American/New American Restaurants – Page 51

EZ Take Out Burger – 99 cent burger night

August 10, 2005 mmm-yoso American/New American Restaurants, Burgers

*** EZ Take-Out Burger has closed

I was told a while back that this little burger stand on Genesee Avenue, had burgers "as good as In N Out". And even better, they had 99 cent burger nights on Wednesdays and Sundays from 4pm to closing. So hey, what day is it? It’s Wednesday, and any day is a good day for a burger (or two).

This little retro-looking burger stand features a little kitchen and 3-4 tables outside. There are actually people dodging each other in the kitchen area. I noticed alot of descriptions were very "In-N-Outish", like the "Double-Take" (see Double-Double).

I ordered 3 burgers, no spread (we like to actually taste the burger), with all the produce, and 2 orders of fries – it came out to $5.98! Bargain city! We had also wanted one of their Boysenberry Shakes($1.85), but the shake machine was out of order. Bummer. We sat outside and in a few minutes my number was called and our burgers were ready.

Looks pretty good, huh? Unfortunately looks are deceiving. The burger was pretty dry, even though it just came off the grill, and pretty tasteless. The best part of the whole sandwich were the onions and tomatoes. How does it measure up against In N Out? Not even close. The burger is better than one of those major chain fast food burgers, but not by much. Is it worth 99 cents? If you look at it that way, I’d say yes, but again, not by much. The fries look really good but were under cooked, and got soggy really quickly. It’s still better than In-N-Out’s, I really don’t care much for the fries there. I’d actually been here once and had the fries while I waited for Honey Baked Hams who share the same parking lot, to open and thought they were pretty good. The best fries I’ve ever had was at, of all places, a stand called Y-Not Burgers in Torrance. For some reason all the planets were aligned that day, and the fries were golden, perfectly crisp, soft inside, and with a nice potato taste. I remember standing, and holding the "holy fry" up to the light, and exclaiming, "this is amazing, this fry is perfect"…..and was immediately told to "sit down, you’re acting like a fool, people are looking at you". I guess this galvanizing moment was not appreciated by all.

EZ Take Out Burger, 99 cent burgers (cheese extra) on Wednesdays and Sundays. There is usually a long wait in the drive thru, I’d rather take my chances by parking and going inside. Real ice cream shakes, boysenberry is a favorite.

EZ Take Out Burger
4277 Genesee Avenue
San Diego, CA 92117

Hey, where’s our shake!!!

Crest Cafe – Got the Monday Blues? Get a Butter Burger!

July 11, 2005 mmm-yoso American/New American Restaurants, Burgers, Diner, Sandwiches

Whew what a Monday! Needing a break, I headed up the street aimlessly and didn’t stop until I was on the doorstep of the Crest Cafe.

Now I had been here several times, but did not really know why I’d wandered here. I entered and couldn’t believe my eyes, the place was totally empty. On weekend mornings there’s no way you can get in without a wait; this neighborhood joint is jumpin’. What I’ve always noticed about Crest Cafe is that it always smells like breakfast, pancakes and maple syrup for that matter. You can drop in at 11pm and it’ll still smell like pancakes and maple syrup. Maybe it’s something in the AC? By now I focused in on the menu, and set my sights on a Butter Burger($8.25). What’s a Butter Burger you ask? Well it’s a half pound burger, stuffed with an herb-garlic butter, topped with cheddar cheese, with more melted butter and a garlic mayonnaise. There was a good chance that after I ate this burger, I wouldn’t see Tuesday, but whatever, I was willing to take the risk! The previous 2 or so times I’ve been here I ordered the Oui Oui Burger, and it was pretty good sized, no wee-wee burgers served here. To complete the job I ordered fries as my side. The burger arrived on a huge egg roll. Now looking at this you’d think that it was all roll, but that wasn’t the case. The roll was perfectly toasted, the burger charred on the outside, and super moist on the inside. Overall the burger had a very rich, not greasy feel, but was under seasoned, I’d say even somewhat bland considering all of the effort to inject rich flavorful seasonings into and onto the burger. One of my pet peeves is food that’s under salted; I mean, you supposedly have all this butter, all this nice meat, you cook it by-the-book, it’s retains moisture and has a great texture, but you forget the salt and pepper. You can say I can add my own, but it’s not the same as if the burger was seasoned during cooking. The fries were “natural” (I really don’t know what you call them – maybe a fry expert can tell me), think In-and-Out, a little larger with the skin attached. Nice potato flavor, but again under seasoned. I did finish all of them, so they must be pretty good, but of course I’ve never met a fry I didn’t like! Overall, not a bad burger, but next time I’ll stick with the Oui Oui – Blue Cheese under Melted Jack, no flavor short circuit there!

A few notes; the Crest Cafe, has a combination of chair and bench-style seating, and when filled can be quite cramped. Also, all the surfaces are pretty “hard”, making this a really loud room. By the time I’d left the room had filled both with people and noise. I’ve heard that the breakfasts here, especially the French Toast is good, but have never had breakfast here. One really good thing about the Crest Cafe is that they are open till midnight. Here in San Diego, any establishment that doesn’t roll up it’s sidewalks at 9pm is gladly welcomed.

Crest Cafe
425 Robinson Ave
San Diego, CA 92103
Phone: (619) 295-2510
Open: 7am to Midnight Daily

Farrell’s Ice Cream Parlour

June 20, 2005 mmm-yoso American/New American Restaurants, Desserts, Ice Cream/Frozen Yogurt

*** I think most San Diego residents know from the press coverage, that as of July 31st 2006, Farrell’s has closed it’s doors. A sad day for all…..

Caution, the following post may bring on severe side effects associated with a case of terminal nostalgia!

I don’t think that you could’ve grown up in Honolulu in the 70’s and early 80’s without having gone to Farrell’s at least once! Bright, loud, and rollicking, the pounding of the drums, and the siren going off when a "zoo" was being delivered! Farrell’s is very near and dear to the hearts of those raised during that era.

Then, it seems like overnight they all started closing one by one, until I walked by the location of my favorite in Kahala Mall, and found they were gone……

Until today that is. I had read that one of the last two Farrell’s(the other is in Santa Clarita) in existence is located in Mira Mesa just about 12 miles North; but I had never made the effort to go there. After all they say "you can never really go back home again"…. But I made mention of Farrell’s on Ono Kine Grindz, and man if we didn’t start waxing nostalgic! So of course, a trip was in order…..

The Farrell’s in Mira Mesa is located in a mall across from a Target store, next to a Domino’s pizza. The location looked really plain and we almost missed it, how so "Un-Farrell’s" – like :

As we walked in, all of the "classic" kitsch-y, faux 90’s Farrell’s Ice Cream Parlour decor was on display. From the booths to the tiffany lamps, to the red and gold wallpaper, to the player piano, it was all there. The old Farrell’s spirit and excitement was missing however. It was unusually dark, and Adults out-numbered children 5 to 1, and it was very quiet. Maybe because it was Father’s day, who knows! There were three what looked like Middle-Aged Siblings with a Gentleman who was obviously their dad having lunch and ice cream. We were seated and handed the classic Farrell’s Newsprint Menu! With great joy I turned to the back and saw that The Zoo, Volcano, and Pig’s Trough, were still on the menu! In fact most of the ice cream desserts that I remembered were still on the menu. On the downside, no Gastronomicaldelicatessenepicurean’s Delight, bummer! And in deference to the location there was stuff like Pot Stickers, Asian Chicken Strips, and Tempura Vegetables, on the menu. Very strange. The classic Patty Melt and Whing Ding Hot Dog are still on the menu however.

We ordered a "Crunchy Burger" (not a classic I know) and a Banana Royale (a classic). The burger was pretty good, tasty, well cooked, as good as I remember. The Banana Royale was also good, no frills vanilla ice cream, real good thick fudge, and nuts. The Missus kept asking me why the fudge was so thick, and I had to explain that this is not the thin, runny, squeeze bottled stuff. I eventually showed Her the fudge warmer.

So what’s the verdict? I actually enjoyed my burger enough to return. Farrell’s is a little worse for wear, and alot of the atmosphere is gone, but those memories are still there. There’s a site with an exhaustive history of Farrell’s.

Here’s to the memories!

Farrell’s Ice Cream Parlour
10606 Camino Ruiz
Mira Mesa, CA 92126