The 7th Largest City in America, the home of both the Alamo and the Perennial NBA title

contenders the Spurs, and the town where a New York businessman named Phil Romano decided

to open his hamburger restaurant in 1979.

Romano would later lend his name to the Italian chain he'd found in 1988, Romano's macaroni

grill, but he invented a fictional persona named Freddie for his burger enterprise.

Romano's name was dropped in favor of just the last, and in an act of undistilled hubris,

Romano registered a trademark for the phrase,

world's greatest hamburgers to describe his restaurant's product.

The chain said itself apart by grinding their beef and baking their buns on the premises,

by having a hybrid fast casual and a sit-down restaurant atmosphere where customers

order at the counter and have the meal brought to their table, and by letting customers

gorge on their buffet-style fixins bar with an array of produce, condiments, and simmering

hot cheese sauce.

The financial crisis of 2008 nearly brought the eatery to extinction, but after shattering

some locations and changing ownership, it rebounded, and now boasts nearly 200 restaurants

across North America, as well as locations in Chile, Italy, Morocco, and Saudi Arabia

that serve its signature burgers, fries, and shakes.

This week on Doe Boys, Fudruckers.

Welcome to Doe Boys, the podcast about chain restaurants.

I'm Nick Weiger alongside my co-host, Mike Mitchell, the spoon man.

How you doing, spoon man?

Doing well.

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