French Fry Diary 163: Gino's Is Back!

When folks think of the first fast food restaurant they were exposed to, the answer is usually McDonald's, but for me, and I suspect quite a few folks my age in the vicinity of Berlin NJ, the answer would be Gino's.

Gino's is long gone -until just a few days ago- but that building in Berlin, next to the old now also gone Acme, that was since been an Arby's, a Roy Rogers and now just a regular Jersey diner, will to some folks be forever known as Gino's. It was the first place we all got fast food. It was where most of us had our first fast food hamburger - the Gino's Giant, not the Big Mac or the Whopper. It was the place we first had Kentucky Fried Chicken. It was where we went for lunch after grocery shopping at the Acme on Saturday mornings. It was where the food came from for birthday parties when we were little. And for some of us, it was where we had our first part-time jobs. Gino's left that Berlin location in the seventies, but there was still one or two around, but they all closed in the early eighties.

Imagine my surprise to find that a new Gino's had opened just a week ago in King of Prussia. Opened and looking to franchise by founder Gino Marchetti and his partners the new Gino's is known as Gino's Burgers and Chicken, and you can check them out here at their website, or here at their blog, and shortly I'll be reviewing their fries right here at French Fry Diary. And don't forget to 'like' them on Facebook. Welcome back, Gino's!

And just for the sake of nostalgia, here's one of their commercials from the swinging seventies...