Even as the pink paint peeled off, Custard King’s old sign told passers-by most everything they needed to know: The place was a holdover, a remnant of 1950s drive-in culture, a place to get hamburgers and milkshakes.

And in recent weeks, perhaps you’ve noticed that the Custard King sign has received a fresh coat of paint. The sunburnt pinks have been traded for bold blues, and the oft-dark neon tubing too is under repair. But what’s happening at Custard King is more than a facelift — it goes to the foundation.

Earlier this year an ownership group bought the aged eatery. This spring they tore out the guts and installed a sea of shimmering new stainless-steel appliances. As today’s re-brand explains: Custard King was established in 1951 and re-established in 2015.

When I heard the ownership group included Franz Spielvogel, owner of the burgeoning Laughing Planet Cafe, I perked up. Laughing Planet is a modern, quasi-yuppie, American burrito shop with nine locations throughout Oregon. And from a number of them I’ve emerged energized. Since 2000, Laughing Planet’s unpolluted and unpretentious designs for purer, healthier fast food have dovetailed with the times. My hunch was that Spielvogel’s involvement with Custard King would lend something similar and that the reborn Custard King would thoughtfully prepare quality ingredients. I was right.

The new menu is rather simple. Around the contours it’s not wholly unlike the one that preceded it: burgers, fries, cold treats and a few accoutrements. On the other hand, today’s Custard King is probably the only drive-in in the state that offers kale salad.

And as far as kale delivery vehicles go, Kale to the King ($4) is about as robust as it gets. A light, citrusy lemon parsley vinaigrette dressing coats the kale, which is topped with sunflower seeds, thin slices of carrot, cranberries and flaky queso fresco. It was tart and sweet, simultaneously bright and hearty. Quickly after digging in I felt my body perk in approval.

But hamburgers are Custard King’s real centerpiece. There are nine variations, from classic to blue cheese, bacon to green chile, as well as options for the vegetarians and kiddos. Besides the veggie burger, all feature quarter-pound beef patties sourced from Warrenton’s Reed & Hertig. I tried a number of them, including the Royale With Cheese ($6.50, aka a traditional cheeseburger). The Royale, like all its brothers and sisters, featured an ample amount of roughage. The shredded lettuce was crisp, the tomatoes tart, and the onions added a bit of crunch. The buns, from Astoria’s Home Bakery, were soft and airy.

While the Royale was perfectly acceptable, the Bacon & Blue ($7.50) and the Santa Fe ($7.50) distinguished themselves — certainly worth the extra dollar. The Bacon & Blue, obviously, featured bacon and blue cheese. The bacon was salty and well-cooked, both crisp and supple, and the blue cheese was added to the patty while it was still on the grill, allowing the cheese to cook down and permeate the meat. The product was equal measures sharp and smooth. The Santa Fe burger went instead with green chiles and queso fresco. The generous layer of chiles were bright and tangy, gooey and chewy, not at all spicy. All in all, a welcome tweak.

For those less interested in beef, The Un-Burger ($8.00) is a wholly worthwhile vegetarian alternative. The herb-y Field Roast patty was cooked on a separate, veggie-friendly grill. It had an excellent texture, and, unlike so many other burger-substitutes, held form rather than becoming mush. With the Un-Burger I added a gluten-free bun (+$1.50). Again I was pleased. It was dark, wheat-like and chewy.

All of the burgers — both meat and meat-less — were quite deliberately assembled, with swirls of sauce specific to the top and bottom buns, and precise layering that leads me to believe that consistency will rule at Custard King. Size-wise, the burgers are somewhat in-between: They’re not skimpy, nor are they enormous. Show up starving, and a plain burger by itself may not fill you up. Add a salad, or the fries, which were cooked to-order but totally just plain old fries — and you’re in business. Not sleepy, not heavy — just right. (Again, go for the kale salad!)

Then there are the sweets: frozen custards, milkshakes and a soda float. As it’s in the name, Organic Custard ($2.50) seemed the thing to do. It comes in vanilla, chocolate or swirled together, and the first topping is free. I went with vanilla, and from the toppings — sprinkles, crushed Oreos, Butterfinger, Heath Bar and Reese’s Peanut Butter Cups — I chose the cups. The custard was creamy and rich, but I was hard-pressed to differentiate it much from regular ice cream. (The main difference: Custard is made with eggs.) With the crushed candy, I was reminded of a Dairy Queen Blizzard.

And after trying the vanilla custard, I thought Custard King has the opportunity to do what it’s already done to the rest of the menu: tune it up. Some fruit toppings — heck, even the cranberries that were in my salad — would offer great contrast and color.

But I won’t be surprised if we see a few the menu get tweaked as the re-incarnated, two-month-old Custard King grows up. I say that not only because of the cheeky “Testing… Testing…” sign that’s now up in the window; I say it because, as is the stated plan, this Custard King seems predestined as a test chamber for a potentially franchise-able future.