American cafe, restaurants, and diners history includes many 'firsts'

Cafés, restaurants, cafeterias, diner, drive-ins and fast food places are deeply embedded in American culture and life.

Did you know the first restaurant in America was established in 1734? Guess which city?

Check out these interesting “firsts” in American restaurant culture:

Fajitas were discovered in a San Antonio Mexican restaurant by Norman Brinker, the founder of Steak and Ale, and CEO of chain restaurants like Chili’s and Macaroni Grill.

“We first put fajitas on our menu at Chili’s and sells soon went up the roof,” Brinker told future Examiner Jack Dennis in 1997. “Fajita’s alone, with its sizzle and steam rising from the plates as we served them, transformed business and Chili’s was never the same.”

The famous Big Boy character and logo image that graces restaurant’s napkins, statues, signage, etc. originated from a sketch of a six-year-old boy named Richard Woodruff.

The tubby little boy came into Bob Wian’s dinner in February 1937, just one year after he opened, and charmed the restaurant owner into free hamburgers for doing odd jobs. Soon, the chubby guy, who often wore baggy overalls, earned the affectionate nickname “Fat Boy.”

Mr. Wian named his large new hamburger (the first double-decker) after “Fat Boy.” When he found out that name was already trademarked, he dubbed the burger and his diners, “Big Boy.”

Samuel Cole opened the first restaurant in America in 1734.

He noticed an opportunity on a major stagecoach trail in Boston and called his establishment an “ordinary,” or “tavern.”

Naming it simply, “Cole’s,” the new restaurateur set his place apart from the inns of New England by concentrating his energy on preparing and service good to hungry patrons. Traditionally, food was just a necessity for visitors who stayed overnight at inns.