Bittman on Friendly's

Apparently Friendly's is going out of business. I have fond memories of going to Friendly's to get sherbet, usually lime, after soccer games on Long Island. Good times. Mark Bittman at NYT has some memories, too. He also threw in some thoughts on fast food in America that were nice:

I remember the food as being real. And it probably was, because 50 (! I’m writing that?) years ago the industrialization of food had not been perfected. Now, “good” fast food is best defined by places like In-and-Out Burger, which is undeniably a teeny tiny level better than utter junk. But that doesn’t make it good.