Drive-In Dreaming

I am a huge fan of old school drive-in restaurants. When I was a kid my grandparents owned the Merri-man drive-in located just outside of Detroit. I would spend summer days there watering the flowers, and making homemade cookies and noodles with my grandmother. Of course, I would need to refuel myself by eating the best hot dogs and hand dipped ice cream cones!

Needless to say, I feel obligated to try every drive-in restaurant I happen upon. Most of the time the food is mediocre at best. What I typically label as Gordon Food Service eats. You know, previously frozen only requiring a microwave or a deep fryer to be passed off as real food.

So when I found the Minnetonka Drive-In, my expectations were quite low. I had passed by several times, as my in-laws live nearby, but had always been on a schedule and unable to stop. I was drawn to the architecture of the long, low slung awning. I found myself yearning to go on a Thursday night when they have their weekly gathering of the local vintage car club.

We finally took the plunge and stopped in for lunch one sunny afternoon. There is no inside seating and with the temperature just shy of 95 degrees we elected to sit on a picnic table in the shade as opposed to our car. Now, if we had a fantastic 1950's convertible--well, we would have stayed in the car!

We ordered through the microphone on the large order board located in the picnic area. Chili dogs for Daddy-o, Handsome Devil #1 and myself. Handsome Devil #2 ordered the chicken drummies with barbecue sauce. A round of root beer for all, and a large order of onion rings for the table. The food arrived in paper "boats" pretty typical of drive-in joints. However, on further inspection this food appeared different. You could see the herbs and spices in the batter that coated the onion rings. The chili was obviously from scratch and the barbecue sauce far better than any from a bottle. We were in heaven!

This had been the combo I so wished for; the atmosphere of a local drive-in with food that was crafted on site by folks who wanted their customers to be happy. All of a sudden I was twelve again in the kitchen with my grandma, using the bottom of a knobby water glass to get the texture just right on the top of what would be the best-ever peanut butter cookies.

The Minnetonka Drive-In is located in Spring Hill, Minnesota and is open March through October.