"Elvis sightings" were common at Storm's Drive-In Restaurant in Lampasas some 40 years ago, when the legendary rock-'n'-roll singer was a GI stationed at Fort Hood. Restaurateur IraDell Storm recalls with affection the encounters she had with the crooner.

"It was quite thrill, to see him come driving up in his Cadillac," says IraDell, a petite woman who at 89 remains active in the restaurant's day-to-day operations. "I waited on him two or three times. He was fond of our burgers and strawberry shakes...I wouldn't take anything for those memories."

IraDell and her late husband, J.B., launched the first of the trio of restaurants in Lampasas on September 23, 1950. Their son, Robbis, assumed management of the family business in 1971 and subsequetly opened two more restaurants, with inside service, in the early '80s--one on Highway 281 in Burnet and the other on Highway 36 in Hamilton.

Old-fashioned burgers--with meat ground in-house and cooked on the grill--still reign on the menu, but some things have changed. Storm's Cordon Bleu, a double beef patty stuffed with ham and cheese on a bun, now rivals burgers in popularity.

And how many down-home burger joints feature native-plant gardens? All three Storm's locations boast gardens brimming with such plants as Texas mountain laurel, lantana, butterfly bush, Texas sage, salvia, and coral honeysuckle. The Lampasas landscape even features a cheery, outdoor pavilion built around an eight-foot-tall, 100-ton Llanite boulder, one of the largest in existence. IraDell is found of boulders. She climbs nearby Enchanted Rock each year on her birthday.

For hours and directions, call 512/556-6269 (Lampasas), 512/756-7143 (Burnet), and 254/386-3143 (Hamilton).