Wood River’s King Louie’s Drive-In at the Roundhouse – Alton Telegraph

WOOD RIVER I was in the mood for the classics.

You can't get any more classic than Wood River's King Louie's Drive-In, 315 S. 6th St. I went classic everything: King Louie burger, famous French fries, a large homemade root beer and a real strawberry shake. Thanks to longtime server Jamie DeGerlia I ordered a shake. The power of suggestion is a good thing, especially coming from someone as friendly, pretty and bubbly as DeGerlia.

"It's fun. I enjoy coming here," said DeGerlia, who has worked at King Louie's for 14 years and has a regular following.

I was excited to realize that King Louie's has homemade root beer. I always got this beverage at the old Mini Corral, when I lived nearby, about a half a mile from the Corral in Alton's Milton neighborhood when I first started working in the city. I moved to Alton in spring 2006, not liking the commute from the Maplewood neighborhood in St. Louis.

I had a great lunch from King Louie Monday that I took to Wood River's iconic Roundhouse, 633 N. Wood River Ave., just four minutes away, and ate it under the gazebo, in perfect weather. You can eat curbside with a tray, inside or take out at King Louie's.

Situated in the main front entrance to the Roundhouse, from the gazebo you can clearly see the unusual shape of the building, for a building, and Central Park's playground across the way.

The classic King Louie burger (which you can order in a double or triple) comes with lettuce, tomato, mayo, pickle and onion, to which I added a slice of American cheese and ketchup. Sure, I had ketchup packets with the fries, but who wants to mess up their amazing loaded burger by lifting the top bun. The all-beef patty is slightly oversized, but the bun totally fits on top of it all. It's a delight for the taste buds that doesn't fall apart.

King Louie's French fries are the best! They were super hot in a good way and I started eating them right out of the classic brown paper sack while driving to the Roundhouse. No salt, no ketchup needed. They are the perfect French fry, in my humble opinion.

The homemade root beer had a definite "kick," as in I could taste the caramel-ly undertone, which is my favorite kind of root beer just scrumptious, and goes great with the fries. I felt like I was literally "At The Hop."

The icing on the proverbial cake was the strawberry shake, because it's made with real strawberries, a surprising treat.

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Wood River's King Louie's Drive-In at the Roundhouse - Alton Telegraph