Comes Bob Bob Bobbin' Into My Belly!

I really like hamburgers a lot. I consider eating burgers one of my sworn civic duties as an American, and I've spent a lot of time in my adult life being patriotic in a culinary way. Our family's favorite burger place is Red Robin, partly because of the gourmetness of the burgers (as measured in dripiness), but mostly because of the bottomlessness of the fries. It's sort of an oxymoron that those fabulous steak fries are called "bottomless" when they truly are the cause of much more bottom...especially after they've been dipped! I know there's about a million other classier places to dine here in suburbia, but I've never met a Red Robin burger I didn't like, so we're kinda hooked. I proudly tout myself as the 21st century Wimpy.

Now, I don't bring all of this up because of my perpetual hamburger hunger, rather, I wanted everyone to know how important it was for us to go the world's first Red Robin before it closed on March 21, 2010. Fortunately, the cradle of burger civilization was just up the road in Eastlake, so no long trek was necessary. Sam's Tavern opened up in 1940 at the far south end of the University District. Sam must have known the direct link between college students and alcohol. He also knew how to sing, and did so in a local Barbershop quartet, as well as behind the counter. He fell in love with the song "When the Red Red Robin" so much that he changed the name of the dive to Sam's Red Robin. The place was bought out and turned into a burger joint in 1969, and eventually became the mother of 450 franchise children. We'd have come to this location more often if we'd known about the great view of Portage Bay out the window! I'm not really sure why the original location closed down, I didn't want to know. I can only assume that it had something to do with red bird droppings.

Our culinary mecca was well worth it when I saw the picture of Red the Robin from back in his college days (below). I'm really glad he cleaned up and got his life back together. I'm also really glad that we moved away from the Red Robin desolation of Wisconsin (we only found one location within driving range from our house) into the land of Red Robin bounty. Thanks for being a shining beacon of hope, Red, I owe you big time! I'm sure I'll eventually pay you back, so long as you continue to fill up the fry basket.