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Warm weather sparks memories of former custard stand

A month or so ago, I mentioned a past fondness for the Gilles custard stand in St. Charles in the early 1990s, a small restaurant setting located just south of the corner of Randall Road and Main Street in a spot that longtime residents would remember housing the Dog 'n Suds.

Shortly after that item appeared, a reader alerted me that the Gilles owner, Jim Lublow, had passed away in January.

But Gilles custard is somehow alive and doing well in Fond du Lac, Wisconsin. Another reader, Vanessa Quillinan, sent me a photo of that location that reminds me that summer is right around the corner, and places like this bring out the best in my sweet tooth.

I contacted Chris Meyer, the manager of the Gilles in Fond du Lac, to see if there was any connection at all with the Gilles from yesteryear in St. Charles.

"No, actually, I never even heard of a Gilles down there," Meyer said. "I'm sure it was a separate identity and affiliation, and we have our own identity up here."

Meyer noted that a Gilles remains in Milwaukee, and that the brothers who created the business in the late 1940s have simply asked that other Gilles operations just not infringe on areas in which others operate.

In that regard, it likely wouldn't have mattered to either Gilles operation in Wisconsin if someone had established a custard stand in St. Charles.

From where Meyer views things at his Fond du Lac operation, which has been a popular spot in the community since 1949, it borders on being "a coincidence" as much as anything that resulted in a Gilles doing business down here.

In seeing that the Fond du Lac restaurant operates much as it did in the 1950s, in which patrons have to flash their lights at the drive-in spots to request a waiter or waitress to take an order, it had me thinking about the old Rex's Drive-In car hop from about that same era on the east side of St. Charles.

I wish I had been around these parts when that place was popular with teens in the 1960s. I was in Naperville at that time, which seemed 100 miles away from the Tri-Cities to a sophomore in high school.

It's a safe bet I would have been hanging around Rex's in my first car - a 1965 Chevy Malibu convertible that I bought in 1969 - during those high school years.

Lots of burgers:

Whether it would be going to Portillo's for a burger, as I mentioned in Sunday's column, or to one of my new favorites, Burger Local in Geneva, no one can say I eat three burgers a week.

In fact, I can't ever remember accomplishing that feat. However, when you crunch the burger numbers in the U.S., it appears that a fair number of people have to be eating that many or more in a week.

Americans eat nearly 50 billion burgers a year, according to the Kane County Farmer newspaper. That means three burgers a week for every single person in the U.S.

So, let's play a fantasy game here for a moment. If I were to eat three burgers, most likely cheeseburgers, in a week, where would I go locally to do so?

Here's my big three: Burger Local and Country House in Geneva, The Office in St. Charles. If any of those three were too crowded, my backup option would be DeGeo's in St. Charles.

If I happened to be out of town and hadn't hit my quota for a week, I'd throw Granite City in Naperville into the mix.

How about you? If you have a big three that would help us contribute to the national burger eating averages, where are they?

Miss this one:

On the topic of burgers, am I the only person around who actually misses having that White Castle in Batavia?

It still bothers me a bit when driving by that location and seeing the empty site teasing me about sliders I cannot have.

More importantly, what in the world would ever go into that spot, in a building clearly built for the White Castle brand?

'Hawk' flies in:

Local White Sox fans might want to circle June 15 on their calendar.

Sox broadcaster Ken "Hawk" Harrelson will be part of a 4 p.m. program that day before the Kane County Cougars 6:30 p.m. game against Peoria at Northwestern Medicine Field.

It's called the "Take Me Out to the Ballgame III" event in an upper deck suite, where Harrelson and Cougars owner Bob Froehlich will speak to fans and conduct a question-and-answer session.

For the $75 admission fee, attendees get a Hawk Harrelson bobblehead doll and the ballpark fare of hamburgers, hot dogs, brats, etc.

It's also a fireworks night after the game, so this is a strong lineup for Cougars fans.

Even though it's a baseball night with baseball royalty, because of his prowess on the links, my first question for Hawk would be: "How's your golf game clicking along at age 75?"

dheun@sbcglobal.net

  Dave Heun wants to know: what are your top three places for a burger in the Tri-Cities? Steve Lundy/slundy@dailyherald.com
  Baseball fans are invited to meet Ken "Hawk" Harrelson at a Kane County Cougars game on June 15. Scot Gregor/sgregor@dailyherald.com
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