Offbeat Eats

A quintessential part of the New England dining experience is the Worcester Diner Car, and quite a few New England towns have at least one Worcester Diner Car-based diner, typically with a long service counter, stools, tables, and lots of chrome. And, despite being designed on a wagon and/or train car style chassis, they typically don’t move. What a lot of people don’t realize is that the earliest Worcester Diner Cars weren’t this way. Early Worcesters had the stovetop, food prep, and service counter in the end of the car, with seating at the other end. And the cart was mobile, typically stored during the day and pulled out at night to serve factory workers. However, it’s extremely rare to find examples of these early Worcester Diners. Gilley’s PM Lunch in Portsmouth, NH is, however, a good example…

My recent trip down to New Haven had me passing right through Meriden, CT, so it was time to visit Ted’s Restaurant again, and this time take some photos and blog it. Ted’s is an interesting place, mostly since it is famous for an unusual variation of a cheeseburger: the steamed cheeseburger. Yes, you read that right, the steamed cheeseburger. Unless you’ve spent a fair amount of time in New England, you probably haven’t seen one of these (off the top of my head, I can think of only one other place with steamed hamburgers, and that’s Comet’s in Tyngsborough, MA), but it’s an interesting enough variation on a burger that it’s worth a try.

The Apple Pan is exactly the sort of place you should have in mind when you think “California Burger Joint,”, if, for no other reason, this place has a solid legacy around making California-style burgers. Founded in 1947, The Apple Pan has been churning out burgers from it’s modest wooden house in West Hollywood, CA for over 60 years. Walking in through the door, it’s immediately obvious that this not just a burger joint, but a bit of a time capsule. The central feature of the Apple Pan is the central kitchen area, with a grill filled with buns and burgers, a deep fat fryer, and a counter where all the condiments are prepped and the burgers assembled. Around this is a U-shaped counter with 20 or so vinyl-clad swivel seats, staffed by gentleman wearing white aprons and hats. Heck, they even use those little paper cones in the metal holders for your beverages…

(Closed) My recent business travels had me passing through LAX on the way to Palm Desert, so I decided it would be a good opportunity to meet up with some LA friends and check out Ercole’s for burgers, based upon its AHT writeup. Unfortunately, Ercole’s doesn’t serve burgers on Monday nights since they have a MNF special (chili dogs). Fortunately, I’ve been around Manhattan Beach several times, so I decided to wander up to Ebizo’s Skewer. I’ve actually been to Ebizo’s before, it’s modest but above-average shabu-shabu joint. However, apparently since my last visit in late 2007, Ebizo’s has decided to get into the burger business as well. That’s right, burgers.

(Closed) A few weeks ago I was visiting my grandfather in Rhode Island along with my brother, and we decided to pick up lunch in Providence. One place that has been on my list for a while was Stanley’s. Stanley’s Hamburgers has been a venerable burger stand in Central Falls, RI for decades, and they opened a new Providence location this last spring. I’ve been meaning to check it out, but since my previous trips to Providence were on holidays, Stanley’s was closed. This time they were open. Stanley’s is pretty much a burger bar. The main attractions at Stanley’s are the burgers and the fries. The burgers are fairly thin patties, that are cooked by smashing them into the grill to get a good char on them (a technique familiar to people that have been to Steak n’ Shake). The result is a nicely crisp burger, albeit a little on the light side, so I usually get a double burger at these sorts of places.

You know the place. Every area has one. That restaurant that most everyone knows exists, but, for some reason, never thinks of actually going there to eat. In my case, that place is the Baited Hook restaurant in Lebanon, NH, on the west shore of Mascoma Lake (yes, folks, that is Lebanon, go look on a map…). It’s a small restaurant with both indoor and outdoor seating, and an ice cream window for the nicer months. I’ve seen this place ever time I’ve driven down Rt 4A since moving here, but for some reason I never thought of stopping in.

(Closed) Sometimes you just want a burger. Anyone that’s followed my Flickr feed knows that I have a weakness for a good hamburger. Indeed, I’ve got an entire set on Flickr dedicated to disproving a former coworker’s comment that “a burger is just a burger.” So, any time I’m traveling, I like to try out some of the local burger places, be it a chain (indeed, I can make claim having eaten at Fatburger, Habit, In-N-Out, and Five Guys all in the same 24 hour period) or an honest one-off burger stand. So, while Carol and I were wandering around before my friend Steve’s wedding, we found ourselves in Mill Valley needing a fairly fast lunch…

(Closed) My college roommate Steve lives in San Francisco in the Mission District. Just down the way from his house is a cool restaurant called Spork, made out of a renovated former Kentucky Fried Chicken (get the joke?). Both Steve and his wife Emily have said good things about Spork, so I was happy that I finally had a chance to try them out as part of the activities for Steve’s bachelor party…

Well, The Burger Project continues, this time with a visit to an old favorite. We all have our favorite burger haunts, and the Chuck Box is a favorite of mine, especially since it was one of the first, well, dives I ever went to for a burger. I’m sure that when it was built (which I don’t know when that was, the Box was a veteran burger joint when our family moved to Arizona in the early 80s), it was on the north side of Arizona State University, but as ASU has grown, it’s probably more accurate to say that it’s now kind of in the middle of ASU.

My burger tastings continue, this time with a visit to the famous Billy Goat Tavern on the lower level of Michigan Avenue. Most everyone that’s even vaguely close to me in age knows the Billy Goat Tavern, if only by reputation, since it’s the inspiration for the “cheezeborger cheezeborger” SNL skit. It’s also a chronic inhabitant of online “top 10 burger” lists, so it’s definitely one of those places I had to review for completeness (this wasn’t my first visit, I’ve been there several times before, albeit without camera. The Billy Goat is definitely one of those places where ambiance is an important part of the experience…