I spent the holiday weekend catching up on some shows that I had TiVo'd and hadn't had a chance to watch. One of those shows was a recent episode of Alton Brown's "Feasting On Asphalt 2" from the Food Network. This particular episode featured a dear old friend....the Maid-Rite Sandwich Shop in Quincy, IL.
For the uninitiated, the Maid-Rite is a loose meat sandwich kind of like a Sloppy Joe, but without the tomato sauce. You might even be familiar with the sandwich if you were a fan of the old Roseanne TV show.
The Mason's called Quincy "home" for nearly a decade during my formative years, and one of the things that I remember most was Maid-Rite. Hell, Maid-Rite helped make me the man that I am today. 
I actually didn't discover Maid-Rite until my last couple of years in West Central Illinois. The Maid-Rite was located on the North side of town, and we never had any reason to visit. But during my last 2 years of High School in Quincy, we enjoyed a phenomenon known as "open lunch".
Open lunch meant we could go off campus to eat, and we did....often. Burger Chef, Taco John, and Maid-Rite were frequent lunchtime stops. We'd cram 5 guys into Ty Quinn's Firebird and head out....I can close my eyes and remember it like it was yesterday. Hard to believe it was really over 30 years ago. In fact, every time I hear Heart's "Barracuda" it reminds me of Ty, Larry Foster, Jeff Pfaffe and Alan Brady and our lunchtime trips to Maid-Rite. Those WERE the days!
So after catching Alton's sojourn to my old stomping grounds, I decided I that needed a Maid-Rite....NOW! A trip back to Quincy this afternoon was according to the wife, out of the question, so I hit Google to see where the closest Maid-Rite was located. A road trip will probably have to wait…because the closest Maid-Rite’s are in a couple of small towns near Dayton, OH.
Maid-Rite is actually part of a chain that started back in the late 1920's in Iowa. The Quincy Maid-Rite is one of the oldest locations still in existence. The interesting thing about Maid-Rite, is that each of these original locations is unique, and the only thing that they share is the formula for the Maid-Rite itself.
Today, the Maid-Rite chain is trying to expand and become more like a “normal” fast food chain with identical menus, and a uniform look. Many people say that the standardized Maid-Rite’s aren’t as good as the ones you can get in Quincy, but for now that might just have to do. I’ll let you know when I get back!
If a visit to Maid-Rite is physically out of the question for you, I do have a solution. A few years ago I tracked down a recipe for “Quincy Maid-Rites” and included it in a charity cookbook that I took part in. It’s not the real thing, but it’s damn close. Enjoy!
Quincy Maid-Rite’s
2 Tbsp. dried chopped onion ½ tsp. pepper
2 Tbsp. water 6 hamburger buns
1 lb. lean ground beef Prepared yellow table mustard
1 ½ cup chicken broth Freshly chopped onion
½ tsp. salt (use less if broth is salted) Sliced pickles
Soak dried onion in water. Crumble ground beef into a hot skillet and cook over a medium-high heat. When the soaked onion has begun to soften, add it (and its’ water) to the beef. Stir frequently as the meat browns, using a spatula to break the meat into small crumbles. When the meat is browned, add chicken broth, salt, and pepper. Cook until the liquid is almost gone, roughly 10 minutes. Serve meat on buns with prepared yellow mustard, chopped onion, and pickles. Makes 6 sandwiches.