A Beloved and missed icon of an earlier time…
by Bernie Schmitt
Every now and then Ed Bezy longs for the former Charlie’s Burger Barn where he used to work when he was a teenager in the late 1960’s.
“I’ll be thinking about that place and just get a craving for a Barn Burger or a chicken dinner,” he said.
There are plenty of others who wistfully long for the fare prepared and cooked fresh at the little A-frame structure at 1012 Washington Ave. The brainchild of restarantuer Charlie Winkler Sr. and co-owner Ed Swonder, Charlie’s Burger Barn was among the first of the so-called “fast food” restaurants in Vincennes, though the Burger Barn’s distinction is that all of its food was fresh – not frozen.
[Read the rest of this story on page 8 of our online issue]
I only lived in Vincennes for a year and a half, but i gotta guess i ate at Charlie’s every other day. Loved the pork tenderloin sandwich, the burgers, and definitely the onion rings! I miss it!