Posted by oldschgrl, a resident of the North Whisman neighborhood, on Mar 13, 2009 at 2:30 pm

i tried Armadillo Willy's and it was good as was the tri-tip i had the week before. Tri-tip Tuesday is the best for lunch!

In 1973, $1.05 could get you a Parasian, tater tots and a

great tasting RC cola at Linda's.

Posted by SD, a resident of the North Whisman neighborhood, on Mar 14, 2009 at 8:05 am

Is there an old employee that used to make the burgers?

Where are you???

Tell us what you remember.

Posted by Susan, a resident of another community, on Mar 14, 2009 at 11:04 am

I took a friend to try the Parisian Burger at Armadillo Willy's. We grew up in Palo Alto and Linda's was our destination at lunch time almost everyday. After ordering she told me she would take half home to her husband to try, after one bite she said forget it, she was eating it all. Armadillo Willy's had hit it right on. She plans on bringing her husband down memory lane on Saturday to enjoy the thrill of that delicious burger himself.

I have had both Parisian burgers and must say both were very good. The bread is what brings the full taste of the Parisian burger from the old days back and AW has it.

Posted by Bryan Barton, a resident of another community, on Mar 14, 2009 at 7:17 pm

I worked at Linda's in 1984. If i remember right there was celery salt and garlic powder in the sauce. The sauce was added to the cooking beef patties (ground by Linda's employee's that morning), the sourdough rolls

were also grilled. It was a great high school job, I do remember meeting Linda, but the place was run by her mother and sister.

p.s. the steaksand was my favorite and the milkshakes were great.

Posted by BT, a resident of the Old Mountain View neighborhood, on Mar 16, 2009 at 2:29 pm

Bryan...Thanks for the reminder on the steak sandwiches. They were my favorite as well, although the burgers were hard to beat.

I think time does make things seem a bit better than they were in reality, so perhaps there is a tendency to be a little harsh on the recreations being attempted.

Posted by Marsha, a resident of the Jackson Park neighborhood, on Mar 16, 2009 at 3:12 pm

When I saw the Parisian burger advertised, my mouth immediately watered for the Linda's of old. Armadillo Willy's is quite close to that mouth watering experience. Definitely not to be compared to a MacD's; however, not a carbon copy either but worth the $$.

Posted by Evelyn, a resident of the Cuesta Park neighborhood, on May 28, 2009 at 2:55 pm

I loved those tator tots and the Parisian Burger, omg the shakes too! I used to ride my bicycle to the record store to buy an ALBUM and had to stop at Linda's - I miss it! Do you guys remember Loyola Corners and the ice cream shop with the yummie burgers? They had homemade Ice cream.

Posted by Linda, a resident of the Sylvan Park neighborhood, on May 30, 2009 at 12:12 am

Ok, since we're going down memory lane, how about a few more blasts from the past!

Remember these stores which were across El Camino from Linda's:

Wherehouse Records (now a Kragen Auto Parts and Petco)

Shaw's Ice Cream & Candies (now a Togos)

Hubbard & Johnson (now a strip mall with a Longs)

And just around the corner from Shaw's was The Akron (now an Office Depot). That was a funky store!

Going farther down El Camino was the beloved Camino Bowl (now condos), Joe Bockman's Chevrolet (now an office building), and the Red Barn at the corner on Rengstorff (now a Country Gourmet restaurant).

I also have fond memories of The Menu Tree in San Antonio shopping center with that huge Cuckoo clock! I'm not sure what's there now since that mall had so many drastic changes.

And who could forget Mayfield Mall! Too bad it turned into an HP!

Posted by Tod, a resident of another community, on Jun 24, 2009 at 3:03 pm

@ Evelyn: That place at Loyola Corners was originally a grocery store run by Andy Ardito and Ed Longden way back in the 40s and 50s. They retired and it became Don's. Don had an ice cream shop just up Fremont near the old hardware store and he moved into the old grocery, adding a grill for hamburgers and other cooked foods to his inventory of yummy ice cream. Poor Don made great food but couldn't spell worth a darn: I remember this old sign: "Miners - No Smokeing" with two misspellings. Smartass kids would use pencils to correct it.

Posted by Bill, a resident of another community, on Dec 1, 2009 at 3:05 am

I didn't know about Linda's but I remember getting burgers at the Red Barn. Across from the Red Barn, the wine store at Rengstorff and El Camino Real had small bottles of cold Ripple for 39 cents in the seventies. What was the name of the record store in Palo Alto that looked like a big wood record crate. One day I stopped in there and they were playing a new song by Carly Simon. It was: "That's The Way I've Always Heard It Should Be" and they were featuring her new album which contained that song. I bought that album and I never forgot the song or the album. Great Times - Great Music!

Posted by Jeff, a resident of the Old Mountain View neighborhood, on Jan 21, 2010 at 4:09 pm

The record store was Banana Records

Posted by Bob MacLean, a resident of the Cuesta Park neighborhood, on Jul 29, 2010 at 3:08 pm

Do you remember Chez Yvonne on El Camino just south of Linda's? Our French class went there from Graham Jr High, probably 1962, for a French experience. About 9 years later I was a night manager for the Red Barn on Rengstorf. One day the place was robbed, the 2 idiots went across the street to the Chevy dealer and bought a car with cash, they were easily found. It was an inside job. I asked the MV police to escort me to make the bank drop at night after that.

I heard a place near Evelyn in SV made a copied Parisian burger for years and of course by the time I heard about it, it was no longer there. That was about 1990.

But the best memory of all was Linda's Parisian burger, MAN am I glad my mom liked taking us there. The sauce was awesome. I wish we could get those things catered at a high school reunion.

Posted by John Brignani Jr., a resident of the Old Mountain View neighborhood, on Aug 26, 2011 at 6:04 am

Well, there always has to be a different opinion,,,and here it is. I was born in 1941, raised at 506 Mt View ave., about 2 1/2 blocks from Johnny Macs Drive In. I'd bet that my folks took me for the first time to Johnny Macs when I was around 7 or 8 YO. As I became older, myself and many freinds would go to Johnny Macs for the Big Mac Burger all the way thru our teens and so on. The Big Mac burger and SAUCE and special way the burger was built was and still is the very best tasting burger we ever had. LOL, My buddies and I to this day say Johnny Macs Big Mac burger was the far and above the best burger ever. From the mid 40's, 50's and early 60's. John Brignani Jr.,, PS. WHAT WAS IN THAT SAUCE? i WISH I KNEW LOL.jbrignani@charter.net