DRIVE-IN BRAINS 25c

Jack Klobnak writes in: "I took this pix in the 1970's. It is on Choteau Ave. in St. Louis, which was famous in the early 20th Century for Brain Sandwiches (use a lot of mustard). It was not uncommon for dolts to be told to take a quarter down to Choteau to get some brains. Sadly, the building is no longer standing." The location appears to have since been completely redeveloped as a hospital.

• [Prufrock451]

  “Hey, for the last time, pal, you gotta drive up. You can’t walk through!”

  “RRRRRRRRRRRARRR”

  “OH GOD NO”

• [magdelane]

  Without reading your description, I somehow knew that was in STL…. and I only lived there for 5 years in the 2000s. Luckily there are tastier things to be found in the South Grand neighborhood, now.

  Good old Show-toe. Thanks for the smile.

• [Talia]

  Its nice to see someone actually trying to cater to the much-maligned zombie populace. It’s sad that these days zombies have to resort to the old-fashioned wanton violence to feed themselves, rather than just dropping by the corner store.

• [Bmaniac]

  St. Louis native here. Watch out for discount brains in the city! There was a much better place to get brain sandwiches in South St. Louis county right at the Gravois/Mackenzie intersection (1980ish). My grandfather swore by them but I could never even stomach the smell. I think it’s a bar now.

• [Anonymous]

  Maybe it’s that I manage about 400 truck drivers, but after the “Brains – 25 Cents, Drive In,” the next thing I noticed was the “Truck Stop” window sign.

• [Jake0748]

  Out of all the “Sandwich Systems” out there, Harvey’s was one of the best

• [Anonymous]

  There’s a Welsh brewery called Brains, situated near Cardiff central station. They produce a lovely, smooth bitter called Brains SA (Cardiffians say it stands for “Skull Attack”) and a Brains Dark, among others.

  It leads to a number of brain-related puns in signage around the city and beyond, one of which was captured by ace Welsh popsters Super Furry Animals in this promotional photoshoot:

  http://www.thomasthetaff.com/welshbands/superfurryanimals/pictures/A01d-Brains.JPG

  and it’s still there on the same bridge some ten years later:

  http://pwdxb.files.wordpress.com/2010/03/superfurry.jpg

• [pjcamp]

  Carr Lane Avenue?

  Signmaker must have had the donut.

• [Thorzdad]

  My grandmother made brain sandwiches for my grandfather and my dad. Breaded and either pan-fried or deep-fried. It’s an acquired taste, but one that a huge number of depression-era people shared. Especially here in the midwest, diners and taverns all over the place had brains on the menu way back in the day. I was a brave kid and tried it. It’s actually pretty good.

  I prefer mine with mayo and a dollop of good horseradish.

• [Palle]

  I’ve had brains a few times. It’s still popular in many Mexican, Central American and French restaurants around North America. It’s very mild, and quite delicious. Like most things, it likes being cooked in butter. I prefer subtle preparations, since I don’t think the flavour requires any sort of masking.

  Bovine spongiform encephalitis wasn’t a concern when this photo was taken. It is now, at least in North American, and so I’ll only order brains from a trusted source, or in countries where bovine spongiform encephalitis hasn’t occurred. While I do like brains, sweetbreads offer a similar flavour, but are tastier and have a nicer texture, and are easier to find. If you’ve enjoyed sweetbreads you’re not missing too much by not trying brains.

• [Anonymous]

  No one is afraid of developing bovine spongiform encephalitis from eating a brain sandwich?

• [erg79]

  Tacos de sesos are not uncommon to see in LA, but they did disappear for a while.

  http://www.deependdining.com/2009/05/brains-are-back-tacos-de-sesos-aka-beef.html

• [Anonymous]

  Way cheaper than grad school!

• [Anonymous]

  A photo of this sign was used as the cover on one of my favorite albums, “Where in the World” by Bill Frisell.

  http://www.amazon.com/Where-World-Bill-Frisell/dp/B000002H9S/ref=sr_1_1?s=music&ie=UTF8&qid=1290528172&sr=1-1

• [Gawain Lavers]

  Before I saw the “¢” I assumed this was going to be in Wales.

• [Anonymous]

  I remember this from National Lampoon’s True Facts!

• [Jared]

  Ha, I actually have a postcard of this image (in color) on my fridge. I live less than a mile from where it was taken.

• [Anonymous]

  The building in its place is actually the Edward Doisy (after the Nobel laureate who was a professor there) Biomedical Research facility for St. Louis University.

• [Anonymous]

  Boy, you guys are a little behind. Here’s the remodeled site from Cows Are Delicious: http://www.cowsaredelicious.com/modules/AMS/article.php?storyid=268

• [TombKing]

  It has been a long while since I have seen that picture. One of my favorite Radio shows which is sadly no more took their name from that sign.

• [TombKing]

  The location appears to have since been completely redeveloped as a hospital.
  I haven’t been back in over a year and never really did much more than drive through that particular neighborhood but that looks like part of the St. Louis University expansion that happened after I moved to Seattle. Since it is a Med School you are not totally off.

• [Anonymous]

  What no Zombie jokes?

• [Freddie Freelance]

  First thought: Hold it, they’re letting Zombies drive?

  Second thought: Brains Sammiches haven’t been the same since Mad Cow, ’cause a half a calf’s brain is more tender than a whole pig’s brain.

• [Limey in small town Illinois]

  In the U.K. you can enjoy Brain’s Faggots
  http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/uk_news/england/2698507.stm

• [Anonymous]

  I live less than 8 blocks from here. The building that replaced those in the photo (the one that looks like the cheese wedge) is a St. Louis University classroom/medical building. For at least 10 years before that, the last was just a pile of rubble. SLU owns 90% of the land between Lindell and Interstate 44 on South Grand.

• [Phikus]

  Way too inexpensive. This is what happens when you make driving through brains only $0.25.

• [Anonymous]

  The thought of eating brains grosses me out. Just the idea of eating some creature’s thoughts. Plus brains are basically lumps of cholesterol, probably one of the worst animal products you could eat (“a single serving, contains 3500 milligrams of cholesterol, 1170% of the USRDA”).

• [Anonymous]

  Beef brains were common in St. Louis, even into my 1970′s childhood. Fried brains, two slices of Wonder bread, a pickle. Delicious – think of ‘em as a fritter and you get the idea.

• [Jake0748]

  I’m not sure if people should be driving BEFORE they pick up their brains.

  If they’re only $0.25 each, how come so many people don’t have any?

• [jaypee]

  Fried brains sandwiches are still served at a couple of places and I’m told by the natives that they’re delicious and rich.

• [Anonymous]

  There’s a shot from a slightly different angle of that building on the cover of Bill Frisell’s 1991 release “Where in the World?” — on that photo, you can see the Gateway arch in the distance to the left.

  http://www.allmusic.com/album/where-in-the-world-r160654