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I wish I had to chance to see this place in it's prime...
Jack Keller, the folksy, tireless founder of Dallas 1950s’-style institution Keller’s Drive-In, has died. He was 88.
The burger pioneer passed early Tuesday morning, one day after being diagnosed with Stage 4 cancer of the liver, his son Jack Keller Jr. said.
“I’m devastated,” Keller Jr. said. “He was my hero. He was the smartest, coolest guy I ever met.”
Last year, the Northwest Highway location of the classic burger joint – known for its no-frills food and service, in-car dining and long-tenured employees – celebrated its 50th anniversary.
The location, one of three, is a frequent meeting place for car clubs, motorcyclists and others who’ve patronized the fast-food landmark over the years. With its metal awnings and sprawling layout, it looks much the same way it did a half-century ago, like something out of American Graffiti.
“The secret of this business,” Keller said last year, “is a good, consistent product, year in and year out, at a reasonable price.”
The drive-in’s most popular order is the No. 5, a double-patty burger hunkered on a poppy-seed bun. Keller himself enjoyed a burger several times a week.
“If you get a burger and get everything in there — meat, bread, produce, seasonings — and get it dressed the way you want to, that’s pretty good eatin,’” he said.
As a kid, Keller worked at Kirby’s Pig Stand, which became, according to The History Channel, the nation’s first drive-in restaurant empire. After a brief stint at a $1.35-an-hour auto plant job, the young Keller set his sights on land near Tenison Park Golf Course on Samuell Boulevard.
He opened his first location in 1950. In the years since, Keller’s earned local and national acclaim, including nods from late burger guru Josh Ozersky as having one of the top 10 burgers in the U.S. and from Thrillist as one of the country’s 11 best drive-ins.
Its disparate cross-section of regulars left even Keller stymied as to its makeup.
“Some people ask me, ‘What’s your customer base?’” he said last year. “I really couldn’t tell you. People who like hamburgers, I guess.”
Among his regulars were four women – including a pair of sisters, both former Dallas Cowboy cheerleaders – who called themselves “the Keller Girls” and who despite their geographic distance have made periodic lunch visits as a group for six years running.
Tuesday night, a handful of customers sat in their cars or near their motorcycles under the drive-in’s familiar neon sign on Northwest Highway. They remembered a hands-on owner who often drove in and parked at the lot’s far end to keep an eye on things.
“He’d sneak in all the time,” said Dan Padgett of Dallas, who is among the bikers who made Keller’s their temporary home. “He’d sit there, incognito.”
But he looked after his customers and staff as much as he did his business.
“They helped me so much,” said Amanda Eastep, a server at the drive-in since 2009, referring to Keller and his wife. “Any time the girls had issues or needed to take a day off, he would be very understanding. He was just an awesome man to work for.”
Keller loved his enterprise and regularly drove his gray Lexus around town to check on things at all three Dallas locations.
“He’d show a guy how to wrap a sandwich correctly, all of that,” his son said.
But by early this year, as health issues set in, Keller had a harder time making the rounds himself, so Keller Jr. drove him. He made his last rounds in mid-March.
“That was the longest he’d ever been away from work, when he was in the hospital,” Keller Jr. said.
Despite a series of hospitalizations, Keller Jr. said, his father maintained his signature wit. He celebrated his 88th birthday in the hospital.
Then doctors performed a biopsy and discovered late-stage cancer. Keller lived just one more day.
Keller Jr. said the all the Keller’s locations will likely close on the day of his father’s services, which have yet to be scheduled.
Last year, the elder Keller pondered his long-lasting success in a highly competitive industry.
“I guess if you work at something and you don’t get any bad breaks and you’re lucky, it’ll go on,” he said. “And as long as it’s fun, you try to do it.”
Jack Keller, the folksy, tireless founder of Dallas 1950s’-style institution Keller’s Drive-In, has died. He was 88.
The burger pioneer passed early Tuesday morning, one day after being diagnosed with Stage 4 cancer of the liver, his son Jack Keller Jr. said.
“I’m devastated,” Keller Jr. said. “He was my hero. He was the smartest, coolest guy I ever met.”
Last year, the Northwest Highway location of the classic burger joint – known for its no-frills food and service, in-car dining and long-tenured employees – celebrated its 50th anniversary.
The location, one of three, is a frequent meeting place for car clubs, motorcyclists and others who’ve patronized the fast-food landmark over the years. With its metal awnings and sprawling layout, it looks much the same way it did a half-century ago, like something out of American Graffiti.
“The secret of this business,” Keller said last year, “is a good, consistent product, year in and year out, at a reasonable price.”
The drive-in’s most popular order is the No. 5, a double-patty burger hunkered on a poppy-seed bun. Keller himself enjoyed a burger several times a week.
“If you get a burger and get everything in there — meat, bread, produce, seasonings — and get it dressed the way you want to, that’s pretty good eatin,’” he said.
As a kid, Keller worked at Kirby’s Pig Stand, which became, according to The History Channel, the nation’s first drive-in restaurant empire. After a brief stint at a $1.35-an-hour auto plant job, the young Keller set his sights on land near Tenison Park Golf Course on Samuell Boulevard.
He opened his first location in 1950. In the years since, Keller’s earned local and national acclaim, including nods from late burger guru Josh Ozersky as having one of the top 10 burgers in the U.S. and from Thrillist as one of the country’s 11 best drive-ins.
Its disparate cross-section of regulars left even Keller stymied as to its makeup.
“Some people ask me, ‘What’s your customer base?’” he said last year. “I really couldn’t tell you. People who like hamburgers, I guess.”
Among his regulars were four women – including a pair of sisters, both former Dallas Cowboy cheerleaders – who called themselves “the Keller Girls” and who despite their geographic distance have made periodic lunch visits as a group for six years running.
Tuesday night, a handful of customers sat in their cars or near their motorcycles under the drive-in’s familiar neon sign on Northwest Highway. They remembered a hands-on owner who often drove in and parked at the lot’s far end to keep an eye on things.
“He’d sneak in all the time,” said Dan Padgett of Dallas, who is among the bikers who made Keller’s their temporary home. “He’d sit there, incognito.”
But he looked after his customers and staff as much as he did his business.
“They helped me so much,” said Amanda Eastep, a server at the drive-in since 2009, referring to Keller and his wife. “Any time the girls had issues or needed to take a day off, he would be very understanding. He was just an awesome man to work for.”
Keller loved his enterprise and regularly drove his gray Lexus around town to check on things at all three Dallas locations.
“He’d show a guy how to wrap a sandwich correctly, all of that,” his son said.
But by early this year, as health issues set in, Keller had a harder time making the rounds himself, so Keller Jr. drove him. He made his last rounds in mid-March.
“That was the longest he’d ever been away from work, when he was in the hospital,” Keller Jr. said.
Despite a series of hospitalizations, Keller Jr. said, his father maintained his signature wit. He celebrated his 88th birthday in the hospital.
Then doctors performed a biopsy and discovered late-stage cancer. Keller lived just one more day.
Keller Jr. said the all the Keller’s locations will likely close on the day of his father’s services, which have yet to be scheduled.
Last year, the elder Keller pondered his long-lasting success in a highly competitive industry.
“I guess if you work at something and you don’t get any bad breaks and you’re lucky, it’ll go on,” he said. “And as long as it’s fun, you try to do it.”
burgers!
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