World's largest White Castle opens downtown tomorrow

[Robin Garr]

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
February 14, 2008

WHITE CASTLE TO OPEN SYSTEM’S LARGEST RESTAURANT DOWNTOWN
- Mayor Jerry Abramson to Participate in Opening Ceremony -

(Louisville, KY) - White Castle is opening the largest restaurant in the company’s 11-state system on Friday, February 15th, at 105 East Market Street, in downtown Louisville. Mayor Jerry Abramson will be participating in a ribbon-cutting ceremony scheduled at 9 a.m. on Friday to celebrate the opening of the “super-sized” White Castle. Following the ceremony, Mayor Abramson will step behind the counter and serve the first White Castles to the public.

The construction of the largest restaurant was prompted by the development of the new arena and other downtown growth, said Eddie Smith, White Castle’s Regional Director for Restaurant Operations.

The newly-constructed White Castle has a seating capacity of 78 people, more than 20% larger than the old store which was demolished last October to make way for the larger replacement. The building retains its familiar White Castle architecture, but is constructed of white brick and stone instead of traditional porcelain steel panels. The building also has the company’s traditional trademark tower positioned at the corner of the building.

This is the third time the system has constructed a Castle at the corner of First and Market. The first was in 1928 when the restaurant consisted of a counter, four stools and a few tables where customers stood to enjoy five-cent White Castle hamburgers. The present White Castle was constructed in 1976 and a drive-thru was added in 1987. Over the years the corner location became known as a popular stop for celebrities visiting the city at Derby time.

White Castle has been operating continually in Louisville since 1927 when the first Castle opened in 1927 at Sixth and Broadway. The demand for White Castle “Slyders” has grown over the years, and there are presently 15 restaurants in the Louisville area.

More About White Castle
The first hamburger chain in America, White Castle was founded in Wichita, Kansas, in 1921. The family-owned company is currently based in Columbus, Ohio, and has 404 restaurants in 11 states. For more information about the company, please visit http://www.whitecastle.com

Hopefully with increased police patrol at night. I went through the drive thru one night after picking up a friend from work and as we were sitting waiting to place our order I looked over in the parking lot (on 1st street side) and one of the parking lot loiterers had an extended arm in the air firing off rounds from a pistol... startled the $!@! out of me and my friend. The cars in the crew scattered from the lot like wild fire. I was not a happy Louisvillian at that point.

[Robin Garr]

Hopefully with increased police patrol at night. I went through the drive thru one night after picking up a friend from work and as we were sitting waiting to place our order I looked over in the parking lot (on 1st street side) and one of the parking lot loiterers had an extended arm in the air firing off rounds from a pistol... startled the $!@! out of me and my friend. The cars in the crew scattered from the lot like wild fire. I was not a happy Louisvillian at that point.

That would be a very interesting question for someone to ask Mayor Jerry on camera while he's shoveling sliders.

Wow! that got built pretty fast. Demolished in October and grane re-opening in Feb. They slyd that building right in there!

Wow! that got built pretty fast. Demolished in October and grane re-opening in Feb. They slyd that building right in there!

Just like I'm gonna slyd right on in on opening day and get me a sack. Luvs me slyderz.

I have fond and equally terrifying memories of that corner. Living nearby, that has been the go to White Castle (we all get odd cravings, yes?) for most of my time in the city. Nice to see it back up so quickly, and yes let us hope for tighter security.

I've chimed in on this site a few times expressing my criticisms for chains, not to mention fast food. But I must admit that White Castle, especially downtown, has its place in the cultural landscape. I drove by there last week and was impressed with the makeover. It actually adds to the scenery instead of taking away from it. I'll go as far as to say that the new improved McDonalds in the highlands (Bardstown Rd) looks pretty good as well. If we are going to have these food joints along cultural venues then at least they can blend in with a bit of, dare I say, . . .class?

If we are going to have these food joints along cultural venues then at least they can blend in with a bit of, dare I say, . . .class?

Please say thank you to the hard work of the Department of Planning and Zoning and to the Bardstown Road Overlay Committee. That's where those rules about "blending in" come from.

Its ironic, but when I drove by it this past weekend, I thought it looked too nice to be a White Castle..... it kind of takes away from the normal charm I expect from the Porcelain Palace. They did a great job with the building and the lot. Maybe that will keep some of the neighbors from hanging out there at night.

I also did not think the building looked that big, but compared to most other White Castle's, I guess it might be the largest in the world!

One of my best friends was the project manager on this construction, he also built the one on Shelbyville Road....you know a funny little tidbit. Our Metro Health Department will tell you that White Castle has the cleanest restaurants in the city. Their managers get bonused on cleanliness.

We need the likes of White Castle and Popeye's if only to prove the "exception to the rule" rule. Yeah? Yeah. I confess, I love White Castle sliders,... once in a blue moon. I refused to admit to that for a gazillion years until my sister-in-law, the arbiter of all things truly of cultural value in the world, told me one day that she adores sliders. It opened up whole vistas of maybe wrong-headed, fast-held biases. Like... milk chocolate, a thing I've adored since I was a kid and over the years became ashamed to admit to. And then voila! This very wonderful article in The New York Times:

Dark May Be King, but Milk Chocolate Makes a Move

By JULIA MOSKIN
February 13, 2008, The New York TimesCHOCOLATE’S dark mood is lightening at last.

Until recently, midnight-black, bittersweet bars with punishing percentages of cacao were, like coffee and wine, on a quest for brooding intensity. Milk chocolate was left behind, dismissed as child’s play, an indulgence in sweetness and nostalgia.

Chloé Doutre-Roussel, a Paris-based expert and former chocolate buyer for Fortnum & Mason in London, says that in a snobbish phase of her youth, she even turned down milk chocolate made by the legendary Robert Linxe of La Maison du Chocolat. “I was in his shop in Paris,” she recalled, “and he offered me a taste of anything, and I put my nose in the air and said, ‘Of course, I only eat dark.’ And he said: ‘Really? Why?’ And I had no idea.” Ms. Doutre-Roussel said that she, like other purists, believed that the lean amalgamation of cacao and sugar that is dark chocolate did not need the addition of a fatty, bland element like milk.

Now, some chocolatiers are fighting back, with expensive, suave “dark milk” chocolates that reinvent milk chocolate by increasing its cacao content, reducing its sweetness and carefully refining it to give it the snap and velvet of dark.

[for the rest.... http://www.nytimes.com/2008/02/13/dinin ... ref=slogin]

[Robin Garr]

We need the likes of White Castle and Popeye's if only to prove the "exception to the rule" rule. Yeah? Yeah. I confess, I love White Castle sliders,...

Slider lover here, hand raised proudly. It's a quality ch- ch- chain, and I would argue that its having chosen to stay strictly regional all these years suggests that its management has successfully fought off the greed-at-all-costs impulse that pits so many corporate bodies in a race to the bottom.

Rob is right, too, about the sanitation.

We need the likes of White Castle and Popeye's if only to prove the "exception to the rule" rule. Yeah? Yeah. I confess, I love White Castle sliders,...

Slider lover here, hand raised proudly. It's a quality ch- ch- chain, and I would argue that its having chosen to stay strictly regional all these years suggests that its management has successfully fought off the greed-at-all-costs impulse that pits so many corporate bodies in a race to the bottom.

Rob is right, too, about the sanitation.

I'll raise my hand high. We brewery guys have missed the WC since October. We regularly score a suitcase of cheese sliders and onion rings to keep the brewery "fueled". Welcome back!

I love the 'Castle. After a night out, NOTHING tastes better!

I love the 'Castle. After a night out, NOTHING tastes better!

Well, maybe some Waffle House hash browns in the ring with a big plate full of eggs over medium and sausage.