Posted By Eugene Lisansky
on
9/14/2007 11:22:00 AM
I've been coming to Glenwood Drive-In for burgers since about 1959, when my dad would take me here after a hike at the nearby Sleeping Giant State Park. When I told Dad I was stopping here on a recent visit (May 2007), he said "These things are never as good as you remember them." Wrong! Glenwood Drive-In has changed little in the 52 years it has been open, and is every bit as wonderful as I remember it from my youth.
The building has been renovated and re-roofed, but the location, the menu, and the procedures are the same, mainly burgers and dogs grilled fast over flames, delivered to you within a few minutes, despite a line. These are not big fat juicy burgers cooked rare, but pre-shaped burgers similar to what you get in a supermarket meat section. The dogs are the very long kind, and are much more appealing cooked over a flame than boiled all day. It's the flames that make everything taste (and smell) great! You get on line, the order-taker asks what you want, he shouts it out to the cooks, and by the time you get to the cashier (after passing the drink station), it's ready. Pay, and then slop on the condiments of your choice.
Fried clam strips and lobster rolls are also popular menu items here, but the All-American burgers and dogs, cooked in the style of a July Fourth picnic, are the real draw. In an age of cookie-cutter fast-food, this little piece of Americana is a treasure. It's worth a trip from anywhere in southern and central Connecticut. As an even bigger treat, grab some goodies from the Glenwood, drive about three miles north to Sleeping Giant Park, and chow down at a picnic table in the midst of fragrant tall pine trees.
"This charcoal grill fills the dining room with the irresistible aroma of fire-cooked meats."
Michael Stern
"Glenwood's hot dogs are served the traditional New England way, inside lightly toasted split buns. Add your own condiments."
Michael Stern
"A hot lobster roll is almost nothing like a cold lobster salad roll. It has no mayo, no lettuce, nothing but lobster meat and butter in the bun."
Michael Stern
"The Glenwood Drive-In is at least as famous for its onion rings as for its hamburgers and hot dogs. When you stand in line waiting for your order, you can see them battered and fried."
Michael Stern
"Our kind of menu!"
Michael Stern
"There is plenty of room in the Glenwood Drive-In lot, but it's almost always crowded. At the far right of the photo is the family's ice cream annex, which some consider among the state's finest parlors."
Michael Stern
