RIP To One Of The Greatest To Ever Do It, Fuddruckers

 Unfortunately, people kept sleeping on Fuddruckers, and now we are are:

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Dallas News - On Tuesday, the board of directors for the parent company of Luby’s and Fuddruckers approved a plan to liquidate both restaurants. Luby’s Inc. could distribute approximately $92 million to $123 million to its stockholders, then dissolve the company.

Fuddruckers was started by Dallas restaurateur Phil Romano in 1979. His idea was to open a hamburger restaurant that could compete with McDonald’s but offer a more theatrical experience at a higher price point.

“I said, ’I’m going to make a bigger, better hamburger, take the [McDonald’s] clowns out, put beer in there, and make it more updated,’” Romano said by phone when contacted Tuesday after the liquidation plan was made public. Romano is no longer involved in Fuddruckers.

A sad day for all of us who grew up on Fuddruckers. It was nothing like McDonalds, but what an awesome quote "take the clowns out, put the beer in there". He did certainly that. Fuddruckers was awesome. They had nacho cheese to your heart's content. Some of the best cookies you'd ever eat. Ostrich burger on the menu for some reason. Beer. A fix-ins bar that spanned a mile long. And the burgers were GOOD. Not only were they big, but they were good. So good. To compare it, I like Red Robin, as far as sit-down casual burger chains go, but I LOVED Fuddruckers. 

But now, they appear to be gone for good. Fudds is up there with Blockbuster and LA Gear as parts of my childhood I will never get back but always remember fondly. I wonder what will be next. Just don't take the Roy Rogers out of the rest stop. That's the last straw. Need Roy Rogers to stay as long as it can. That's all we've got left.