American Eats: North Dakota. The Ground Round.
North Dakota is a very large state that has a very odd mix of restaurants. But, oddly enough, it is one of the last outposts of an old American icon.
The Ground Round first opened in 1969. It was the kind of restaurant your grandfather probably ate at when he was raising one of your parents. It was an odd-sounding concept, one that let you throw peanuts on the floor and serve beer, but also had children’s parties with a famous clown mascot.
My grandfather always talked about how much he liked the place. And at one point, there were 200 Ground Round locations across the country. But half of the remaining restaurants closed when the corporate owners of the company filed for Chapter 11 Bankruptcy way back in 2004.
A group of franchise owners bought out the company and began to run the company themselves.
Today, The Ground Round is a shell of its former self. There are only nine remaining Ground Round locations, all either in small towns in the northeast or small towns in the midwest. And I happened into one in Minot, North Dakota.
Walking into that Ground Round was like walking into a time machine in which I walked into a mid-1990’s Ruby Tuesday. Same type of vibe. Same type of decor. The closest thing you could probably relate to is that it reminded me a lot of Chotchkie's from Office Space.
The food itself was so memorable that I cannot even remember what I ordered. I do remember that it felt like eating at every other mediocre similar-concept restaurant that I have eaten at over the last 25 years.
Does the Ground Round still exist due to its cruising on nostalgia from a prior era? Or is it because they continue to be located in smaller markets where there is less competition from similar concepts? Realistically, it might be a little bit of both. The nostalgia for places like the Ground Round can only go so far. It is not a chain that had or continues to have a cult following. It is not a place that is a cultural icon in any particular region or city. It’s just….there.
Not many visitors find their way to Minot, North Dakota. But, if for some reason you do, there are better options in the Magic City than the last vestiges of a chain seeking survival.