Tucked in a residential section just off the historic downtown square, it’s an easy business to miss. Yet Boots has long-standing, loyal patrons near and far. On Saturdays at noon, their cars and trucks line Austin Street while they wait for their orders.

Housed in a blue wooden shack, the carryout operation’s neighborhood locale is exempted from city codes regarding restaurant locations because of its age. From first glance, it’s easy to tell that the place is an authentic burger joint. Out front, a small, weathered sign advertises the business and its hours. A faded-green 7-Up soda machine sits nearby. The menu is short: old-fashioned juicy, delicious hamburgers (cheese and jalapeño relish are optional), chips and a soda to go.

Patrons consider it a perfect combination.

“They’ve got the best burgers. We come here every chance we get,” says Rowlett resident Becky Morales. She and her young nephew are frequent visitors.

And what makes the burgers so good that Morales travels a few extra miles to grab one?“I think it’s just the grill ... and they’re not processed; they make them fresh,” she says. “I think what makes them even better is that you have to wait until you get home to eat them. Just that trip across the bridge, the smell of the burger, ahhh….”

Tracing its roots back to 1968, Boots remains in the family of founder Clarence “Boots” Mooney. He and wife Christine began the burger shack next to their home as a side business, never imagining its eventual success.

“He worked at the Ford motor plant and on the changeover, we [put up] a little, old booth and went into the hamburger business,” says Christine, sitting on a bench in a shady area outside the shack behind her home. After Mooney passed away in 1978, Christine ran the business with the help of family members. “It’s always been family members working it. The city wouldn’t let it stay if it weren’t family members,” says Christine.

By all accounts, Boots enjoyed the business and talking with customers, including residents, police and city officials. “He loved people, and everybody liked him,” says Christine, an industrious and engaging woman who retired six years ago.

Today, her son, David Mooney, and nephew, Russell Mooney, run the place—with Christine’s blessing. She is proud of her son and nephew and pleased to see the family’s legacy continue. In fact, if it weren’t for a bout of poor health, she says she would still answer phones and take orders, too. If her health improves, she plans to get back out and pitch in again. “We’ve got about the fifth or sixth generation of people coming down here,” she says with a smile. “It reminds people of the old days when they were kids.”

Like their predecessors, the Mooney cousins, Russell and David, love to prepare burgers. Each Saturday, their busiest day of the week, Boots averages 200-250 burgers in two hours. Phone orders begin at 11 a.m., but once walk-up orders begin en masse, the phone often goes unanswered. “We always start out answering it, but once we get behind that's it,” Russell says.

The men work in close quarters while customers wait outside in the shade on lawn chairs or benches. Half-hour waits don’t deter patrons. In fact, waiting under the trees alongside other customers is part of the charm.

“My brother-in-law said, ‘You have to go over there and get the double.’ And I’m just sitting here enjoying every bit of it,” says Nick Martinez, sitting in his pickup truck with his wife, Tina. The pair, having traveled 15 miles from Garland, is finishing off the last of their burgers. “If you want a homemade burger, this is the place to go. I couldn’t believe this was really here.”

Tina echoes the sentiments of many: “It'’ awesome!”

One cannot help but think that sentiment would make “Boots” Mooney—and his wife, Christine—proud.

Boots is open 11:30 a.m. to 1:30 p.m. Tuesday through Saturday. The restaurant is located at 701 Austin Street in downtown Rockwall and the phone number is 972-722-5802