Stand Clear of the Closing Reastaurants, Please!

So I'm leaving the Queens College campus this afternoon, and I felt a bit hungry. I decided to get some food at Wendy's. But I was wondering which Wendy's to go to. I could go to the one a few blocks down Kissena Boulevard, near where it hits Parsons Boulevard, but I chose not to go to that one. That's because I saw the Q74 bus waiting at the bus stop. I decided to go to the one in Kew Gardens, Queens Boulevard & 82nd Avenue. So I go there. When I arrive, I discover a horrendous sight: The Wendy's was gone! With a CLOSED sign on the window.

This wasn't the first time a favorite restaurant has closed down on me. This Long John Silver's/A&W located at 11000 Flatlands Avenue in Canarsie closed down a month or two ago. It had the distinction of being the only Long John Silver's in the Five Boroughs (There's an A&W on Hylan Boulevard in Staten Island). I sometimes would take a trip all the way out there for some LJS food. Now, the nearest Long John Silver's is out in Hicksville.

Then there was the Burger King on Amsterdam and 68th Street. That's no longer there. I would sometimes go up there to eat after going to the church nearby. Now, the only places I go to in that area are around 72nd Street. Mostly, I now go to Gray's Papaya.

The reason why I was going to Wendy's anyway was for chicken. In my neighborhood, there's a Wendy's a block away from a McDonald's. Sometimes I wonder. Why is chicken at McDonald's more expensive than chicken at Wendy's? You can get five chicken nuggets at Wendy's for 99¢, but six at McDonald's is not anywhere near that price. McDonald's rarely put the 6 McNuggets at the Dollar Menu, and they do it for a month at most. The 10 piece meal at McDonald's is two bucks more than the same thing at Wendy's. Then there are the chicken strips (which McDonald's calls Selects, but there not much select about them). When Wendy's had chicken strips, they were less expensive than those at McDonald's. What's the deal there?

Anyway, back to restaurants closing without warning. I think it's crazy to think that a restaurant can just up and close without any warning. What I'd like to see is some kind of restaurant obituary or something. Or maybe put some plywood over the entrance... Then again, maybe not. I remember one time, I was out with a lady friend at Rockefeller Center, and we were headed for the Burger King under 6th Avenue. I looked towards where it should be, and I saw a plywood wall. I thought, "Oh no, not again!" (This was shortly after discovering the LJS had closed down.) But there was a good side to the story, since the Burger King was NOT closed, so we went and had lunch there.

Well, let's hope no more of my fave eats closes without warning!