On the Road in America - 500 Places for Food and Wine Lovers - page 237

Diners & Drive-Ins

259

Ardy & Ed's Drive-In
Rock 'n' Roll on Skates
Oshkosh, Wisconsin

On a summer evening, cruising into Ardy
and Ed's for a hot beef sandwich and a root
beer float—with vintage rock 'n' roll blast-
ing from the loudspeakers and carhops
roller skating from car to car—is a scene
right out of American Graffiti . True, the
roller-skating carhops aren't a 1950s hold-
over—that tradition didn't start until 1983,
when Ardy decided to pave over the gravel
parking lot because the teenage girls work-
ing the curbside service thought it would
be fun to do it on skates. Several genera-
tions of carhops later, they still think it's fun.
Yes, there really is an Ardy, and there
really was an Ed. The restaurant was
founded in 1948, though it wasn't called
Ardy and Ed's then—it was the South Side
A&W, part of a chain of root-beer restau-
rants throughout the Midwest. (It's still
painted in the orange-and-brown A&W
colors, though you can hardly see that
under all the signs loaded around the
eaves of the compact little building.)
Edward Timm bought it in 1960—his wife,
Ardy, had been working there—and in
1972 they took it independent, renaming it
Ardy and Ed's. Though Ed has passed on,
Ardy still owns it with her second hus-
band, Steve Davis—who himself has been
working at the restaurant, making root
beer, since he was 15. That's the kind of
small-town fixture this drive-in is.
The menu is driven by standard drive-in
fare, but with plenty of local touches: Fried
fish items feature butterflied lake perch;
one of the hot-dog options is a Chicago-
style hot dog; alongside the hamburgers

you can also find a bratwurst patty (the
Drive-In Double combines a hamburger
with a bratwurst patty). The Tall Boy ham-
burgers feature Ardy and Ed's own tangy
special sauce, and they also make a signa-
ture Pizza Burger, which has melted moz-
zarella worked into the patty. The draft
root beer is made on premises daily, and
the malted milkshakes use real malt and
local Cedar Crest ice cream. Then of
course there's the hot beef sandwich, a
longtime favorite made with thin-shaved
roast beef on a seeded Kaiser roll—a dis-
tant cousin of the French dip that puts the
ones at the Arby's chain to shame.
Though there are a few seats at a coun-
ter inside, most people use the carhop
service and eat in their cars. It's a seasonal
joint, open March through September, sit-
ting right across the street from the Lake
Winnebago shore. You may have to cruise
up and down the road a while, waiting for
a parking slot to open at Ardy and Ed's.
But hey, it's summer at the lake—who's in
a hurry?

2413 S. Main St. ( & 920/231-5455;
www.foodspot.com/ardyandeds).
( Milwaukee (75 miles/121km).

L $$ CopperLeaf Hotel, 300 W. Col-
lege Ave., Appleton ( & 877/303-0303 or
920/749-0303; www.copperleafhotel.com).
$$ Hawthorn Inn & Suites, 3105 S.
Washburn St., Oshkosh ( & 800/527-1133
or 920/303-1133; www.hawthorn.com).