For Valentine's Day, Mike and I decided a small restaurant in the neighborhood would make for the best evening.
So we ended up at White Castle, of course!
He was waiting for me at a corner table, set with a red cloth, and adorned with a lovely, red, plastic rose. He told me that other people had been looking at him strangely, wondering if his date was ever going to show. I apologized for being late. Menus were already on the table. Yes, White Castle had printed up menus for the evening. The offerings were the standard fare, but seemed fancier in calligraphy. I decided tonight was the night... to try Chicken Rings! Additionally, we ordered some sliders and onion rings and a shake.
After we ordered, one of the waitresses came over and asked if we wanted an interview. An interview for what?" I asked. She didn't seem to understand what I was asking. I guess that made us even. Soon after, a man came over to our table and explained that he wanted to ask us a few questions about our evening. He introduced himself as "Mister Mario" and asked us, among other things, why we were spending the night at White Castle. Mike did most of the talking, which was good, since I was having trouble keeping a straight face. Mister Mario finished the interview and asked us to yell "pasa fuera" at the camera.
The food arrived and I was a little sad that the shake only had one straw. No matter, though. Love was in the air. They had cheesy love songs playing on a tiny karaoke machine over by the drink station, and festive decorations all over. It was still White Castle, but it was still special. Everyone was taking pictures and giggling and having fun. They gave us a goody bag with chocolates, a chip clip, and a coupon for a free burger on a future visit. Yes, two might have been more appropriate, but that makes me sound greedy. Really, they didn't have to give us anything at all.
Overall, it was charming, and a blast, and I'd recommend it. Whether we're flying in the face of convention by spending Valentine's Day at a fast food place or whether they're just grabbing another piece of commercialism's pie, it was a great time. I hope yours was equally memorable.
Thanks for sharing! Looks like a very fun evening. Your WC had better flowers, but ours was better decorated. And the goody bags have improved since 2006.
I tried to go last year but several factors worked against me, and we ended up at Joe's Best Burger in Flushing instead. Not a lick of Valentine's decorations to be found, which was refreshing. Just another day at Joe's.
OK, I guess I can understand going to a burger spot for V-day instead of something overblown. Still, If my man is going to take me to a burger spot he can do a little better than WC. There's a lot of hip new burger places (BLT Burger, Zen Burger, etc.) that have been written up here and on JuliB.com which might be ok.
@Lauren: Awesome post. Looks like you had a great VDay. I think my own valentine would have dumped me if I tried to drag her to Whitey's.
@rachel8826: There was a White Castle ad campaign that showed people going to extremes with Whitey's sliders or in an attempt to obtain them. The tagline of that campaign was "Yep, s/he's one of us." I guess you're just not "one of us" when it comes to the Castle. I know there are some diehards out there who'd choo-choo choose WC over BLT, Zen, etc., me included! ;)
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He was waiting for me at a corner table, set with a red cloth, and adorned with a lovely, red, plastic rose. He told me that other people had been looking at him strangely, wondering if his date was ever going to show. I apologized for being late. Menus were already on the table. Yes, White Castle had printed up menus for the evening. The offerings were the standard fare, but seemed fancier in calligraphy. I decided tonight was the night... to try Chicken Rings! Additionally, we ordered some sliders and onion rings and a shake.
After we ordered, one of the waitresses came over and asked if we wanted an interview. An interview for what?" I asked. She didn't seem to understand what I was asking. I guess that made us even. Soon after, a man came over to our table and explained that he wanted to ask us a few questions about our evening. He introduced himself as "Mister Mario" and asked us, among other things, why we were spending the night at White Castle. Mike did most of the talking, which was good, since I was having trouble keeping a straight face. Mister Mario finished the interview and asked us to yell "pasa fuera" at the camera. 
The food arrived and I was a little sad that the shake only had one straw. No matter, though. Love was in the air. They had cheesy love songs playing on a tiny karaoke machine over by the drink station, and festive decorations all over. It was still White Castle, but it was still special. Everyone was taking pictures and giggling and having fun. They gave us a goody bag with chocolates, a chip clip, and a coupon for a free burger on a future visit. Yes, two might have been more appropriate, but that makes me sound greedy. Really, they didn't have to give us anything at all.
6 Comments:
Great story! Who doesn't love White Castle? A memory lasting forever.
thumbsup at 1:43PM on 02/15/08
We did this a number of years ago and it was great fun.
http://offthebroiler.wordpress.com/2006/02/14/a-white-castle-valentine/
jperlow at 12:18PM on 02/16/08
Jason,
Your link isn't working for me, so I dug up this one instead:
http://offthebroiler.wordpress.com/2008/02/14/a-white-castle-valentine/
Thanks for sharing! Looks like a very fun evening. Your WC had better flowers, but ours was better decorated. And the goody bags have improved since 2006.
I tried to go last year but several factors worked against me, and we ended up at Joe's Best Burger in Flushing instead. Not a lick of Valentine's decorations to be found, which was refreshing. Just another day at Joe's.
Lauren Krueger at 12:57PM on 02/16/08
Yeah, I reset the timestamp this weekend. That breaks posts on WordPress.
Sadly, Rachel and I can't do White Castle anymore. We're on a health kick. These days, if we are doing burgers, we do stuff like this:
http://offthebroiler.wordpress.com/2008/02/12/turkey-burger-redux/
jperlow at 10:32AM on 02/17/08
OK, I guess I can understand going to a burger spot for V-day instead of something overblown. Still, If my man is going to take me to a burger spot he can do a little better than WC. There's a lot of hip new burger places (BLT Burger, Zen Burger, etc.) that have been written up here and on JuliB.com which might be ok.
rachel8826 at 7:42PM on 02/18/08
@Lauren: Awesome post. Looks like you had a great VDay. I think my own valentine would have dumped me if I tried to drag her to Whitey's.
@rachel8826: There was a White Castle ad campaign that showed people going to extremes with Whitey's sliders or in an attempt to obtain them. The tagline of that campaign was "Yep, s/he's one of us." I guess you're just not "one of us" when it comes to the Castle. I know there are some diehards out there who'd choo-choo choose WC over BLT, Zen, etc., me included! ;)
Adam Kuban at 10:37AM on 02/19/08