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SHORT ORDERS
[ S T. L O U I S S TA N D A R D S ]
Keepin’ It Old School As new owner of Brentwood’s storied Carl’s Drive-In, David Kraemer vows not to change a thing Written by
CHERYL BAEHR
I
f fans of the longtime Brentwood burger institution Carl’s Drive-In have any worries about the restaurant being sold, they need only look to David Kraemer’s first official act as its new owner. “We’re going back to Frank’s recipe for the grilled onions,” Kraemer says. “If you asked for grilled onions anytime in the past six years, you would’ve gotten sautéed onions browned on the grill. However, the way they used to do it — and it’s so good it’s a game changer — is that they used to smash diced onions into the burger, then flip it. So when it cooked, the flavor really got in there. When it’s cooked right like that, it’s amazing. Apparently they got a lot of blowback when the old owner took that away because he didn’t like them like that, so we know that everyone will be excited. We’re taking things as far back as they will go and as original as original gets.” Though Kraemer has only owned Carl’s Drive-In for a few weeks, he already understands the responsibility that comes with the purchase of such a storied restaurant. That historical weight is something he felt long before he ever considered buying it in fact, it was the main reason he wanted to own the diner in the first place. Having grown up in Wildwood, Kraemer had only gone to Carl’s a handful of times until about six years ago, when he moved to Kirkwood and started patronizing the place three or four times a week. As he became a regular, he got to know the story of the place — how it was built as an automobile ser-
24
RIVERFRONT TIMES
Carl’s Drive-In has a new owner, but don’t worry; he’s holding onto the history that has made the burger shack a local legend. | ANDY PAULISSEN vice station in , became a hot dog stand in the early s, was established by Carl Meyer as Carl’s Drive in in and had a good run under its second owner, Frank Cunetto, from 6 through 2 . However, it wasn’t just the facts of the history that moved him it was seeing how the diner’s story lived in the hearts of the generations of regular guests who see it as more than a place to grab a cheeseburger and fries. “What’s great is the generations of people from Brentwood who come here,” Kraemer says. “There are kids who come up riding their bikes and old-timers too. Some of the old guys come in talking about when Carl was here, and that was 62 years ago. There’s just so much history here.” n his time coming to the restaurant as a patron and now as an owner, Kraemer has pieced together parts of that history. Some of it involves stories of Meyer, the original owner, who came to the place because his family delivered meat to its original culinary iteration as a hot-dog stand. Under his tenure, he turned the spot from carhop and pickup window service to an enclosed, air condi-
SEPTEMBER 22-28, 2021
riverfronttimes.com
Smashed thin and cooked to perfection, burgers at Carl’s are the main event. | ANDY PAULISSEN tioned space with seating for sixteen patrons and, most notably, obtained the restaurant’s famous root beer recipe. According to Kraemer, rumor has it the recipe is an original World’s Fair formula that became so popular at Carl’s that people associated with Dr. Pepper sent in scientists undercover to create knockoffs of the beverage. Most of what Kraemer has come to know, however, centers around
the drive in’s second owner, Cunetto, a larger-than-life personality who cultivated the restaurant’s reputation as the quintessential nostalgic burger joint. More than just an owner, Cunetto was an ever present figure at Carl’s, flipping burgers from open to close and making the diner’s famous root beer himself. Because he was always there, he got to know everyone who came in as if they were family when he sold the restau-
