Fifty years of making fried onion burgers on Route 66

Marty Hall has spent decades working at not one, but two notable restaurants along Route 66 in El Reno, Oklahoma, that specialize in fried onion burgers.

Hall has owned Sid’s Diner since 1989. Before that, he began his restaurant career barely in his teens at Johnnie’s Grill, also on Route 66 in El Reno. All total, he’s been cooking friend onion burgers in El Reno for 50 years.

KFOR-TV in Oklahoma City reports:

He was a 13 year old dishwasher and professional onion peeler on his very first day.

“Boy. It was rough,” he recalls. “About 25 pounds of onions and I was crying.”

KFOR correctly noted Sid’s has become a Route 66 landmark, drawing visitors domestic and foreign for many years, plus television networks, as well.

Johnnie’s Grill also is frequented by locals and travelers, as is Robert’s Grill, which dates to the 1920s. All are on or very near Route 66.

Here’s the full video report from the station:

Hall’s book of stories from behind the restaurant counter, “A Burger Boy on Route 66,” isn’t on Amazon. So if you want to buy a copy, you’ll have to go straight to Sid’s to acquire it.

Restaurants that offer fried onion burgers are sprinkled all over Oklahoma, but ground zero for them remain in El Reno. According to town lore, Ross Davis developed the fried onion burger at the Hamburger Inn along Route 66 in downtown El Reno:

Davis began making fried onion hamburgers in the twenties during the depression. Since onions were cheap and meat was expensive, Davis would add a half shredded onion atop a five cent meat patty and smash the burger with the back of his spatula.  It made the burger look bigger, while adding a tremendous amount of flavor.
John T. Edge explains how a local businessman and his idea became what is El Reno’s local delicacy, “Like other iconic American dishes, the taste for burgers laced with onions was wrought during days of privation.  Eventually, acquired taste spurred localized tradition.”

The Depression didn’t take hold until the 1930s, but the story that onions were used to stretch hamburger meat makes abundant — and financial — sense.

(Image of an onion burger and fries at Sid’s Diner by iwishmynamewasmarsha via Flickr)