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Daughter of past owner revives Dell's By MARK FREEMAN MailTribune.com By MARK FREEMAN Posted Apr. 22, 2002 at 2:00 AM Updated Feb 16, 2011 at 9:02 AM By MARK FREEMAN Posted Apr. 22, 2002 at 2:00 AM Updated Feb 16, 2011 at 9:02 AM » Social News The popular downtown Medford hamburger joint closed in 1994 after serving lunch since the 1920s Mail Tribune After eating thousands of Dell's hamburgers over 46 years, Pat Dunlevy figured he would cryogenically preserve a piece of Medford's culinary history. So he went to Dell's on Dec. 17, 1994, and bought three double burgers with onions before the diner closed its doors for good. He ate two of them on the spot and put the third in the freezer. "The idea was to thaw it out 10 years later and eat it," says Dunlevy, 59. "But it lasted about 10 days before it turned into a messy pulp." Now, eight years later, Dunlevy is on the verge of tasting his all-time favorite lunch again. Dell's is coming back. The once-popular downtown hamburger joint will be resurrected in a new location next month by a former Dell's family member who pledges to replicate the burgers that fed Medford since the 1920s. Karen Irigoyen, whose father was the last Dell's owner, is transforming a small sandwich shop on West Main Street into a new Dell's that will sport the same look, feel and taste as the old diner. "Everybody 30 years old or older remembers Dell's," says Irigoyen, 37. "And we're bringing it back." Dell's fans like Dunlevy are loosening their belts in anticipation. "I'm excited for them and I bet they'll do well," Dunlevy says. "They'll get all the support in the world from me." Dell's began in 1927 when T.N. "Dell" Cline wandered into Medford from Montana with $35 and rented a tiny hamburger stand consisting of a trailer built on an old car chassis. The restaurant, on Sixth Street between Riverside Avenue and Bartlett Street, had a ceiling barely six feet high and an ancient grill that churned out a dozen 10-cent burgers in a minute. In busy times, hungry GIs from Camp White would form a ribbon two blocks long to get a burger. During slow moments, Cline would sit in front of the stand and pick his banjo. At first, Dell's featured only burgers, soda, coffee, candy and cigarettes, but later it expanded into corn dogs and milkshakes. But the staple was burger-and-fries baskets, with mustard (put your own ketchup on, if you want it) and cut onions mixed with the lettuce. In 1947, Cline leased Dell's to John Langston, a former employee. He bought the restaurant when Cline died in 1972. In 1982, Langston sold it to Sandy and Richard Elbert. Irigoyen, who is Richard Elbert's daughter, recalls flipping burgers there as a 17-year-old listening to dozens of customers with mouths full telling her they'd eaten Dell's burgers since the Depression. "Back then it was like, yeah, yeah, yeah," Irigoyen says. "But now, I appreciate it." The Elberts closed Dell's in 1994, a victim of slowed business from what they said was a dying downtown. They sold off the grill and seats, then the diner was bulldozed to make way for another Lithia Motors lot. Those were sad times for Dave Monroe, a 40-year-old Medford man so addicted to Dell's that he regularly offers the highest form of dining flattery. "I try to duplicate that recipe on a stainless steel griddle," Monroe says. "I actually got real close to imitating it, but it's never been quite right." During the remainder of the 1990s, the Elbert family kept possession of the Dell's moniker. Irigoyen re-registered the business with the state two years ago. She bought a Luigi's diner near the Black Bird Shopping Center last year, "but in the back of my mind, I always wanted to turn it into Dell's," she says. Irigoyen has lined up the same ingredients and suppliers of the old Dell's, right down to the exact hamburger patties and the same French's mustard. The old Luigi's will be revamped to Dell-dom later this month. Irigoyen will settle back to the grill and practice recreating the historic burger, then teach that art to the next generation of Dell's flippers before opening some time in May. By MARK FREEMAN MailTribune.com By MARK FREEMAN Posted Apr. 22, 2002 at 2:00 AM Updated Feb 16, 2011 at 9:02 AM » STAY INFORMED Email NewsLetter Sign Up Today Sign up for our newsletter and have the top headlines from your community delivered right to your inbox. Southern Oregon Directory Featured Businesses Loading... 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