Burgers – Page 10

Happy 2010!!!- a sneak peek at the Rose Parade floats and Pastrami at The Hat for a final meal of 2009.

December 31, 2009 Cathy Burgers, Festivals & Events, Los Angeles County, What Cathy Eats!

mmm-yoso!!! is a blog, mostly about food, but sometimes also about how we managed to get around to eating that food. Tonight, Cathy is writing about how she and The Mister spent the last day of 2009. Kirk and ed (from Yuma) are probably busy with other stuff.

Hi. I am writing this in the late evening of December 31. The Mister and I were awake at about 5:30 this morning (after having spent a long day yesterday with 100 of my closest friends, in light, steady rain, tailgating and watching the Holiday Bowl game). We were exhausted and had to get up and leave. Things happened slowly, dogs needed walking, coffee had to be consumed and we were out the door at 6:30. In the fog. Needing to be in Pasadena by 8 a.m.

Well, that didn't happen. But we did manage to get to the Historic Green Street Hotel
in Old Pasadena by about 8:30. (The Castle Green is now condos and apartments and no longer a hotel).

You can see some of the preserved elements in this public area, and maybe imagine the elegance of this building in its day.
The old Ballroom was where we had breakfast with Lions from all over the world, including the new President from Germany.
Breakfast is a buffet, which is not varied. Fruit, muffins, scrambled eggs, potatoes, sausage and ham along with orange and cranberry juices and coffee. There are formalities and that sort of thing and then we get on a bus and drive about a mile South on Raymond Street, to the Phoenix Rose Palace Float Barn.
Which looks like this about December 26.

But is like this on the 31st, an hour or two before judging. The Tournament of Roses Parade is going to start in less than 24 hours. (That is the Farmers Insurance float, Salute to Marching Bands) (the black shiny boots are seaweed)
This is the Ronald McDonald House float. (More seaweed to make the black parts of the space shuttle).
The first float you'll see, sponsored by Wells Fargo Bank, has the theme of the parade- "A Cut Above the Rest". It is one of the smaller floats. Here are some of the details- click and enlarge. Every inch of every float has to be covered with something that is or was alive.

You can see beans, leaf, live flowers, pulverized dehydrated flowers…
Volunteers spend hours cutting and placing some flowers into vials.
Or wrapping the flowers onto wires, so that each can be carefully placed onto the proper part of the float.

This Young Lady is gluing dried marigold petals which have been processed in a blender onto the signage of one of the floats.

The work put in this year was exceptional. Those realistic looking rocks on the Oddfellows and RRebekah's float are covered in a mixture of black and white rice.
The Lions Club International Float.

The City of Alhambra float.

Here is the back end of the Lutheran Hour float, celebrating it's 60th anniversary in the Parade. The Petal Pushers help to decorate this and the other Service floats in this Barn.
All in all, these last few minutes before the judges show up are busy and intense. The parade will start soon and you can see the floats lined up end to end on Sierra Madre Boulevard Between Paloma and SIerra Madre Villa Avenues), at the end of the parade route, from 1-5 today and from 9-5 on Saturday and Sunday. Admission is $7. A fun weekend thing to do. By February, the theme for the 2011 Tournament of Roses parade will have been decided and planning and work on the floats will begin again.

We were exhausted, starting the drive home, hungry and stopped here on Lake Avenue at Villa.

The Hat is now 58 or so years old, starting out in the Los Angeles area in 1951.

We got a Pastrami dip:

Kind of huge…dipped Pastrami in a soft French roll with mustard and pickles.
The Pastrami Burger ($6.99) It's there- look. A half pound burger, topped with cheese, lettuce, onions, pickles and a *lot* of freshly fried up pastrami. The last meal of the year. The Resolutions start tomorrow.

We wish you all the best for the future. Happy New Year!

Pardon me while I have a burger…….

October 11, 2009 mmm-yoso Burgers, Chains

If you live in California, Nevada, Arizona, or parts of Utah, I'm sure you'll recognize this….

It is of course, a classic "Double-Double" from…..

Funny thing, the first time I had a burger from In-N-Out, I remember telling my buddy Richard, "what's the big deal???" At which Richard, being a life-long resident of SoCal gasped as if I had committed heresy. Richard demanded that I perform an unusual act of contrition by…ahem, "kissing his buns" if you will. Realizing that I had verbally stabbed Richard in the heart, and also that he was my ride to the airport for my flight back home, I backpeddled stat.

But after moving to SoCal, and after having more than a few burgers from In N Out, I'll readily admit that the unique smell emanating from an In N Out can really get the stomach rumbling. I often tell the story of sneaking In N Out burgers into movie theaters, only to have someone whisper, "who's eating a double-double" several rows away.

I usually order either a "Double Meat", or just a regular ol' "Double-Double"…. there's no "secret menu" animal-style, protein style, flying dutchman, or as I heard one elderly woman once order, "doggy style(!!!!)" for me. I like the bite of raw onions, and the slight crunch of the toasted bun (but no "extra toast" for me).

OK, I just realized that I've taken three photos of my hand holding a "Double Double"…

I've ruminated long enough on two pieces of charred animal flesh topped with gooey melted "curdled milk from an old cows udder". I bet that still didn't turn you off from this burger, did it?

Enough, I've waited until October to have my first "Double-Double" of the year….. my other posts will have to wait a day!

A Burger Week Epilogue: Urban Solace

January 18, 2009 mmm-yoso American/New American Restaurants, Burgers

**** Urban Solace has closed

Urban Solace has become one of the Missus's favorite restaurants. So it's probably about time I did a post. You can get a pretty good feel for the restaurant from the many food blog posts out there, by Alice Q Foodie, Clayfu , Gil, and Beth. And though I've not been "wowed" by some of the items I've tasted in the past (such as a really greasy and salty pastrami), I've long coveted the burger. It just looks great arriving at the table. So burger week provided a great opportunity.

I like the dining area at US, the ceiling height, colors, and lighting strike a nice balance. The menu consists of what Urban Solace calls "New American Comfort Food", basically American food with a twist, like the "Duck-a-roni".

As much as I wanted to complete this post, it almost did not see the light of day. On this visit, we sat out in the courtyard, and the bright sunlight and the surroundings ended up giving all my photos an orange hue. But in the end, here I was all dressed up and nowhere to go…..

On this visit we started with a favorite of the Missus, an order of the Cheese Biscuits ($4.25):

Personally, I'd prefer a bit more cheese flavor, or any flavor, to my biscuits, as these are very mild in flavor. I like the texture of these, they are moist, and soft, without getting to close to foccacia, and also have a nice mildly crisp (though not very flaky) "crust" that does not head into "scone-land". My personal preference is for the salty over the sweet, so I'd have preferred a really nice and light butter, rather than the overly sweet and salty Orange Honey Butter that is provided, though I can understand that this would be a good compromise for some…….

So of course I had the burger, which, like many of the menu items are plain, downright reasonable in price ($9.25). I was asked how I wanted my burger, which was medium, and hey, for once, my burger arrived "medium". I had pretty much written off the perfunctory ritual of asking how you want your burger done, as just "shibai", so it was nice to have my faith restored.

As AliceQFoodie notes, the burger comes fully dressed, with a mild cheddar, thousand island dressing, and the produce. The bun had a mild and pleasant sweetness to it, but it was too large upsetting the meat to bun ratio. This burger had a bit too much dressing, which overpowered the flavor of the beef. And, because it seemed that the burger had either not been rested, or had been brushed with a ton of butter, the combination of the dressing and the "juices" just made the bottom bun turn into mush in addition to making the whole thing seem a bit too rich and oily….a bit more acid would help cut the richness. I scraped some of this off, so I could taste the burger, which had a pleasant beefy flavor.

As for the sweet potato fries, they are delicious, but arrive limp, wrinkled, and seemingly on the edge of rigor mortis, which makes eating them less pleasurable. The only semi-crisp sweet potato fries I've ever had or made, were baked, so I think Urban Solace would do just fine with regular fries, which I'm sure they'd pull off well.

The Missus ordered Her current favorite at Urban Solace, the Chicken and Dumplings, which at $15.95 was one of the more expensive items on the lunch menu.

I'm not a big fan of Chicken and Dumplings, so I'll just say, nice, tender and moist chicken, too much cream, and waaaay too much salt. And even though the Missus has been known to body slam a Moose to get to its salt lick, she ended up drinking 2 bottles of water on the way home. I'm sure She'll still order this again the next time.

The service at Urban Solace was very nice on this visit. Except for one strange thing. It seems like our Server has an interesting concept of "personal space". He really didn't want to get near us….to the point that I checked to make sure my 12 hour deodorant hadn't hit hour 13. He placed every dish on the opposite side of the table from us. So we had to stretch over the table to get our food. Nothing bad….just a bit odd.

As you'll notice from the menu on Urban Solace's Website, the prices a very reasonable.

Urban Solace Restaurant
3823 30th Street
San Diego, CA 92104

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It’s Burger Week (again): High Dive Bar and Grill

January 16, 2009 mmm-yoso Burgers, Pubs and Pub Grub

About 2 years ago, the "High Dive" opened in our neck of the woods. And from the beginning this "not so divey" bar has drawn some pretty good crowds.

And though I drove by nearly everyday, this was about as close as I got to the High Dive:

There always seemed to be a postal truck parked outside….and you know what they say about Postmen. Like Cops, they know where the decent cheap eats are in the neighborhood. And still, I never made it to the High Dive. Maybe the close proximity to home lulled me into a state of "it'll always be there." Burger week, and overhearing several comments about the "meat in a bun" served at High Dive, finally roused me from my state of neighborhood catatonia, and I decided to grab lunch at High Dive.

I arrived to see two neighborhood dogs playing outside the bar, and three Postmen having an early lunch inside.

The interior is on the dark side. There are several beers on tap, mostly the usual suspects, except for the Boddington's. Several large screen plasma televisions gave this place a sports bar feel.

Since it was a beautiful sunny San Diego day, I decided to have seat outside in the patio area. I gather that this is also the smoking area, based on the sign posted. Since the patio was empty except for one other table….I decided to park my "butt" here.

The menu is mainly burgers, pizzas, and the usual San Diego pub grub suspects (i.e. Nachos, Chicken strips, etc…) Not feeling particularly famished, I went with the "High Dive", a quarter pound burger, topped with grilled onions. It comes with fries. With a bargain basement price (for a pub style burger) of $6, I decided to add some gorgonzola for 75 cents more. Mustard, ketchup, and other sauces soon arrived in the now ubiquitous recycled six-pack holder.

Soon enough, my burger arrived:

The burger looked on the smallish side, but there was a ton of fries. The bun was a standard issue hamburger bun, the same as you'd purchase at the supermarket. Lettuce, tomato, and pickles, were served in the usual bar-burger way, on the side. The grilled onions, were more like caramelized onions, and had no flavor. In fact, it only served to make the burger seem more greasy. I missed the nice crunch and bite of sliced onion.

The gorgonzola made the burger seem much richer, and really didn't bring much to the table. American cheese would have done just fine. All of this made the bun disintegrate into mush about half-way through. What made this burger decent was the moisture level which was excellent. It was also very soft and tender, and not mealy in the least. And because I wasn't asked how I wanted my burger done, I'd expected something cooked to death. How wrong I was. The burger was cooked barely well done, about as perfect as a well done burger could be cooked.

The fries are coated in what seems to be flour and cornstarch, and are served skin on. They are crisp, and seem light, though I couldn't finish them off. Go figure!

In fact, I felt more stuffed here than I did after eating at Hodad's

I found the service efficient and friendly, just as you'd expect from a neighborhood bar. My diet soda was refilled, as was my water. I was in and out in 45 minutes. All for under $10, which was pretty good. The crowd seemed a bit yuppie-ish.

All of these types of pubs offer daily specials, and High Dive is no exception. As for the burger; it's no Rocky's, but the burger was fine. Because of the location, I'll probably be back.

High Dive Bar and Grill
1801 Morena Blvd
San Diego, CA 92110

Mon-Thu. 1000 am – 1200 am
Fri-Sat. 800 am – 1:00 am
Sun. 800 am – 1200 am

It’s Burger Week (again). Nessy Burgers

January 15, 2009 Cathy Burgers, What Cathy Eats!

mmm-yoso!!! is a food blog and Cathy is one of the bloggers. So are Kirk and ed (from Yuma) and even a few others. We just write when we can about what we eat. This week, there is a running theme.

Hi. You know I drive North on the I-15 a lot lately.

Not very far past this common sight is this exit.

Take it. Look to the left as you are exiting (North West). There is a Mobil Fuel station. Nothing else is there.

This small sort of trailer with three picnic benches in front under the awnings.

Go around (past and right) the Mobil station and park in the Park and Ride lot.

You are there.

Nessy Burgers.

The restaurant kitchen in a trailer.

The place without a phone.

The place that is now open on Sunday. (There was a sign in the parking lot)(It never used to be)

The menu.

All sandwiches are served on large, toasted sesame seed buns and include a slice of American cheese, lettuce, tomato, onion and a Thousand Island-ish sauce. It does not cost less if you don't get cheese. No pickles.

There are bottles of catsup, mustard and the sauce if you want to put it on yourself.

Lots of lettuce. A full slice of onion.

The bun is toasted, the slice of American cheese is not melted (does that stuff melt?)and that you get a SLICE of onion…not just some raw onion rings….You can ask for grilled onions instead of or in addition to on your burger…but it is easier for The Mister to remove the whole raw onion when we share…

The Nessy Burger ($5.50)

A good size 1/3 lb patty, hand formed. Juicy, cooked in its own grease. It's said the fresh ground meat is a mix of sirloin and chuck. Very good in that it is not cooked too much, but needs some salt, even though salt and pepper are put on when cooking. The other ingredients (various spices, including garlic) give it flavor.

The fries, although the standard crinkle cut ones are perfectly cooked and salted. If you put some on your burger, taking off and eating some of the lettuce with a side of the Thousand Island-ish sauce, that will impart the salt the burger needs.

$2.75 and way more than two people should eat.

The Polish Sandwich ($5.50). Served on the same toasted bun with same toppings (I asked for no cheese because that is just wrong.

A home made coarse ground sausage with skin. Not too spicy ( I am used to smoked kielbasa having more garlic than this had).

Cans of soda here are $1.25, or you can walk over to the Mobil station to get a 32 ounce fountain beverage for 77 cents, a 24 ounce fountain beverage for 99 cents or two Vitamin Waters for $2.22…doing math in your head while you are waiting for your food. Although, since the menu is so limited, there is not much of a wait.

Stop if you are driving by. It is good.

Nessy Burgers North West Corner of State Route 76 and Interstate 15

Open Mon-Friday 7 a.m.-6 p.m. Sat *and* Sun 9 a.m.-4 p.m. Cash only. No phone.

It’s Burger Week (again). Tom’s Farms

January 14, 2009 Cathy Burgers, Ontario/Riverside/San Bernadino, CA, What Cathy Eats!

mmm-yoso!!! is the blog, written by a few friends. Kirk, ed (from Yuma) and Cathy don't make food deprivation related New Year Resolutions. We try to resolve to change habits we *won't* break in the first week of the New Year.

Hello. I hope your year is going well so far. I have a new computer. This is because my old one decided to commit suicide the other day. So, I am learning to be patient, do without, change habits and not cry at the loss of 'things'….yes, I am moving forward and managing. I have no choice. I am also fascinated with upgraded programs and the things that they can do-and don't do like they used to. Thank you for your patience.

You may recall that I seemed to be driving North on the I-15 quite a bit since Thanksgiving. I knew we would be doing Burger Week again. If you ever have, you have passed Tom's Farms and perhaps stopped, or made a mental note to stop when you had more time and were not either heading somewhere or 'almost home'. You really should stop.

You will notice several buildings and that the area is quite large, once you park. This building holds furniture for sale.

Another holds a Mexican restaurant.

There is an area which sells candies, another Produce and Vegetable area..wines, cheeses, gift baskets…

There are activities.

There is a wine tasting area and in that building, a place that makes pizza. We got the pizza once, many years ago, because the line for burgers was so long. It did not impress us and so now every time we go and the burger area is too crowded, we just buy some hot bread (there is something hot from the oven about every 30 minutes here. As soon as you walk into the Wine and Cheese Shop, the table in front of you will have something warm. Go ahead, touch the plastic bread wrapping) some cheese, maybe some smoked fish and sit out on the lawn, by the pond, to eat.

However, we drove by later in the evening just after Christmas, and it was not busy

. We walked over to the "burger and sandwich" area, by the duck pond.
I got my personal favorite, a Tom's Old Fashioned burger. ($3.95) 1/3 pound, served with lettuce, tomato, onion, pickle and a special sauce. On a bun that is baked there. You know, a *very* fresh bun.

The burger is coarse ground meat, not frozen. Juicy, cooked medium and very flavorful (my personal" test" is eating the meat plain..seeing if it needs all those toppings or of the toppings compliment the meat). All the toppings are from the farm stand and include lettuce, tomato, onion, pickle and a sauce. (oh. Those giant pickles you pay $2 at the County Fair are sold here. $8 for a gallon. There are more than four in a gallon.)

In conclusion about the burger, you can't get much fresher unless you do all of this at home, including the baking, growing and using a high quality meat.

The Mister ordered a Chili Size ($4.95). The same 1/3 lb burger, served open faced on the fresh baked bun, topped with a nice, not too hot spiced chili with beans and shredded cheddar. I liked the combination of flavors of this and the hamburger meat patty stood out in that it was still coarse ground and had its own meaty juiciness. The chili complimented it.

We have had the fries here, and those have not been too memorable We pay the $3.69 for the onion rings.

Not a huge portion, but made fresh from thick cut, sweet Spanish onions. Breaded lightly with a flour/corn meal mix. Extremely properly fried and always sweet, sweet onions

If you want a root beer float, you get to kind of do it yourself.It is $3.95. They hand you a cup,more than half filled with a very good vanilla ice cream (the kind with specks of vanilla in it) and you fill the rest of the cup with root beer. Slowly. Because, you know, physics takes over and the carbonated beverage will flow over…

So, if you are near Corona or Anaheim and see Tom's Farms. Do stop and get a burger.

Tom's Farms 23900 Temescal Canyon Road, Corona, CA 92883

Website

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It’s Burger Week (again): Hodad’s, or is there life after bacon?

January 13, 2009 mmm-yoso Burgers

Ah yes Hodad's, the mere utterance of that noun will bring instant declarations of "Best Burger in Sam Diego"…if not the world, as the sign says:

The burger at Hodad's and Rocky's Crown Pub are at the epicenter of the OB (Ocean Beach) versus PB (Pacific Beach) burger wars. To me, they are two totally different burgers. Rocky's is a simple, hand formed, soft, and beefy plain burger. Hodad's is a crusty, messy, stuff dripping down your arms, kinda burger. There's more than enough room in San Diego, of not in my stomach for both of them. Personally, my relationship with Hodad's has been of the love-hate type. I long ago figured out what I loved about Hodad's burger; it was the bacon. Plain and simple, griddled until just teetering on the edge of burnt, with a nice greasy saltiness. Remove that bacon, and it was just a rather plain burger smothered in a ton of mayo, mustard, and ketchup. I'd visited Hodad's a few times when doing consulting work during the late 90's, and when we first moved to San Diego. My last 2 visits were not very good, the sandwich had become a soggy mess, with more iceberg than what sank the Titanic. Add to that the really rude "Hodad" attitude, I'd decided that enough was enough, and hadn't been back in years. Following our last burger week, several readers asked….nay demanded, that Hodad's got equal time. So here we are, over 2 years later….it's burger week.

The crowd at 5 minutes after opening, sure says something about Hodad's timeless popularity.

And though the crowds seemed the same, I noticed that many of the customers, at least on this day seemed a bit older. The menu looks the same, though the prices have gone up a bit over the years.

On this day, a really nice Young Lady was my Server, and I've got to say, it was probably the best service I'd ever had at Hodad's. She was friendly, efficient, refilled my Diet Soda once, and asked one other time. It's the most I could ever ask for at a joint like Hodad's.

Of all the items on he table, the salt, ketchup, hot sauce, and so on, the one you'll need to intimately familiarize yourself with, are the napkins. You'll be using many of these. So make sure to introduce yourself early on.

Looking over the menu, I suddenly realized that I had never sampled the onion rings at Hodad's, so I had a half order ($4.25):

They looked nice and golden brown, and were lip searing hot. I found the breading to be too hard and shell-like for my tastes, but these weren't bad by any means.

As for my burger, I decided to forgo the bacon, and go with a straight-up Double Cheeseburger ($7.50). Meet the leaning tower of burger:

An aquaintance of mine says that Hodad's "artificially" (his term, not mine) inflates the burger height with its own set of platform shoes; the lettuce. And though I believe I've encountered this before, it was not on display today. There were 3 tomatoes in my burger, but it was not "over-iceberged." I quickly noticed something, do you see it? Here's a closer look:

Yes, it was a little piece of bacon hanging on for dear life, as if to tease me!

For me, the burger at Hodad's is all about the crust of the patty, combined with that familiar flavor combination of American Cheese, pickles, ketchup-mayo-mustard, and tomato. It always takes me back to the burgers I ate growing up. Meat sizzling on the griddle until a nice crusty exterior is developed.

I kept eating and eating, until I hit a crossroads. It was the opportunity cost moment. Which will it be the onion rings or the burger? Well it was the onion rings that had to go. It did seem as if I kept eating, and hardly made a dent in the burger. In the end, I was quite pleased with the mess I had made.

Now this was the Hodad's we all know…….

As I waddled up to the register, the same nice young lady saw me rolling along and cracked up and asked me, "did you get enough to eat?" To which I replied, "I don't know what happened, I used to finish this with no problem…." Her response; "well, that happens sometimes……." Hmmm, maybe there is life after bacon at Hodad's…….

Hodad's
5010 Newport Ave.
San Diego, CA 92107

Hours:
Mon-Thu. 1100am – 900pm
Fri-Sat. 1100am – 1000pm

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It’s Burger Week (again): Bare Back Grill – Pacific Beach

January 12, 2009 mmm-yoso Australian/New Zealand Cuisine, Burgers

It's been a while since we've done Burger Week, so we thought it was time to it again. I real ize the timing may not be the best….. New Year Resolutions and all. So we apologize in advance, and hope you'll join us for this work-week collection of burgers.

It was FOY and fellow San Diego Food Blogger, Captain Jack who first mentioned Bare Back Grill to me a few years back. Along with the various "brokeback" jokes threw in for color, CJ mentioned that the burgers were of good quality, organic, and pretty tasty overall. That Bare Back Grill was located right on super busy Mission Boulevard in Pacific Beach really dampered my enthusiasm. But I had placed Bare Back Grill on my "list", and because I wanted to do another Burger Week, it was only a matter of when. Timing was everything, and the Missus and I decided to check the place out right after the Holidays, which meant we'd find parking without a problem….. right in front of the place.

The sign says "New Zealand Burgers and 'Wiches". According to what I've read, the Owners of Bare Back Grill were "trekking" through New Zealand when they came across a very popular Sandwich Shack. In love with the burgers and sandwiches, they got the owner to sell them the recipes, and the rest is history. Bare Back claims to sell %100 organic New Zealand grass-fed beef, ground fresh daily.

The interior of Bare Back, is wide open, very beach-bar-ish, and you'll sit on wooden chairs. During the winter, it can get a bit breezy.

The menu is short and sweet, and laminated…..on slabs of wood located on each table. Burgers range from $6.99 – $12.99, sandwiches and "other" grub $6.99 – $9.99. And as much as I wanted the Bare Lil' Lamb (Lamb Burger), I thought I'd stick with a burger.

During the workweek lunch hour, the best deal at Bare Back Grill is the Lunch Special, which is one of four different offerings, fries, and a drink (soft drink or draft beer) for $9.99. I went with the "Average Joe", which is a basic Cheeseburger.

The burger arrived, looking pretty good. I wasn't asked about "doneness" so there was no disappointment. I found that the very mildly milky swiss cheese added flavor without overpowering the burger. The patty was moist, and fairly tender. The flavor was mildly beefy, I had expected a bit more "ooomph" because it was grass fed beef, but the burger was not over seasoned. The roll was nothing special, but held up pretty well.

The fries at Bare Back are different….they are thin cut, and crisp…perfect in texture. But the addition of sugar freaked the Missus out. I guess Her Chinese palate wasn't able to deal with them. The aioli was a horseradish based deal, which really didn't bring much to the fries. So if you don't mind grainy sweetness on your fries you'll enjoy these.

The Missus ordered the Grilled Bird ($7.99). Basically chicken tenders. When the chicken arrived, I thought the Missus would be disappointed at having only 4 tenders in the "basket".

The tenders were coated with what is called "BBG" sauce, the "house dressing"….a tangy, tomato based sauce, halfway between chutney and BBQ sauce. The tenders were very soft and moist, a nice surprise, since tenders are usually dry and tough. The Missus enjoyed these.

Overall, a nice experience, and since I just have to try the Lamb Burger, I think we'll be back. Lack of parking, and the general traffic, both of the two legged and 4 wheeled variety will make timing very important. I'm making sure to include the Google map and address for Bare Back Grill, so you won't be a doofus like me and do a Google search on the words "bareback"……sheesh!

Bare Back Grill
4640 Mission Blvd
San Diego, CA 92109

Thanks for the rec CJ! hope to see a new post from you soon!

El Sol Mexican Restaurant

December 11, 2008 mmm-yoso Burgers, Mexican Restaurants

**** El Sol has closed

Claims of the best burger in San Diego are spoken by the patrons of this little shop on University, just North of Park Boulevard.

The Owner, whose claim to fame is making burgers for former President Clinton at his former place of employment(Danny's Palm Bar), runs this little Mom and Pop shop with a menu full of variety. Serving everything from Chimichangas and Quesadillas, to Veggie Burgers.

The cozy interior is full of knick-knacks and memorabilia, much of which follows "the Sun" (El Sol) motif:

You can figure out what I ordered….. a burger of course. Hamburger with Cheese and Onion Rings($7.99). First up came some chips and salsa:

Nothing special, but for free so who's going to complain?

I ordered some Iced Tea, and for $2.50 expected a large glass……but got a full glass, and a pitcher.

And a Tecate six pack holder also arrived at the same time with the various dressings….mustard, mayo, salsa, etc… nice job of "recycling".

And soon enough my burger arrived.

The onion rings were a 100% pure Sysco-fied, and no big deal. The lettuce, tomato, and pickles are provided on the side, and just as with the iced tea, and dressings, you can add what you desire. Freedom of choice reigns supreme here.

The bun for the burger had been placed on the grill, and was a bit dried out. The cheese was also very mundane. The burger had an interesting taste….mildly peppery, and you could definitely taste the oregano. I found the burger to be dry, and on the mealy side…. I think it had been pressed pretty hard on the griddle, and much of the juices had escaped.

Maybe not the best burger in San Diego, but not too bad. What about Bill Clinton? Well, you gotta remember that 'ol Bubba loved his McDonalds burgers…… Still, not bad.

I returned a few weeks later, earlier in the day, and decided to grab some breakfast. This time I went with the Nopales and Eggs ($5.99). Nopalitos are the prepared pads of the prickly pear cactus.

This was, in essense, a Nopalito Scramble, and was quite a bit of food. From the salsa and pickled carrots and peppers, a bit too mild fo my taste. To the beans, of which a whole plate was provided…. lots of bulk, but a bit short on the salt end.

However, the eggs were not short on salt……

And though the Nopalitos were canned, and much of the mild tartness was gone, the flavor was very much like green beans. I like the way this was cooked, not too runny, and not dry. A perfect amount of salt was used. The corn tortillas were packaged mass produced, but I expected as much.

In the end, this was a lot of food, and bang-for-the-buck, this was well worth the $5.99.

While you may not experience any culinary epiphanies at El Sol, you get a pretty good value for your money. I consider it a pretty solid Mom-and-Pop eatery. I'm still trying to figure out what a "Nayarit Burger" is…….

El Sol Mexican Restaurant
2037 University Ave
San Diego, CA 92104

Open 9am – 9pm Daily.

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Offshore Tavern & Grill

March 7, 2008 mmm-yoso Burgers, Pubs and Pub Grub

It seems that this strip of Morena Boulevard is undergoing a slow but steady gentrification of sorts. It pretty much started with the addition of Bay Park Fish Company a few years back. Soon enough, the seedy Rosarina’s Pizza, was replaced by High Dive Bar and Grill(a post is upcoming). To complete the tri-fecta, the fire engine red location of Bollweevil, which has since taken it’s blood red colors further up Morena Boulevard to the Bay Ho Shopping Center. As this is being written, KFC is either being renovated or replaced…..

Yes, Off Shore is located right next to Morena Welding……

One day, I decided to grab a bite at Off Shore. I found the interior to have quite a "corporate" feel, which kind of makes sense since Off Shore is owned by MJE Incorporated, who run the Sandbar, and other Bar and Grills in San Diego, and elsewhere.

The bar has a sports bar feel, with plasma televisions mounted everywhere. The patio area is brighter and breezier….with plasma televisions mounted everywhere….

So how’s the view? Well, this is the "offshore view", from the patio at Off Shore:

You can watch the waves….of traffic swimming upstream on Morena Boulevard and the I-5. In spite of the whooshing traffic noise, the vibe is very laid back, as is the staff.

The menu is corporate pub grub, a collection of burgers, wraps, fried items, and items like ceviche and salads marked as "healthy". The prices seemed quite reasonable, and I decided to order the Offshore Burger($6.95). Being, a basic-burger kind of guy, I eschewed the bacon($1), and cheese($1). I was mainly interested in how the burger tasted. I was asked the usual "how would you like the burger cooked". I had doubts that my burger would actually be made, the "medium" that I ordered…still, I gave it a shot. The very nice young lady who took my order, seemed somewhat disturbed that I didn’t want cheese, mayo, mustard, bacon……. But soon enough, my burger arrived, and it looked pretty good:

The burger was nice and moist, but of course, even though the menu says "grilled your way", which would have been a nice slightly charred burger with a rare streak……it was cooked well done. Not grilled to a dry crisp, but still well done. The burger was bland and tasteless, not that I expected anything more for a 7 dollar pub burger. What I did enjoy was the tater tots…now who doesn’t love tater tots? And an added plus…these were Garlic Tater Tots. Now I’d really love some tater tots with enough garlic punch to kill Nosferatu, but I understand that not everyone….or perhaps no one would enjoy that. These were mildly garlicky, with just the right amount of salt, and cooked perfectly.

So, not bad for $6.95, and I enjoyed the Tater Tots. Which was enough ammunition for me to drag the Missus to Off Shore. We took a table on the patio, and soon enough the menus arrived, and we ordered shortly thereafter. The Missus decided on the Grilled Shrimp Wrap with Fries($8.95):

Dry and tasteless, this was not very good at all. The fries are nothing special, nor particularly good.

I ordered that latest darling of the corporate pub-grub menu, "Sliders"(mini-burgers). The Bay Park Sliders with Garlic Tater Tots($7.95):

Boy, talk about a 180 degree turn, the burgers were way too dry, as were the rolls. The garlic tater tots were just as good, or maybe even better than before.

Alas, the Missus is not interested in another visit. Though I may drop by during Happy Hour for some of those Tater Tots(at half price):

We had good service at Off Shore, perhaps a little on the slow side, but our waters, and Iced Tea($2) were constantly refilled. The prices are pretty reasonable, and the place is much less the eye-sore that Bollweevil was. It’ll be interesting to see what else will be happening to Morena Boulevard in the future.

Offshore Tavern & Grill
2253 Morena Blvd
San Diego, CA 92110

Open Daily 11am