You might not be able to get into Microsoft's cafeterias unless you work there, but anyone can eat at the company's original meal spot — the Burgermaster drive-in on Northup Way in north Bellevue.

Burgermaster was the semi-official eatery in Microsoft's early days, in the 1980s, when the company was located in an adjacent office building. Company phones were programmed to speed-dial the restaurant, and the grateful proprietors built a stairway up to the offices.

Bill Gates, known to drive his own Lexus sedan around town, hasn't lost his taste for the place. He still stops in for a burger once or twice a month, longtime manager Paul Tomicich said recently.

"We just try and maintain a low profile — he doesn't need any more attention. He'd like to come in here for a nice, quiet dinner," Tomicich said.

Once, a few years ago, it was hard not to notice Gates at the Burgermaster. Tomicich said Gates' car refused to start when Gates was ready to go.

You can picture it: There he'd have sat, while car-hops delivered steaming burgers and thick shakes on those old-fashioned window-mount trays to hungry families parked around him.

The world's richest man had to call someone to come pick him up from the burger stand.

— Brier Dudley