They famously turned down McDonald's and became a fast food innovator instead.
Was the Andre's Drive-in arrow the inspiration for the In-N-Out logo? The iconic Bakersfield drive-in turns 65 this year and is still serving its favorites along with adding new options.It’s just after 1 p.m. on the longest day of the year. The San Joaquin Valley heat hasn’t yet turned all the way up, and it looks like a thunderstorm is brewing over the eastern foothills, cumulonimbus clouds heaping upon themselves like meringue.
After Andre’s turned down McDonald’s, it became a fast food innovator, responsible for some of our favorite eats.The story begins with Cyrille Andre, who emigrated from France to Bakersfield in the late 1800s to herd sheep. He went back to his home country for a spell, and married a woman named Marie. The pair then returned to Bakersfield to start their life together in 1910. They had six children and ran several businesses that were agriculture- and dairy-related.
As the McDonalds were getting their footing, the Andre siblings were growing and modernizing their business. They opened a fast food stand in the early 1950s, Quickie’s Snack Bar near the campuses of Kern Union High School and Bakersfield College. In 1955, the first Andre’s Drive-In threw open its order window on Niles Street, the main drag that connects downtown to the east side of Bakersfield. The second, and now only, location opened on Brundage Lane off Chester Avenue in the summer of 1957.
Heat radiated off of mine as I removed the forklift-worthy prize from the bag. It was swaddled in yellow paper and wrapped up giant burrito-style in aluminum foil. I undid the wrappers slowly, as if waiting for a golden ticket to pop out. What I got was better. Maybe it was the perfect heat and melt and crispness and gooeyness that happened all at once. Maybe I was hungry from the time I’d spent on the road to get there.
Andre's Drive-In's lone cook Fred Oh grills up some of the 65-year-old institution's favorites on a hot Bakersfield Friday afternoon.The burrito comes with a pile of hot sauce and Sriracha packets at the window, along with a fistful of napkins. And it is served churro-style, the fried end sticking out of the long, white paper sheath.