got to ordering cherry rootbeers for a while, but they stopped serving them, because the A&W people didn't want their rootbeer messed with.
We always went out to eat a lot...to all kinds of places. My grandpa would take the whole family out to eat a lot. Then there were times he just took me. I was his "special girl".
When I was in the second grade, Grandpa had his body guard come to school and take me out of class. We flew in the company plane to Chicago, where he took me to meet his boss...who owned the coal company back then...and then to the Swiss Chalet in the Palmer House Hotel. The waiters wore tails and carried the little towel over the arm. I was quite impressed.
We also used to go to a tiny little "shack" run by an Italian couple he knew. They didn't have a menu...you called ahead and told them what you wanted. They had all sort of wonderful Italian food, and Aldo also made some great pit BBQ. My favorite thing, though, was his wife's fried pies. They were SO good!
Aldo's was the first place I ever ate pizza. There were no pizza places around here then, but Grandpa had eaten it in Chicago, and asked Aldo to make us one. I remember the crust was thin and crispy, and there wasn't a whole lot of tomato sauce on it. It had lots of garlic, though.