Calling in Sick: Sickies Garage in Irving is Now Open

In the early 2000s, a bunch of motorheads and grease monkeys in Fargo, North Dakota, found solace in their sacred haven: a garage filled with roaring engines, sizzling grills and questionable life choices. Little did they know that their rebellious spirit and insatiable hunger would birth a culinary phenomenon known as “Sickie’s Garage.”

The grilling at the garage turned it into an experimental burger laboratory, where they crafted burgers with unusual toppings that friends and family were excited to try. Their creations became so popular that people were willing to fake illnesses just to have the day off from work to indulge in the latest creation. Soon enough, they realized they had struck gold and opened their first full-service restaurant in 2012, offering a smorgasbord of 50 burgers, 50 beers and enough grease to make your doctor frown at you.

Word of the burger revolution quickly spread, and Sickie’s Garage expanded to Bismarck, North Dakota, and Rapid City and Sioux Falls, South Dakota. Then like a rambunctious motorcycle on an open highway, they roared into Omaha, Nebraska, Las Vegas and even sunny Orlando, Florida, in 2020. The first Texas location opened in Irving on June 19, with another location set to open in Fort Worth soon.

The location in Irving is in the former home of Walk-Ons, on Interstate 635 near Belt Line Road. When you arrive, you will instantly feel a road trip in progress. The entrance greets you with an old truck perched on oil barrels with rusted gas pumps, a bit of pure Americana.

Inside, the walls boast an impressive collection of license plates and road signs. The bar area with its 25 seats is the centerpiece of the restaurant, but there are plenty of tables and booths available, with TVs throughout the restaurant to catch your favorite sport.

While large garage doors weren't open (thankfully) when we were there, there is an option to allow a Texas breeze to flow through when it’s not 112°F outside. And for those who prefer the sunny side of dining, there are ample tables and chairs outside where you can savor your meal beneath the open sky.
The menu is extensive. Besides the lineup of 50 burgers, the menu offers wings, mashed potato bowls, mac and cheese bowls, sandwiches, salads, baskets and shakes (including adult shakes). We started with the Tater Kegs ($10.99), which are oversized tater tots with bacon, cheddar and chives. They're usually served with a ranch dip, but we decided to add a side of OH YEAH sauce, a flavor-packed dip made of mayo, mustard, ketchup, pickles and ghost peppers. If you like a kick in your dips, the OH YEAH sauce has a great flavor profile and heat level, but not so much that you need to sign a waiver or order a glass of cold milk. There were six tots to the order, fried to a golden brown crispy perfection. Biting into them, you could taste the chunks of real bacon.

A friend of ours posted on social media recently asking if there were any places in the D/FW area that served an authentic Monte Cristo sandwich (Bennigan’s style). When we saw that Sickie’s Garage had one on the menu, we knew we had to order it. The bread is layered with ham, roasted turkey, Swiss and American cheese and mayo. It's then batter-dipped, gently fried and coated with powdered sugar and served with red raspberry preserves. It was as good as we remember from the good old days of Bennigan’s: crispy on the outside, savory on the inside and sweet with the raspberry preserves. We do wish they would have added more meat to the sandwich (and perhaps we could order extra meat on a future visit), but otherwise it was great.

To narrow down our burger choice from 50 to 1, we asked our waiter for his favorite burger. Without hesitation, he recommended the County Fair Burger, which is topped with cheese curds, fried jalapeños, American cheese and Sickies’ sauce. We substituted the American cheese for ghost pepper cheese, because, yes, we are gluttons for punishment. The Sickies’ sauce is the same as the OH YEAH sauce, minus the ghost peppers.

All burgers and sandwiches come with a side, so we opted for waffle fries and tater tots. Five different seasoning options are available: ranch, cinnamon sugar, sea salt, Cajun and Rusty Bucket (which is Lawry’s seasoning with sea salt). We had Ranch on the waffle fries and the Rusty Bucket on the tots and enjoyed the Rusty Bucket seasoning more. It may have been because the tots were so crunchy and golden brown, whereas the waffle fries could have used a little more time bathing in the fryer.
Although we didn’t indulge in one of the adult shakes during our visit, we saw some at the bar. The S’mores Adult Shake caught our eye. It comes with graham crackers, marshmallows and chocolate with vanilla vodka and hazelnut liqueur.

The bloody mary is a colossal 22-ounce creation made with Tito’s, an onion ring, grilled cheese, a traditional wing, rib tip, bacon, hot pickled egg, green olive, pickle and a lime wedge. It even comes with a house beer chaser. A drink for your drink.

Sickie's has daily lunch and happy hour specials. Also on Friday and Saturday nights from 9 p.m. until close, all-you-can-eat wings with fries are $17.99.

Sickie's Garage Burgers and Brews 3165 Regent Blvd., Irving. Monday – Friday, 11 a.m. – midnight; Saturday – Sunday, 10 a.m. – midnight.