Late Night Seattle is Dick's Drive-In

Since 1954, the good people of Seattle, Washington have been enjoying some of the best fast food on the planet care of an old-fashioned drive-in called Dick's. Seven days a week between the hours of 10:00 AM and 2:00 AM, it's possible to eat in five different places around the city like Buddy Holly is still the next big thing.

These days, there are plenty of options for a quick bite. Corporate burgers are ubiquitous, healthier sandwich models are gaining in popularity and in Seattle it's impossible to walk ten feet in any direction without bumping into an Asian noodle shop. So why is Dick's such a hot spot? Any one of the dozens of people you'll find in line around the stand will be able to tell you.

For starters, the most expensive item on the menu is $2.40. That's the Deluxe burger. If you can't get away from Dick's with a meal under $6.00, congratulations, you're officially hungrier than the average human being. Of course, prices like that should rightly make one a skeptic. If the lines can't convince you, I hope some honest food review will.

Center stage: The burger. Fresh beef, not too greasy, not too dry. I'm fairly certain the buns at Dick's are toasted, like they should be on all hamburgers. The regular burgers come with mustard and ketchup, but the Special and Deluxe get the privilege of sharing the bun with a secret sauce that puts the competition's to shame. Without naming names, let's just say Dick's is a livelier, spicier, more natural cousin of the sauce you'll find on something that rhymes with "fig sack".

The french fries at Dick's are positively heroic. They're here to save the world from the standardized, flash-frozen, over-salted mutants that have been running rampant in American mouths lately. Look into the clearly visible kitchen at any Dick's stand and you'll see what you ought to see- actual potatoes. Those actual, real-life, honest-to-goodness tubers are there for the sole purpose of making actual, real-life, honest-to-deliciousness fries. Again, minimal grease, lively texture, the flavor of the thing it's made from instead of just salt.

Rounding out the quintessential combo is the All-American milkshake. It's sad that this has to be reiterated in today's world, but if it comes slithering out of a machine it's not a milkshake, it's soft serve in a cup. A real milkshake is hand-dipped and whipped-to-order by a careful employee who knows how to keep the cup from breaking. You know where this is going, right? Dick's makes real milkshakes and they're good enough to stand in line in the dead of winter to taste.

The lesson of Dick's Drive-In is that the overpriced corporate business model need not be applied to the hamburger stand. The term "fast food" has become the dirtiest of dirty words in our increasingly health-conscious culture. While I certainly wouldn't recommend a steady diet of burgers from anywhere, even Dick's, the fast and friendly atmosphere reminds us that the sandwiches and fries aren't regular meals, they're treats just like the icecream cones you can pick up at the side of the stand. We shouldn't be paying sitdown-meal prices for sub-par burgers and frankenfries. If you happen to be in Wallingford, Capitol Hill, Lake City, Queen Anne, or on Holman Road, if it's noon or midnight, if you're drunk or sober, stand in line at a Dick's Drive-In. And there will be a line.