Frisch's Big Boy

                In 1936 Bob Wian sold a DeSoto Roadster and purchased a small hamburger stand in Glendale, CA which he called Bob’s Pantry. The following year one of his regulars asked Bob if he could do up something special and the first double decker hamburger was born. That original double decker was, according to legend, named after a “chubby” boy who hung around and would sweep up in exchange for one of Bob’s burgers. The name given it was the Big Boy.

                Bob’s was a huge success as he developed many things beyond the double decker burger. He created the first drive-in restaurant where you could sit in your car, order your food through a speaker and have it delivered via roller skating waitress.

                In 1948 Bob sold his first franchise to a gentleman in Cincinnati, OH, David Frisch who made a few changes to the menu and that famous burger and opened Frisch’s Big Boy. While there have been over 20 other Big Boy franchises across the country over the years, Frisch’s remains the oldest and widest spread. You can find Frisch’s throughout Ohio, Kentucky, Southern Indiana and Florida. You can also find them on the web at http://www.frischs.com/. You can also find Big Boy on line at http://www.bigboy.com/.

Burgers

                Since there is a Frisch’s within walking distance of our house, we have been going there all of Josh’s life and not always for the burger. They have a decent little breakfast buffet as well as a soup and salad bar and a full menu of other tasty meals.

                When we go and get a burger, though, we always do the Super Big Boy, a larger variation of the traditional quarter pound double decker. The Super provides a full half pound (before cooking) of beef. We also do what is called a combo. The combo eliminates the center slice of bun so the two patties are together. Unlike the original California Big Boy, Frisch’s uses tartar sauce on their burger in place of the Big Boy sauce.

                   On this trip Frisch's was offering up a selection of new, one third pound gourmet burgers but that isn't our style, at least not for the blog. So we stuck with our regular, the Super.

                There’s one thing you can always be sure of at a Frisch’s. That’s the fact that your Big Boy is going to taste the same as the one you had last week or last month or even last year. It may not be the best burger in the world (and we will vouch that is isn’t) but it is good and the restaurants are very consistent with their delivery.

                Likewise, the fries are always above average. Sure, they are delivered frozen to the restaurant but they are well cooked and pretty darn tasty when dipped in tartar sauce. Yeah, we know, too much tartar sauce, what, with it on the burger as well as on your fries, isn’t good for you. That’s why we don’t eat here all the time.

                Mark misses the fact that you use to be able to drive up in your car and eat but also remembers what a cramped pain in the ass it was. Josh, having eaten at a couple of drive-ins over the years, could care less. Still, going inside the Frisch’s is always worth your time. You probably drive past one every day. You should stop in once in a while.