Arkansas Times

Eat Arkansas

« ZaZa chef/owners to open new restau… | Pieday: Strawberry icebox at Susan… »

Thursday, May 19, 2011

Burgers Burger joint of the week: Myer's Cruizzers

Posted by Kat Robinson on Thu, May 19, 2011 at 10:21 AM

NOSTALGIA CENTRAL: Myers Cruizzers delivers retro

Grav Weldon
NOSTALGIA CENTRAL: Myer's Cruizzers delivers retro

Sonic may currently have the corner on chain operations attempting to replicate the historic pull-up-and-order drive-in, but a little operation in Mena does the chain not one but about eight better. Myer’s Cruizzers, in short, has it going on.

The old style order-at-your-station restaurant carries what you’d expect at such an operation — burgers, fries and tots, shakes and drinks and dogs. But there’s a whole depth of menu going on that caught my notice on two different visits to the southwest Arkansas city.

Kat Robinson

The menu is loaded — and your passenger won’t really be able to see everything on it unless they have very good eyesight and can read everything on the backside of the next stall’s menu board. Crazy things like Nacho Nuggets ($2.59/3.49, not a clue what they are); a Country Boy sandwich ($3.89) with beef, ham, American and Swiss cheese and fixings; the Flaming Cruizzer Dog ($3.59) with its selection of grilled onions, bell peppers and BBQ sauce on a Polish sausage. There are Pickle-Os and Texas Toothpicks and fried zucchini and fried green beans and whatnot. The menu is vast.

Kat Robinson

Yet the best way to tell the value of any operation like this is to try their burger. Myer’s delivers here. The single (#1 with mayo, #2 with mustard or #3 with hickory sauce) is $2.49 — 40 cents more with cheese. We took advantage of the special: a double cheeseburger, tots and beverage for $4.79, done up #1 style.

Grav Weldon

It’s a big flat burger. There’s a reason for this that dates back to the golden age of drive-ins. With a small griddle and large volume, patties that can cook quickly are a bonus, and the thinner they are the quicker they cook. This tight flat burger contained not one but two patties of ground beef in a very smushed round; shredded lettuce, a slice of tomato, ridgy dills and a few onion ringlets sat under the patties; two slices of American cheese glued the patties together and to the top bun. The toasted bun was buttered. Very classic.

The meat? Not a whole lot of room for flavoring, just the salt and pepper treatment and the flavor picked up from a grill used constantly every day. Yet it works — because it’s a drive-in burger. It’s meant to be eaten out of a foil and paper wrapper without falling in your lap. Oh, the tots were decent, too.

Kat Robinson

But if you drive all the way to Mena and don’t get a shake, you have made a critical error. Myer’s Cruizzers offers around a dozen different shake flavors — the expected ones like chocolate and vanilla and strawberry, pineapple, butterscotch, hot fudge and banana. But peanut butter? Mocha chill? We had to try the blueberry… and boy, were we surprised. Not content to just put a little blueberry syrup in the mix, it’s a blend of blueberries in their own sauce, vanilla ice cream and graham cracker, giving it the flavor of a blueberry cobbler or pie. Irresistible.

Kat Robinson

And you can have it malted.

Then there are the sizes to be considered — not content with the standard sizes Sonic uses (14 and 20 ounces), Myer’s Cruizzers offers its shakes in 32 and 44 ounce versions as well. That… that’s a ridiculous amount of shake. You were planning to share that, right?

I have been enamored with the cherry phosphate and with the dipped cones (though I wish they’d dip them a little deeper and get the shell down onto the cone itself), but I just don’t feel like I’ve done enough research. Going to have to go back, I guess.

You’ll find Myer’s Cruizzers at 409 Highway 71 North. No website, no Facebook page but you can call (479) 394-5550.

Tags: burger, drive-in, Mena, Myer's Cruizzers

        
Tweet
Share

Comments (5)

Showing 1-5 of 5

Add a comment

That place is great!! It thrilled me to death to see that Cruizzers was kicking the Sonic's butt business-wise the one time we ate there. It really is wonderful.

report

dislike

Posted by AllenK on 05/20/2011 at 10:27 PM

This is a great family owned and operated business where the customers are treated the old fashioned way - special. The burgers are great but you need to experience the freshed squeezed lemonade. This is a real treat with fretted squeezed lemons, some carbonation and that wonderful shaved ice! Add the burger and fries to this and you have a meal fit for royalty! Make it amust have when you come to Mena.

report

dislike

Posted by lillys ne on 05/23/2011 at 9:50 AM

My family absolutely LOVES going to visit friends in Mena because we get to enjoy Cruizzers. It is fantastic! Those Texas Toothpicks are the all time favorite of mine. Good to see it is getting noticed!

report

dislike

Posted by brimm89 on 05/23/2011 at 10:05 AM

Love this place. Better than sonic and there are so may other things OFF MENU you can order. If you can think it up they can probobly make it. The people are great and its a favorite hangout for the locals.

report

dislike

Posted by skittles on 05/23/2011 at 5:09 PM

I'm from Hatfield and now live in Greenville, TX. I miss my Cruiser's desperately! Their burrito deluxe is sinful and delicious (they even cut it up for you, which I truly appreciate!) And one of my top reasons for going there as opposed to a Sonic, the vanilla PEPSI!!! It is my all time favorite drink! Keep it up Myers' family, we love you!

report

dislike

Posted by HHolder on 05/23/2011 at 10:51 PM

Subscribe to this thread:

By Email

With RSS

Showing 1-5 of 5

Author Archives

Pieday: Buttermilk at O'Henry's

There are two ways to make a buttermilk pie — make it fluffy or make it creamy. O'Henry's is the fluffiest I've found at any Arkansas restaurant.
- by Kat Robinson
- Dec 16, 2011
Burger joint of the week: The Dairyette in Mt. Ida

You know a place is going to be good when you pull up and there’s a line out the door.
- by Kat Robinson
- Jun 2, 2011
Great cookbooks for the holidays: The Cook's Illustrated Cookbook

2000 recipes, complete with explanations about how, why and what goes into every one make this tome from Cook's Illustrated a must-have for your cookbook shelf.
- by Kat Robinson
- Nov 30, 2011
More »