Slow down for Roy Rogers’ Fried Chicken

After the long, slow decline, I am happy to see that new Roy Rogers restaurants are starting to open. In the 1980s, they were pretty popular in New Jersey and my family went a couple of times a year, but never for the hamburgers or other sandwich items. No, we went to Roy’s for their fried chicken. I think it started when my Mom got a taste for it after we picked up a box at one of the many locations on the New Jersey Turnpike on the way home from the shore.

For years after that, Roy Rogers became our go-to place for fried chicken, which was sort of inconvenient, since the nearest location was ON the NJ Turnpike and to get on the Turnpike you have to pay tolls. So my family worked out a system where we found a way to park near a fence on the other side of the rest stop where it was located. From there we would go through a hole in the fence to get to Roy Rogers.

This might be one of the most ludicrous uses of time and money that my family ever embarked upon, but we never questioned it at the time. Any time my Mother was open to us getting fast food, none of us kids ever complained.