The Fat Boy Drive-In menu, which has changed little since the restaurant opened in 1955. The restaurant will open Saturday, with a limited menu to start. Hannah LaClaire / The Times Record
BRUNSWICK — Fat Boy Drive-In opens for the season on Saturday, bringing back its frappes, onion rings and BLTs and marking Brunswick’s unofficial start to summer.
Mike Jerome, co-owner of downtown Brunswick’s Portland Pie and Bolos Kitchen Cantina and Candlepin, purchased Fat Boy from longtime owners Ken and Jeanne Burton last month after the restaurant spent almost a year and a half on the market.
Jerome said earlier he was immediately interested in the spot, an “iconic piece of Brunswick’s history” that he and people from all over look forward to visiting every summer.
Opening day has drawn a crowd for generations, and despite a global pandemic and statewide restrictions governing dining and gatherings, this year promises to be much the same — if the 1,200 “likes” and hundreds of shares on the Facebook announcement are any indicator.
Jerome said last month he thinks now, more than ever, is the perfect time for a place like Fat Boy.
“You can buy takeout from your favorite restaurant and eat it in your car in the parking lot, but it’s not the same,” he said. But with Fat Boy, a restaurant designed exactly for that purpose, reopening can offer “some normalcy and some excitement… sitting in the safety of their car, just like they have for 65 years.”
Plus, he added, it will be a good way to kick off the summer after a long and turbulent few months.
Fat Boy will open with a limited menu to start so as not to overwhelm the kitchen staff and to limit the number of people inside the small space, allowing for proper social distancing, but said all the favorites will still be offered. Customers can still get their BLTs, their frappes, their onion rings and their lobster rolls. Credit cards will be accepted.
Employees will wear gloves and masks.
To start, the restaurant will operate 11 a.m. to 7 p.m. Thursday through Monday and will close Tuesday and Wednesday.
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