Cravers Hall of Fame

Did you know there is such a thing as the White Castle Cravers Hall of Fame? Betcha didn't, but now you do. And did you know that Dan and I were inducted into the CHOF Class of 2005? Well, now the secret is out of the bag. We were inducted with Dan's brother, Mike, and Mike's wife, Jennifer.

Here's the nomination letter I wrote in 2004:

"I want to nominate my husband, Dan, and my brother-in-law, Mike, for the Cravers Hall of Fame. They are the most devoted followers I know!
For as long as I have known my husband Dan (which is almost 12 years now) he has had a special affinity for Whitey’s. On one of the first dates we had in college, the subject of White Castles came up. He asked if I had ever had one, and I said I had once. But being a GRITS (Girl Raised in the South), I wasn’t much into Whitey’s. He was crushed! He told me how when he was in high school in St. Louis, he and his buddies used to drive to the nearest White Castle every Friday night and order the exact same thing and park in the exact same spot to eat together. Dan was determined to show me a good Whitey’s time, so he gathered a friend of mine and her date and we piled in to the car—at that exact moment—and drove all the way from Columbia, MO to the closest White Castle outside of Kansas City, MO. That’s about a two hour drive! And it was in the middle of the night! We got to the restaurant and—horror of all horrors!—it was closed until morning. Being the devotee that Dan is, we waited in the parking lot for a few hours until it opened. We were the first in the drive-thru for a steamy breakfast of Whitey’s. I still wasn’t convinced to love the unique taste.
As the years passed, Dan and I were married, and we lived in Kansas City for our newlywed years. Slowly, Dan changed my mind and I was turned on to the taste of Whitey’s, even though the closest one was a 10 mile drive into the city. I changed my ways and became a Whitey’s devotee.
By 2002, we had moved to St. Louis. I heard a spot on the radio advertising Valentine’s Day dinners at White Castles. I knew this was the perfect Valentine’s Day surprise for Dan. I called the information line and found out I had to make reservations. I reserved a table for two. We arrived at the White Castle on Valentine’s Day, and we were escorted to our table by a maitre d’. The tables had flowers on them, candles, and even tablecloths. We were handed a special menu, and then placed our order with the waiter. We couldn’t believe we were getting such full service at a White Castle! The waiter brought our meal to us on paper plates, and had us pose for a special souvenir Polaroid photo. It was one of the most memorable Valentine’s Days we have ever had.
Now Dan and I have a daughter named Katie (who is, by the way, totally unrelated to that Valentine’s Day at White Castle). She is only a year old, and has already had her first Slyder. She loved it, but I was a little afraid of the—ahem—after effects, so I didn’t let her eat too many. After she was done, I tried to get her to finish the rest of her dinner, but she refused to eat it until I put it into a White Castle box. She happily ate her green beans, as long as they were in the Slyder box.
As much as my husband Dan loves Whitey’s, my brother-in-law Mike is maniacal. He has been in love with White Castle almost his whole life. How much in love, you ask? Let me count the ways:
1. Mike has organized not one but TWO (!!!) White Castle Belly Bomber Blow Out Tours. What exactly is a BBBOT? Well, in 1994 Mike and 18 of his closest friends caravaned to every single White Castle in the St. Louis metro area—in one day. In those days, that was a total of 21 restaurants. The deal was that everyone had to eat something at each restaurant, even if it was only a drink or milk shake. We had our photo taken in front of each restaurant, with a chalkboard stating the chronological number of the pit stop. Restaurant managers were so surprised to see our tour that they started asking which restaurant was next on our list and called ahead to alert the kitchen for us. And just like a rock star concert, our tour included a commemorative t-shirt listing each stop on back. It was a blast! Mike planned a second tour the following year.

2. Mike got married in 2002. He told his wife that he wanted White Castles at the wedding reception. His wife compromised by surprising him with a trip to White Castle after the ceremony, before the reception. She rented a trolley bus to take the entire wedding party to White Castle, where Mike bought a case of 30 to go.

3. Remember that Valentine’s Day I mentioned above? On that same day, Jennifer took Mike to White Castle for a surprise Valentine’s Day meal. One of the local TV stations was there and interviewed Mike and Jennifer about their romantic meal. We were so jealous that Mike got to be a Whitey’s spokesman instead of us!
Now if you don’t consider these brothers true Craver Hall of Famers, I don’t know who is!"

The truth is that I wrote the nomination as a Christmas present for Mike and Dan that year, and never thought we'd be selected. It was Jennifer's idea to just nominate the brothers, and give the letter as a gift, which I did. Lo and behold, a few months later I got the call that all four of us were selected to be inducted in the CHOF. White Castle flew us up to their world headquarters in Columbus, Ohio for the weekend. We were treated like royalty. We were given a special tour of the building (where we even got to see a petrified White Castle that a Queen Elizabeth I ate), met the president, and had a press conference after our lunch of - of course - White Castles. We were presented with special plaques, and our names are permanently on display at the world headquarters. That night, we were the guests of honor at a very nice dinner, where we were given some other fun gifts like a White Castle cookbook, embroidered hats, and my favorite: a golf shirt embroidered with the CHOF logo and my very own name!

We had a great weekend, and enjoyed getting to know our other CHOF classmates. Turns out there were some serious hardcore White Castle fans, and their stories were pretty hilarious.

So... now you know. And, no, we do NOT get any discounts for being CHOFers. You'd think we'd at least get a lifetime 10% discount or something, right? Nope. Just the glory of being a hall of famer, and that really cool embroidered shirt.