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Dell's fans don't wait for crowds to thin out Mail Tribune / Bob Pennell Dell's owner, Karen Irigoyen, takes the first order through the burger joint's walk-up window. By MARK FREEMAN Mail Tribune John Hunter dug his teeth through the patty and bun he held in his fingertips, relishing the rich texture only a greasy grill can wrestle out of frozen, mid-grade beef . "I've been eating these burgers since I was 6 years old," the 53-year-old Hunter said Monday. "You remember how they tasted, but it's like, are you really sure you remember?" But Hunter chose to stop pondering and finish eating the first Dell's hamburger cooked in Medford since the landmark downtown burger stand closed in December 1994. Dell's reopened Monday at a new west Medford location, reborn by a Dell's family member who customers say has seared and spatula-ed a near-perfect rendition of the high-juice, low-price burgers that had fueled Medford's lunch crowd and taxed circulatory systems since Prohibition. "They tasted so close to what I remember that any difference really doesn't matter," said Hunter, of Central Point. "The important thing is, Dell's is back." And so were the Dell's faithful, who made the pilgrimage to the new restaurant at 1830 W. Main St. to sample a not so heart-smart piece of their culinary pasts. "People kept telling us over and over again that they were glad that we were back," owner Karen Irigoyen said. "They kept telling us that it tasted the same, and that it smelled the same." The original Dell's was opened in 1927 by T.N. "Dell" Cline at a small stand along Sixth Street between Riverside Avenue and Bartlett Street and eventually blossomed into a longest-running Medford business. 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. Cline held the stand until 1947, then a succession of owners ran it until Irigoyen's father, Richard Elbert, closed it Dec. 17, 1994. Irigoyen, who kept the Dell's naming rights, has transformed a former Luigi's sandwich shop into the new Dell's in the Black Bird Shopping Center parking lot. David and Leslie Maness ate at Dell's on its swan-song day in 1994, each ordering a Dell burger and drink while splitting an order of fries. The couple, married 15 years, celebrated Dell's return Monday with the exact order. "I want the grease bomb," Leslie Maness said. "These were pretty good, but they weren't as greasy as I remember them. I guess that will take time." It took about five hours for Irigoyen to sell all 900 hamburger patties on hand, closing 90 minutes early and turning away dozens of customers. Dell's will reopen today at 10 a.m. "We knew we were going to get hit," Irigoyen said. "But this was just crazy." Reach reporter Mark Freeman at 776-4470, or e-mail [email protected] Mail Tribune Home | Ottaway Newspapers, Inc. | Dow Jones & Co., Inc. | Privacy | Contact Us Copyright � 2001 Mail Tribune, Inc.