Schroeder’s Drive-IN
Danville, IL
Traveling for work, I decided to jump off the exit in Danville and take five minutes more to skip past the chains and see if I could find a local gem. I drove past Schroeder’s and was intrigued by the sign and pulled a U-turn. Normal fast food setup at the counter and there wasn’t a drive-in to be found, so I was a little confused. The menu board looked super cheesy and there was a suspect salad bar behind me so…I set the bar pretty low. But at 12:15, the place was packed. Hmm…drama.
They didn’t have any combo meals, so I ordered: Double Cheeseburger 99¢, Small Fries $1.69 and Small Coke $1.49. They filled the soda for you, so I am unsure if there were free refills.
Burger arrived in a clear plastic bag. The fries were unbranded as well. As far as the taste, it tasted exactly like McDonald’s. I have had a lot of meals at McDonald’s and I am not sure if I could tell the difference. The burger was the size of McDonald’s double cheese and I thought that it was pretty tasty.
A lot of people say that McDonald’s has the best fast food fries, but Schroeder’s could give them a good run for the money. For a small, there were a lot of fries. Then again, for $1.69 I thought that the fries were correctly sized. I found the fries to have a little more salt on them then I would prefer, but they were awesome.
Then I got up and started looking around the pictures on the wall and then I realized….holy crap, this is a active-living BURGER CHEF!!!!!!!! So if you ask, are there any more burger Chef’s…well, kind of.
Burger Chef:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Burger_Chef
http://www.lostindiana.net/Lost_Indiana/Lost_Indiana__Burger_Chef
Most of you local folks know about the Indianapolis born Burger Chef. Burger Chef had a good run, started in 1954 and was purchased by General Foods (Hardee’s) in 1982. It was the first to invent the Happy Meal and a few other fast food breakthroughs. They once had 2,400 locations (second to McDonald’s) and then just fell off the map after the buy out.
Correct me if I am wrong, but Schroeder’s is just one of two working Burger Chef locations and is still serving the same menu at least?
Would I Buy It Again? For the nostalgia alone, yes. It wasn’t the best burger that I have had, but it was a solid fast food meal with good customer service and a true pride of keeping history alive. I enjoyed my visit to Schroeder’s and if I am back in Danville, I will probably stop by.
-WIBIA
Want to bone-up on your Burger Chef reading? Try this:
Tags: Burger, burger chef, cheeseburger, drive in, Food, Fries, schroeder's
They put the freakin’ hamburger in a plastic bag?! Gah. The pain, the pain. Such waste, so bad for the environment. Man, can’t they just afford some wax paper, or something. Ridiculous. – Rant over.
How was their overall menu? Were there a lot of items on it? I’d consider the 40 minute trip to Danville to check the place out for the nostalgia factor…
ha ha, nice work on the rant. I thought that it was a little odd as well. Not only that, they had about 25 burgers on the slider contrapation coming from the kitchen. It didn’t make me feel like they were fresh, but the burger was warm….and plenty tasty.
If I remember correctly, the small salad bar found in a Burger Chef was so you could dress your own burger with whatever topping you wanted. I also remember the burgers coming in plastic bags.
You are correct about the salad bar. The best part of the burger is using the condiment bar to make it personal. As a kid we would make giant pickle tomato burgers that were amazing. If you skipped the bar you really missed out on the real experience.
Wow! If my dear mother were still alive, I would drive her out there to hear her pronounce “chef” with a hard “ch” just one more time! lol
For the first few paragraphs I had visions of “McDowell’s” in Coming to America …
There used to be a place in CA called Herfees (sp?) and it had the same deal with the condiments, that was the best feature of the place & I to loved to pile on the pickles:-)
I laughed out loud when you said you realized it was Burger Chef – didn’t see that coming!
I soooo remember BC from after church on Sundays and what a treat it was to get their version of the Happy Meal – it came in a tray like contraption that folded out. [not a bag or box]
Thanks for the memories. I miss condiment bars.
Wow, that takes me back… my first job ever (mid 70′s) was at the Burger Chef on Southport Rd (I think it’s a Donato’s now).
We called that “salad bar” a “Works Bar” where you would custom dress your burgers.
I think when I worked there you could get a Big Chef, fries, & a coke for less than $1.
Limited menu…very limited. Not worth the 40 minute trip either.
I get to Danville a few times a year…for nostalgia value, I’ll give this a try…and I know what to expect..it’ll be fun and I’ll take it at that
Burger Chef? That’s a blast from the past. I used to fill up a little paper cup with pickles from the salad bar. YUM!
I love places like that. I have a Roy Rogers 10 minutes away that still has the fixings bar.
Someone mentioned a Big Chef.
Oh, the memories. I need Burger Chef to still exist. Best childhood memories.
I don’t remember plastic bags tho’.
I loved Burger Chef as a kid. They were the first chain to offer kid’s meals – it was called the Funmeal. I remember I hated buns, so I would just eat the burger right off of the bun. Good stuff! I am actually heading to Schroeder’s tomorrow. I have been meaning to get over there. It is about 1 hour away, but we will be in the area.
How can you say it tasted exactly like McDonalds? Burger Chef was the best, and tasted nothing like McD’s.
Their burgers were flame broiled, not fried. Surely the burger was flame broiled..no?