Bill Gates Loves Dick’s!

For those who don’t know it, this is such a great validation for a Seattle landmark: Bill Gates waiting patiently in line to order a bag of burgers like this one at Dick’s Drive-In!

It’s an image that has blown up on social media in the last two days, because how often do you see one of the world’s richest people waiting in line for anything – let alone a burger?

As Seattle’s P-I reported, Microsoft Founder and VERY RICH PERSON Bill Gates was captured waiting in line in Seattle at Dick’s Drive-In:

“The image was shared on Facebook by Mike Galos, a onetime Microsoftie who wrote in the comments on the image that he saw it on a Microsoft alumni board. Galos said Gates was at the Dick’s location on Northeast 45th Street in Seattle’s Wallingford neighborhood on Sunday night.”

The article goes on to report that Gates has a reputation for liking burgers in general, and mentioned Dick’s specifically once before – focusing on their price:

In 2011, during an appearance at the University of Washington, Gates told students that being a billionaire can be overrated. And he brought up burgers.

“I can understand wanting to have millions of dollars, there’s a certain freedom, meaningful freedom, that comes with that,” Gates said. “But once you get much beyond that, I have to tell you, it’s the same hamburger. Dick’s has not raised their prices enough.”

So what is this shrine to “all things burger” that drives the likes of Bill Gates to wonder why they don’t raise their prices? Well, since I was born and raised in Seattle, I am here to enlighten you!

Welcome To Dick’s!

“Dick’s Drive-In” is an institution in Seattle, and rightly so: their straightforward and very limited menu offers hamburgers, cheeseburgers, a “deluxe” burger, and their signature “Dick’s Deluxe”, which is two patties, lettuce and a special pickle sauce…that’s it for the menu: no other sandwiches of any kind!

Nothing fancy here, just good flavorful burgers at an very inexpensive price, as you heard from Bill Gates…and all of their food is cooked fresh, never frozen – and it tastes good! In particular, I like their cheeseburgers, which have great flavor – you can taste the meat, and the cheese is real and delicious…

Dick’s also has terrific french fries, made out of fresh potatoes cut right in front of you! And they are delicious as well – although my daughter Jessica rightly points out that they switched out the recipe for their tartar sauce, not a positive step forward, as you MUST eat their fresh cut fries with tartar!

I also love their signature painted cow – which hangs behind big picture windows – clear glass windows so you can watch them cook your burgers and fry your freshly cut fries…and of course, I love their famous catchphrase:

“Where taste is the difference…”

If you doubt just how much I love these, I will tell you that my daughter threw a birthday party and served nothing but Dick’s burgers – stacks of burgers on plates like this:

And my granddaughter Sydney loved them of course!

And yes, the next day I flew a half dozen home with me on the plane – they re-heated just fine…and I am also known to wear this long sleeved T-shirt around the house as well:

Most people sit in their cars outside the walkup windows and eat their “bag of Dick’s” – it’s a Seattle tradition…both Pearl Jam and Nirvana were known to frequent the Capital Hill location when starting their careers in Seattle…because starving bands need to eat cheap too!

And why not? After all, the greatest singer in rock history was known to enjoy burgers – as this vintage pictures shows:

Yes, Elvis liked a burger as much as the next person – or, Bill Gates – and if you want to see some of the other greatest burgers I’ve eaten, here is a look at a few – I posted this to celebrate National Cheeseburger Day:

https://johnrieber.com/2013/09/18/its-national-cheeseburger-day-badhappy-kumas-dicks-five-napkin-white-castle-celebrate-here/

I say “bravo” to Bill Gates, and keep enjoying your Dick’s!

Categories: Food, food blog, Food Review, Hamburgers, Memoirs, Pop Culture, Recipes, Restaurants, Talent/Celebrities, Travel, Travel Adventures, Travel Memoir, Uncategorized, Wacky Food

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