Rawley's Drive In

Rawley's Drive In 203-259-9023

1886 Post Road Fairfield, CT 06824 

Recently featured on the Food Network's "Best Thing I Ever Ate", Rawley's is a great place for friendly, fast service and great burgers, dogs and shakes, all at cheap prices. The place is a small, wooden red building with a few small booths and a few stools in the front. 

As soon as you wallk in, you're warmly greeted by the staff and paper menus stuck on the walls in front of you. You should have no trouble deciding what to order, as Rawley's has few items that include burgers, dogs, chicken tenders, fries, onion rings, and even milkshakes and malts.

After ordering, I first started in on the fries and a vanilla shake. The fries were clearly home-made- thick cut with the skin left on them. Although a little thick for my taste,  they were still pretty good, but slightly dry. 

Then the vanilla milkshake-the most expensive single item on the menu at around $4.25 (I think). The shake was thick and creamy, with at least a few scoops of vanilla ice cream, and I almost needed a spoon to get through it all.

Then I tried the Mexican burger- a beef patty topped with fried onions, lettuce, tomato, jalapenos and "sweet inferno" pickles. The burger alone is solid, but what makes it a great burger is the spice of the jalapenos with the sweetness of the pickles- a sweetness I've never had with pickles. 

Lastly, I had what I really came to Rawley's for--the famous deep-fried dog with all the works- kraut, mustard, bacon and sweet relish. 

First the dog- it's  put straight into the frier and then put on the flat-top grill, and what comes out is a dog with crunchier-than-normal skin, which adds a nice textural difference. 

But what really makes this dog is the toppings- the tanginess of the kraut mixes well with the spicy brown mustard and the sweetness of the relish. The real killer, though, is the fried chunks of bacon that add crunch, saltiness, and flavor (come on, who doesn't love deep fried bacon). 

Although the hot dog itself loses its crunch with all the kraut/relish, the bacon gives it all the crunch it needs and overall it's one of my favorite hot dogs- and it's only for $2.95!

So everyone, if you're cash-strapped, in a rush or just in need of a great hot dog and shake, head over to Rawley's in Fairfield.