I grew up in Southern Illinois and Burger Chef was a dozen miles away. That still made it the closest fast food chain around. It is also the first time I ever had fast food.
I looked up what happened to Burger Chef as they all disappeared about twenty years ago. We used to have a Sandee's burger chain in town, but Hardees bought them out in the mid 70's. Below is what I found on a web page devoted entirely to Burger Chef:
General Foods sold Burger Chef to Hardee's in 1982. It was at this time most Burger Chefs were converted to Hardee's outlets, many were closed or sold-especially those with a Hardee's location nearby. Less than 100 Burger Chef locations were left.
The last known Burger Chef was closed in 1996, located in Cookville, TN. There are restaurants operating today under the name Burger Chef, but have no connection with the original chain.
My Roscoe's story.
Perusing the restaurant guide in the hotel room, there were the usual categories: Chinese, French, Italian, International, and (doing a double-take) Chicken & Waffles. There was only one restaurant in that category: Roscoe's. I figured if it had its own category in a major hotel in a major city, there might be something to it.
We hunted it down and were not disappointed. Fried or baked chicken, with light, fluffy waffles. There's basically two ways to do it: with syrup or with gravy. Of course, there's no rule on what goes with what. Plenty of choices of side dishes, from eggs, grits, sausage/biscuits, brown or white gravy, etc.
It's your basic, down home, real good, real bad for you, soul food.