Gordon’s Drive-In is a family run operation open Tuesday through Sunday. Joy, Kyle and Jonathan Nelson took control of it in 2001 and indeed Joy was at the counter when we visited. A super friendly, small town feel to this independent comfort food spot. You order at the counter, when you enter, off the chalkboard menu above it. In the center of the place, with windows on 2 walls, is a combination of table and booth seating options. The counter person brings out your food and it’s wonderful. Lots of the customers appeared to be regulars – speaking with each other and the staff. There are parking spots under a cover, like a drive-in but I didn’t see any car hop service. All came in and many took to-go. The interior is simple and comfortable and the burgers and fries are first rate. Mazomanie, is probably not going to be your destination but they are on a busy road, so if you are in the area I suggest you visit.
Set-up
Food
Cheeseburger is a 1/4 pound Black Angus patty that comes with ketchup, mustard, pickle and onion and you can order it as a single or double patty. We both got cheeseburgers and my husband tried a double and I a single patty. I also added grilled onions which surpisingly came in addition to raw ones. The burger had nice flavor and my husband said he really didn’t need the double, one would be fine. The fresh, soft bun held up well to the ingredients and it didn’t mess with lettuce and tomato. It was really tasty.
French fries came in a small, large and family size and we split the large. They were a small cut that was crisp, hot and fantastic. They might have been the best part of the meal. Obviously fried in fresh oil they had a good potato flavor,no coating and great texture.
In addition to shakes and malts they have sundaes and cones. They hand dip the ice cream but the sauces are not housemade. We chose to try a sundae with a combination of caramel and hot fudge sauces and asked to skip the whipped cream and cherry. The ice cream was smooth and dense and there was a generous amount of sauce to go with it. It was a fun ending for a nice meal.
I’ve driven by Gordon’s a number of times and checked their website once or twice, but have never stopped. By the look of that burger I think I need to pay them a visit sometime!
Thanks! Hope you do and let me know what you think! Joy did think that my getting both raw and cooked onions was a mistake but I rather liked it.
That’s a beauty of a meal. Wisconsin is such a great hamburger state.
Thanks! I agree. However when we first started visiting some 40 years ago I think the burgers were even better and lots of places offered jumbo burgers. There were some wonderful hand dipped malts to go with them and sadly most are now closed. This was a delightful find. I actually thought about you when I ordered the sundae cause I came real close to a shake/malt instead.
Too bad I can’t travel back in time to those days!