Keller's Hamburgers: Lunch with a Flaming Rooster

A couple of Fridays ago, I finished my field assignments uncharacteristically early and called my wife to suggest we meet for lunch.  During the summer, Jessica has Fridays free and that means she spends the day with the boys.  Lunch in Dallas would provide a much-needed break in her day, and she readily agreed.  We talked about where to meet and I threw out a couple of ideas: a favorite Chinese food place we'd not visited in a long time or Keller's Hamburgers on Garland Road.  She chose Keller's, reasoning that the boys would not want to eat anything from the Chinese food place.  She had a good point, and we both hung up and headed for Keller's.

Keller's Hamburgers is a familiar name in Dallas.  They've been around a long time and have a reputation for cheap and delicious burgers.  Their drive-in restaurant on Northwest Highway is perhaps the most iconic and famous of the old-school drive-ins in Dallas.  A few years ago, they acquired the Jake's  Hamburgers at 10226 Garland Road.  Jessica and I were steady customers at Jake's, and fortunately,  Keller's  kept most of the Jake's menu, including my all-time favorite chicken sandwich, the Flaming Rooster.

Of course, I had to have a Flaming Rooster when I met Jessica and the boys for lunch.  It's a very delicious sandwich consisting of grilled chicken, hot mustard, Monterey jack cheese, a surprisingly hot pico de gallo and a poppy-seed bun.  Appreciating jalapenos like I do, I'm prone to scoff at what others might consider spicy.  I will never, however, take the heat of a Flaming Rooster lightly.  The pico de gallo is the real deal and gets my attention every time.

Jessica chose the chicken sandwich, which was three golden-fried chicken strips with lettuce, mayo, and tomato on a poppy-seed bun.  It looked great and she certainly seemed satisfied with it.

For sides, we both had tater tots, and they were exactly what tater tots should be: hot and crispy with just a little bit of salt.  We dipped them in ketchup and were as happy as we could have been with them.

The boys had corn dogs and they ate most of them, which is about as ringing an endorsement as you're going to get from my boys.

From what I've been able to gather from the internet, Jack Keller made his fortune in property  investments, oil speculation, and the restaurant business.  He also, if the framed photos on the wall inside the Garland Road location are any indication, rubbed shoulders with many famous people.  Among the many photos, there's one of him with Willie Nelson, and another with him and Chi Chi Rodriguez.  There's also an autographed photo of Stan Musial meeting Pope John Paul II.

Lunch at Keller's was a good idea.  Afterward, I kissed my wife goodbye and waved to my boys before climbing into my truck for the ride back to my office.  My belly was full, my taste buds were satisfied, and my wallet still had money.  That's about the most I ever ask of any place I stop for lunch.

Keller's is a cool place to eat.  I recommend you give it a try!