Best 50s Flashback Dinner

We find it reassuring that the House of Prime Rib serves exactly the same food as it did when we were kids, and deeply satisfying that the place still offers an honest meal. (And it's something of a bargain: The ritual dinner, including a salad and several sides, costs between $24.85 and $29.85. Children 10 and under dine for $8.45, complete with milk and ice cream.) The signature chopped salad comes first, dressed at your table in a spinning bowl with a thin pink dressing poured from on high while you watch. It's served on a chilled plate, with a chilled fork: a classy, if nutty, touch straight from the '50s. Then comes the roast beef, rolled up on a huge silver cart and carved tableside. The beef comes with a big baked potato stuffed with sour cream, butter, bacon, and chives (any or all), fluffy Yorkshire pudding, fresh creamed spinach, and house-made horseradish sauce. That's it. (Well, a couple of daily fresh fish specials are on offer, for those pescetarians willing to watch their carnivorous friends and family enjoy an aged slab of USDA Prime.)