Double R Bar STILL Rules

I've long proclaimed that the Roy Rogers Double-R-Bar Burger is the greatest fast food burger in the history of the world. You can have your Quarter Pounders and Whoppers. Forget other multi-tiered burgers like the Big Mac, Philly Cheesesteak Burger and Texas Double Whopper. The Double-R started it all for me and a trip to Frederick, MD cemented its status after all these years.

I'd heard that there were still standalone Roys restaurants dotting the MD landscape, particularly in Frederick. While out doing some furniture shopping yesterday we passed by Frederick and I saw the roadside sign instructing motorists to pull off for the town's fast food row. Though I *could* have easily downed one at the time (10:20 AM) I decided to table my desire to the afternoon and our return trip.

Fighting through my hunger as the morning stretched into afternoon (and we passed yet another standalone Roys in Leesburg, VA!) we headed back home, my eyes focused on the sign that would lead me to the promised land.

The area where I live is nothing short of a culinary dream, situated near the heart of Baltimore's Fells Point, Litlle Italy, Dundalk and Inner Harbor regions bursting with food offerings, not to mention a short drive from Philly and DC. They've even built a Super Wawa within 20 minutes' drive, so I can indulge my love of their coffee and hoagies, all while topping my tank with cheap gas.

But the area lacks two things. One, a White Castle. And, two, a standalone Roys. I say "standalone" because there are Roys restaurants in freeway reststops between here and Philly, but it's not the same. In some cases the Double-R isn't even on the menu and in others, well, let's just say that attempts at ordering this most magnificent of fast food burgers has been a disappointment. I'm talking to you Maryland House where I found a greying slab of leftover breakhast ham slapped atop a burger! For shame...

As for the Frederick, MD Roys, well, I can't say enough good things. My Double-R arrived just as I remembered from my trips up Route 130 to the establishment in Willingboro, NJ all those years ago. The bun with its grilled underside, a fresh and hot burger pattie with melted cheese anchoring it to the bottom of the bun, and that pillowy mound of sliced deli ham sitting atop the burger... warm and inviting, soaking up the flavor from the pattie, just begging to be topped with Roys BBQ and Horseradish sauces. Ahhhhhhhh...

My only complaint about the meal would have to be the state of Roys' fries. They used to be much better, fried in a grease that took on the flavor of their greasy, good and underrated chicken. Unfortunately, these bland sticks of starch could barely be rescued by my blend of the aforementioned sauces which I liberally used as a dunking sauce.