Editor's Note: This blog ran roughly two years ago as the Main Street McDonald's was demolished and rebuilt, but with the Ebert family celebrating the 25th anniversary of the acquisition of their first store - the Bridgeport location - I decided to give it another go. Please talk about your favorite items from the past here.

 

I can still remember my first trip the Bridgeport situated along Main Street in Bridgeport. Technically, it’s no longer there as a brand new, shiny McDonald’s is being put in place of the one that was leveled on the same lot earlier this month.

 

I’m not sure who it was for, but I know I was there for a birthday party. I was transfixed by the airplane that I remember hanging upside down in a walk down area off the section where you ordered your food. In a word, it was pretty cool to someone who was still contemplating actually being an astronaut, which was prior to realizing that you had to be competent in math and sciences in order to actually qualify for consideration in that field.

 

That being said, I can’t imagine that just about every single person in Bridgeport and beyond hasn’t had a portion of their past include a trip to McDonald’s. The iconic chain is as American as baseball, hot dogs and apple pie – and like many of those icons the business is now in all corners of the world.

 

While I could sit here and wax poetic about all of my past food encounters at McDonald’s, I wanted to see what some of you thought about some of McDonald’s past products. By past, I mean products that were once part of the menu, but are now as much a part of the history bin as the building and the airplane inside it on Main Street are.

 

For me, the biggest loss ever was the McDLT. Anyone remember that?

 

The whole concept was that “the hot stayed hot and the cool stayed cool.” In other words, the meat and one half of the bun were on one side and the toppings, including condiments, vegetables and cheese, were on the other side. And it all came in this unique Styrofoam double-sided container. The idea was that folks like yours truly would enjoy the contrast in hot and cool when placing the two sides together before a burger beat down.

 

The apparent downfall, at least from my very quick Google online research is that folks didn’t want to be bothered with putting the food together themselves. Apparently, our nation’s laziness was underestimated by the marketing folks at McDonald’s.

 

Sadly, this was one of my favorites and – although it later came back as the “Big n’ Tasty – I never had another one in decades. I don’t think it will make a comeback.

 

Another product that I apparently was the only one ordering was the McLean Burger. It was actually a nice size burger that was described as “low fat.” McDonald’s marketed it as a burger that tasted great, which may seem hard to believe considered that a product known as carrageenan (us lay folks call it seaweed) was included as part of the mixture where fat was removed.

 

I believe I was eating these burgers at one of those few “healthy eating tenures” in my life and had several of them. And just like the duration of that stretch of healthy eating, the McLean Burger was gone.

 

It should be noted that there have been dozens of items placed on the McDonald’s menu that have faded into the past, there are many I don’t ever recall and even more that never made it to the West Virginia – or even American – market.

 

Anyone remember the Hulaburger, or the McHotdog, or how about the McLobster? Yep, you could actually buy a Lobster product at McDonald’s – not locally, but if you were in the right place you may have been fortunate – or maybe not – to sink your teeth into one. There was the Arch Deluxe, the McPizza and even the McPasta. Get this; there was even a McAfrica. And I’m betting there are plenty more.

 

Of course, when Bridgeport welcomes back its shiny new McDonald’s on its old lot along Main Street, those items won’t be coming with it. The good news is that the Quarter Pounder with Cheese and the Egg McMuffin will be on the menu, which means order will continue in the universe.

 

And as I always do in blogs such as this, it’s now your turn. Throw in your comments about your favorite – or not so favorite – extinct menu items from McDonald’s. With my offerings here, you can always “Have it Your Way.”