NoonEats: Bacon Burger and Fries from Checkers

Founded in 1986, Checkers Drive-In Restaurants prides itself in being the largest chain of double drive-thru restaurants in the country. Home of the signature Big Buford burger, Springfield's Checkers location sits in the median of Route 22, not far from the township's border with Union.

The fast-food establishment caters mosty to drive-thru customers, especially in the colder months, as only one table is available inside. But with last week's temperatures soaring into the 50s, I ordered a combo meal from Checkers and enjoyed it at one of its five outdoor tables. Route 22 is certainly not the most appealing place to eat, but after several months of winter, it didn't matter that I was looking at strip malls and traffic. It was just pleasant to eat outside.

Ordering inside at Checkers is not like ordering at other fast-food joints. The cashiers are behind windows, which they open and close to speak, accept payment and hand out orders. The inside area is tiny, with one large, round table in a corner.

Always a pushover for pork, I ordered the quarter-pound bacon burger, a quarter-pound patty with three flimsy strips of bacon, a slice of tomato, red onion, pickle, mustard and some type of special sauce on a sesame bun.

OK, the bacon wasn't the crispy, salty bacon one might get on a burger at a diner, but overall the burger was flavorful and satisfying. If that burger had had cheese on it, it would have topped out at 630 calories and 41 grams of fat, according to the company's Web site.

(On a side note, Checkers was criticized in the past for not releasing its nutritional information. That information is now available on Checkers' Web site, although using two different browsers, I could not get the PDF to come up. Fortunately, Google's index offers a "quick view" version that allowed me to see the table.)

Besides the unique drive-thru design, Checkers is most known for its seasoned french fries. I grew up eating Jack in the Box's seasoned curly fries, and I was excited to see that Checkers, too, makes a golden, seasoned french fry. The fries are dipped in some sort of a seasoned batter—probably containing salt, pepper and paprika—and then fried.

Unfortunately, I expected more of a punch. As I ate them, I was thinking that I would rather have the thin, salty fries served at other fast food chains—the kind that have you scouring the bottom of your paper bag to see if you might have left one behind. These were thicker and more colorful, but after eating half of my order, I was ready to set them aside.

Perhaps I just like salt and grease more than I do paprika, pepper and batter.

A final note: readers from the Midwestern or Western states may be familiar with a similar chain called Rally's. Checkers and Rally's were founded separately, but the two chains merged in 1999 and now have nearly identical menus.

If you haven't checked out the seasoned fries at a Checkers or Rally's, please do so, and leave a comment letting us know what you think. Maybe it's just me.