Best root beer I've ever had was at a drive-in a few blocks from where I used to live in Seattle. It was out on Lake City Way just south of East 85th Street. It was called the "Triple X Drive-Inn" and as far as I know it was not part of a chain. It was one of these places where you could "eat in" (they had a counter and booths) or "dine in your car." Park, flash your headlights, and a car-hop (usually a teen-age girl in a uniform) would take your order, then bring it out on a tray, ask you to roll your window up a few inches, then hook the tray on the window and set a prop against the car door. General fare of hamburgers, fries, shakes, various other kinds of sandwiches, hot dogs, and such. Coffee or tea–or their own brand of root beer, which they had on tap. Big, pint-sized mugs. Great stuff!

The roof of the place looked like the top of a huge barrel, maybe thirty feet in diameter, with a "XXX" on the side. No relation to porn movie ratings. The hamburgers were good, and definitely a meal, and the root beer was superb. People used to come to the place from all over town for a mug of their root beer. This was in the Forties, Fifties, and Sixties. The sudden influx of 19¢ hamburger joints, McDonald's, and other places like that pretty much ran them out of business. People without taste buds went to these new places rather than the Triple X. The Triple X had 'em beat by far for quality, but they couldn't compete with the prices–not that they were all that expensive.

A&W wasn't quit up to XXX root beer, but it was darned good. In most of the A&W drive-ins I went to, there, too, it was on tap. Maybe we were (are) just lucky out here in this neck of the woods. Triple X was good, A&W was good, and Burger King is good. I've eaten a helluva lot of hamburges and I've quaffed a helluva lot of root beer, so I'm not exactly without experience in these matters.

I do eat a raw carrot now and then. But I'm obviously no fanatic about it. .

Don Firth