While cleaning out some old files, I recently came across a pile of old menus that I had collected over 25 years of writing about food.

Turns out I had a lot of them. And cleaning out this vast trove of junk collected before I somewhat retired brought back a flood of memories for the countless eateries, diners, dives, food trucks and some really fine dining places that I visited, all in the name of good journalism.

Sadly, a lot of them have fallen victim to changing tastes, economic realities and just plain retirement.