Dick’s Drive-In - The Everyday Burger of Yesterday
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Classic American burgers. Over the decades we have been trained to envision golden arches, bedazzled crowns and red-headed girls in pigtails. They signify the great American fast food that the US is both famous -- and infamous -- for. A homogenous, ubiquitous hamburger that lacks specialness, and where having it your way requires that “your way” really be everyone’s way. But deep down most of us know that what we have been trained to want in a short-order burger isn’t what we really want. What we really want -- or would if we knew of it -- is a burger from Dick’s Drive-In.
The old-school rotating sign above Dick’s Drive-In is a beacon of an earlier, seemingly simpler time. Of a post-war optimism that stretched across much of America and can (almost) still be felt today when watching the gaudy orange, yellow and white sign turn. You pull in and just know that whatever you order is going to be good. And you already know what that order will be: the same thing as the last time and as the next time. Because the menu at Dick’s is limited to what they do best and nothing more: burgers, fries, milkshakes. Period.
From the moment you walk up to the large glass storefront at the OG location in Wallingford you know that this is, indeed, the real deal. From the kid in the blue and orange matching shirt and hat hat taking your order, to the people behind him racing to fill the ever-constant stream of tickets, this place feels like a joint that your dad might have once worked at -- or at least wished that he had. Because Dick’s feels different from other burger shops. From the vibe, to the additude, to the taste of the food, this place exudes a sense of authenticity and honesty. It feels Old School. Sure, it isn’t the only burger-specific business in town, but according to an Esquire poll a few years back, Dick’s beats the pickles out of In-N-Out and Five Guys and is a hell of a lot better than those WendyMcKingster commodities. So there.
When you go to Dick’s you don’t feel like you're being gouged. This is not the place where you pay $18 for a burger and feel a little bad about it with every bite. Instead, it’s simple and straightforward. The buns are soft and plain; the all beef, fresh-cooked, never frozen burger is wholesome and tasty. Add lettuce, pickle relish and a little ketchup or mustard and you have what most red-white-and-blue-in-their-veins Americans think of when they want a good ol’ burger. You can get one plain, or with cheese, ketchup and mustard. But the Deluxe is the favorite, with two patties of beef, cheese, lettuce, pickles and mayo nestled within. The fresh, hand-cut fries come in only one size and should not be missed. And you’ll want a milkshake because if you like milkshakes -- and maybe even if you don’t -- you will love the handmade creamy masterpieces they whip up here (vanilla, chocolate and strawberry only, of course). I’m talking milkshakes the old world way; stainless multi-mixers that the cup hangs beneath and the metal props whirl away in, producing the kind of shake that straws stand up in, thick and rich but easy to slurp until that hollow empty-cup sound ends the meal.
In all likelihood, when you go to Dick’s you will see high school students, maybe even in their caps and gowns, crowding around the windows waiting to order burgers. But amongst them will also be the common person waiting for the same thing, just as they have been doing since they were teens. You never know who will be in line because pretty much everyone goes there at some point; artists like Macklemore and Ryan Lewis, or game-changers like Bill Gates.
The growth of Dick’s as Seattle’s go-to burger place has been organic and unstrained -- from this first location in 1954 it broadened its reach to other areas in 1955, ‘60, ‘63 and ‘74. Three more came along later and now they’ve added a food truck. But even these newbies feel like valuable relics of the food world. You still know what you’ll be eating before you order it and your everyday burger will come out fast and cheap. No surprises except the uncommonly good taste for such a humble burger which, if you’re a Boomer, will likely stir something deep within and make you reminisce of the good old days.
Dick’s Drive-In, 111 N.E. 45th St,
Seattle, WA (and 7 other locations)
(Some photos courtesy of Dick’s Drive-In)
