Clyde's Drive-In of St Ignace: Serving Up Some Tasty Herbivores


Mackinaw City restaurants gets all the love from the tourists. However, when traveling up through St. Ignace, you have got to stop at a fantastic hole-in-the-wall that is a popular hotspot for locals and travelers. Clyde's Drive-In is easy to find and conveniently located on US-2 by the bridge. If you are a troll, take the first exit after the bridge, turn left, and it will be on the north side just after the overpass.

Clyde's has some old-school charm that attracts everybody looking for some all-American fare. You can order the food from your car or try to get a spot at the counter inside. All the cooking is done right in front of you with real ground beef. If you see a frozen patty, you took a wrong turn into McDonald's driveway where they call pink paste a McNugget. To put it best, they offer a true build-a-burger. Their menu includes bison burgers, some kind of high falutin' “garden burger” or their famous three-fourths of a pound burger known as the “Big C.” I am not totally sure why they offer a garden burger; this restaurant is for top-of-the-food-chain carnivores who laugh at New Year's diet resolutions. Any kind of vegetables on the premises are most likely deep-fried. I usually order up the Big C along with an equally large strawberry malt.


Clyde's is usually named in the discussion for “best burger in Michigan.” I try to make sure I stop there for a meal when passing through. Make sure to bring cash.  Even though the décor is simple and outdated; the rusted, tin roof awning looks like it could collapse onto your car because of a seagull landing on the wrong spot, and the bathrooms are literally a closet; Clyde's serves up some greasy spoon delights that will start you off right on your trip.  You could be one of those selfie-taking city slickers who think it's cute to get a Big Mac in the shadow of the Big Mac  or you could get a manly burger that is deserving of it's own special, musical jingle and ballads.

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