After three decades serving hamburgers and milkshakes Paul and Nisha Sharma, owners of Gordo's on Shilshole Avenue, have retired and closed their business.

When couple took over the small walk-up hamburger stand 30 years ago from Peter Dow, the Sharmas had never cooked American style fast food and no one in the Sharma family had tasted hamburgers.

"No one teach me. I learn myself," said Paul Sharma.

Nisha Sharma still has never eaten a hamburger, even though she fries up 300 of them on a busy day.

"My mom, despite having made tens of thousands of burgers and dipped tens of thousands of fish fillets, has never eaten either as she is a lifelong vegetarian," said son Mino Sharma.

Paul Sharma, 67, said he eats one hamburger a year.

"I like to cook good. One customer said you cook like mom," said Paul Sharma.

Running a hamburger stand on the same street that leads to the popular Golden Gardens Park kept the Sharmas in business.

"We work real hard. Ten thirty in morning to sunset. There are long days in summer," said Paul Sharma.

The secret to making good food is fresh ingredients.

"A lot of people like the cheddar burger," said Paul Sharma.

Where else can you buy a made to order hamburger for less than four dollars?

"For a long time, same price. Now everything is more expensive," said Sharma.

Old customers are like family to the Sharmas. One regular customer orders a bacon burger with no mustard and a coffee with cream.

"If he doesn't show up it's odd. And he's one of only two customers we still take checks from," said Meno Sharma.

Paul Sharma arrived in the Pacific Northwest in 1970 to do some millwork in British Columbia. A year later he moved to Seattle, where he got work in a plastic factory south of Market Street on 14th Avenue. Nisha Sharma arrived with son Meno in 1971. The couple also has a daughter, Rita.

"By the time I was nine, I was hanging around working the counter getting real good at numbers and making milkshakes. It was a family element that helped us stay afloat and remain profitable, despite a competitive price. Only in the past year, did our fresh grilled hot dogs top two dollars," said Meno Sharma.

While family members pitched in over the years, the Sharmas have operated Gordo's seven days a week most of those years.

"It keeps my dad young. How many 67 year olds are running fast food counters, working the grill and doing supply runs?" said Meno Sharma.

"You enjoy what you work for all your life," said Paul Sharma.

The couple lives in Greenwood. They have three grandkids.

In retirement, Paul Sharma will continue going for long walks at Golden Gardens, taking the steep stairs up to Sunset Hill.

He walks this route three to four times a week.

"It's the secret to living long," Paul Sharma said.

"We will miss it. After 30 years it is not easy to leave," said Nisha Sharma.

Dean Wong may be reached at 783.1244 or deanw@robinsonnews.com