Saturday, June 9, 2018

DC TRIP: Breakfast with the King


For as long as I can remember (which, according to Google is 1968), I've hearing about Roy Rogers restaurants, and haven't been able to go. They've just never had such critters out here on the West Coast. So when we went to Gettysburg, we rode the Metro up the end of the line at Gaithersburg, MD, and while looking at googlemaps to find a nearby car rental, I spotted a Roy joint, and resolved to have breakfast with the King of the Cowboys.


So there we went. Being a lifetime member of the Roy Rogers Riders Club, I naturally wanted a Double R Bar Burger. But being that it was still shy of 8am, they refused to cook me one, and I had to settle for a Gold Rush Breakfast Sandwich. A Gold Rush, it developed, is pretty much a Sausage McMuffin with a wafer-thin slice of ham lumchmeat on it. But thanks to Roy's Fixin's Bar, I was able to load it with barbeque sauce and pico de gallo, making it pretty dang tasty.


The place reminded me of a Carl's Jr. (that's Hardees to you mid-Western and Eastern folk), and I later learned there's a reason for that. Between 1990 and 2002 it was owned by the same outfit, though it has since been indpendent.



It wasn't until we got home, and I was perusing the brochure listing the nutrional value of Roy's vittles, that I learned they also serve Holster Fries. Had I but knowed, I would have throwed a fit until they either fixed me some or placated me with a free holster.


There were a half dozen small repros of Roy movie posters scattered about the joint, but the only other tribute to the King was this poster. I picked up a comment card, so I could write the head office and tell them they need to pipe in Roy and Dale's music - and open one of those gol' darn restaurants out here in Oregon. 

5 comments:

Art Scott said...

Any culinary tributes to Nellybelle on the menu?

Rick Robinson said...

Seems a western cowboy star would have the restaurants here in the West, you'd think. I'm afraid that breakfast sandwich doesn't sound like the best choice, wasn't there a rancher's breakfast or something?

Evan Lewis said...

Sadly, though there are close to a hundred menu items in the nutrional brochure, there are no others with even a sniff of a western theme. No Bullet Burger. No Pat Brady Buiscuits and Gravy. No Dale Evans Ham and Eggs. No Trigger Pancakes. No Happy Trails Meal. Too bad I already mailed that comment card, or I could demand they add all that stuff.

Roy also had a strong Oregon connection, with many relatives living around the Portland area. He was Grand Marshal of the Rose Parade back in 1954. So we deserve a restaurant. And Livermore should get one just so Art can eat there.

TracyK said...

Santa Barbara should get one too. My husband, who was born in Ohio, says Roy has an Ohio connection. He was born on my birthday in 1911 in Cincinnati, Ohio. He also remembered Nellybelle although he had forgotten the jeep's name. I agree with you wholeheartedly on the music... why have a Roy Rogers restaurant without Roy and Dale's music?

Cap'n Bob said...

There was one in San Jose, CA, when I moved there in 1969, but it was near an IHOP that the Juanillos and I favored. Alas, I never ate at RR's and it eventually went out of business. I'm kicking myself for that decision.