High River’s Hitchin’ Post Drive In has barely changed since it opened more than 40 years ago and if you ask me if it ain’t broke don’t fix it.
The Hitchin Post has great burgers at their most basic.
I lived in High River for more than four years, so I’ve been to the popular drive-in many times over the years. At my last job, the Hitchin’ Post was just a couple blocks away so it was a good place for lunch on a sunny day with my regular order – a cheeseburger, fries and a strawberry shake. In all that time, I’ve never had one of their ‘signature’ HP burgers.
Of course, the HP stands for Hitching Post. It’s not, as I was corrected, because they put steak sauce on the burger. It doesn’t need any.
It’s a double cheeseburger with sliced ham, lettuce, tomatoes, onions, mustard and relish. The veggies are fresh, with crisp, crunchy lettuce and thick slices of tomatoes and onions.
The burger is cooked on a flat-top so it gets that tasty, crispy char on the outside to seal in the juicy goodness.
The patties aren’t as thick as what you may find at other places, but what they lack in girth they make up with an abundance of flavour.
Owner Carmen Lamoureux buys fresh ground beef each day and makes the hamburger patties each morning.
“We’ll never have a frozen patty, it’s all fresh,” she said.
As well, other than a little salt and pepper, she uses no seasoning or sauces in the hamburgers except for some breadcrumbs and egg to hold the patty together, it’s all beef.
She said the recipe allows the beef to take center stage.
“We don’t need to doctor it up,” she said.
She said the HP and mushroom burgers are their biggest sellers.
The Hitchin’ Post has been a foothills landmark for more than four decades, but even the owner isn’t precisely sure when the burger shack first opened.
The drive-in has been in the family since the beginning. Her parents first opened the restaurant and she took over a few years ago. For all the years the drive-in has been open, the menu has remained the same – from the classic burgers and renowned onion rings to the fantastic milkshakes.
“We’ve never changed anything for 40 years,” she said. “If it’s not broken, don’t fix it.”
It all makes me glad summer has arrived, a Hitchin’ Post burger and fresh strawberry shake are the perfect match for a good lunch at the drive-in.
Now, maybe I’ll have to write a Best Milkshake of the Foothills column next year.
Rating (out of five)
Size 3.5
Taste 4
Originality 3.5
