Brawny Lad
Another Frisch’s contribution, and the simplest burger on the menu: a patty topped with butter and a slice of onion on a toasted rye bun. The butter melts into the beef and the onion gives it bite. Old-fashioned, light and oddly memorable.
The story
Another burger that belongs to Frisch’s rather than to Big Boy as a whole. Frisch’s ran the name across Ohio, Kentucky and Indiana from the 1940s and built its own menu alongside the double-decker everyone knew, including this one: a single patty on a dark rye bun with butter and onion, no cheese, no sauce, no second deck. Regional franchising is why Big Boy menus have never matched from state to state, and why a lot of people’s favourite Big Boy burger was never sold nationally.
What’s inside
Make it at home
There is no copycat of the Brawny Lad yet. Until there is, these recipes on the site come closest to it, judged by what goes into the bun.
- Shares beef
Quinoa Black Bean Burgers - Shares beef
Almost White Castle Hamburgers - Shares beef
Greek Hamburgers (Bifteki) - Shares beef
Air Fryer Burgers
Similar burgers at other chains
Built around the same things as the Brawny Lad.- Runza · beef
SignatureOriginal Runza Sandwich - A&W Canada · beef
Uncle Burger - Sonic Drive-In · beef
Jr. Burger - Milo’s Hamburgers · beef
Original Burger
More from Big Boy
About Big Boy
Bob Wian opened a small diner called Bob’s Pantry in Glendale, California, in 1936. A year later he invented a burger so tall it looked like a leaning tower, and when a chubby six-year-old named Richard Woodruff walked in, Wian greeted him with “Hello, Big Boy.” The name stuck, and the boy became one of America’s best-known restaurant mascots: pompadour, red-and-white checked overalls, burger held high.
About 50 Big Boy restaurants in Michigan, Ohio, Nevada and North Dakota, four Bob’s Big Boys in California, Frisch’s Big Boy in the Cincinnati area, and a separate Big Boy chain in Japan.
Not affiliated with Big Boy. Trademarks belong to their owners.