Bantam doesn't want AI War, but is willing to sell it back to me for $14K and change. I should be able to work with that. We've got a lot of legal bills at the moment (or to put it another way, Alan Rodgers persists in being the biological father of my older 3 kids) -- but court's going fairly-well-so-far, and my finances have gotten a lot better recently. I left fulltime employment and went back to consulting work 6 weeks ago. Amy's got a job lined up for September, when Connor goes to kindegarten, that includes first-rate medical insurance. Consulting is risker -- too risky for almost the entire time we've been together, with small children and the threat of astonishing medical bills, with Amy unable to work much because of babies and toddlers. (Someday I will tell the story of my son Connor's 5-week premature birth, the $300K medical bill from that, and how desperately both I and the insurance company tried not to pay it ... while the web boom was collapsing around me ...)
The last several years have seen a return to form for the industry. It's not late 90s boom days, but it's not 2002 either, and my phone rings once a week or so with someone looking to hire me for SQL Server contract work: there are some benefits to having had the same cell phone # for the last decade. So in March Amy and I decided I'd go back to contract, offering my time at $150 an hour, carrying Cobra until Amy's new job starts. I gave two months notice on my job -- data architect for a popular website, not to be named because Alan Rodgers keeps fantasizing in public about getting me fired from my various jobs -- and now I'm doing long-term contract with them and a couple other clients. So far it's gone well -- I've not quite doubled what I was making on salary.
Just in time for Alan to reappear in our lives, in fact. Ah, well. :-) Even with lawyer bills and Cobra, we're in the black on the move. When Amy goes back to work and the Cobra goes away and she starts getting paid, life will be better.
~~~~~
Saw Live Free or Die Hard last night. Best movie of the summer by a lot. It's not as good as the original Die Hard, but that's sort of like me saying that Larry McMurtry's other novels aren't as good as "Lonesome Dove" -- duh: regression to the mean is a bitch. There can only be one best of anything, and Lonesome Dove is the best novel I've ever seen, and Die Hard is the best action movie. Die Hard 2 was a misfire, Die Hard 3 I just watched recently and it's better than I remembered, though not in the ballpark of the original. Live Free or Die Hard approaches the original in places, which is high praise. It goes over the top at the end, though it's a lot of fun to watch even then -- good action movie cartoon is OK by me, but up until then I'd been in the movie, not outside it appreciating the effects work.
I won't go see it again this summer, but I'll certainly rent it on DVD when it comes out.
~~~~~
The Best Cheeseburger in Los Angeles ... is not the Kobe Burger at the Crocodile Cafe.
The Crocodile Cafe has changed its menu lately, though it does still have the classic Oakwood Cheeseburger on the menu. On Tueseday we were in court in downtown, so when we got done earlier than we expected, I took the family to lunch at the Crocodile Cafe on Lake Avenue in Pasadena. Rather than ordering the Oakwood Cheeseburger (though I was relieved to see it still on the menu) I got crazed and optimistic and ordered the Kobe Burger. I keep having a fantasy that someday I'll eat a great Kobe Burger that's going to rock my world -- I like the idea of great beef inside a burger -- but it hasn't happened yet, and maybe won't. The Croc's Kobe burger came with smoked Gouda cheese, Prosciuto ham, Cayenne mayo (which I quite liked -- I might order that with the Oakwood Cheeseburger next time I'm there.) Spinach greens, tomatoes, on a bun made of some good cut of bread I didn't quite recognize, but liked.
A serious disappointment. I ordered it medium rare, it came well done. The Gouda was OK, but cheddar would have been better, and the ham completely overwhelmed the taste of the burger. That Oakwood grill taste -- a 900 degree oak grill chars the burger like nothing else -- was there, and still superb, but even that couldn't compete with the taste of the ham. A 5. A sad, disappointed 5.
A few days prior to that I ordered the Fatburger on my way home from a long night onsite at a client's, 50 miles from home. There's a Fatburger open to 2 AM not far from where I live, so I hit it right before closing and got the basic Fatburger cheeseburger, flame grilled. This is the key to Fatburger: they make an OK fried burger. But they keep a flame grill off to the side of the frying grill, and it improves the burger substantially. No Fatburger variation is a 10, but there are several flame-grilled 9s, and this is one: relish, pickles, lettuce, tomato, cheddar, white bread bun, excellent flame-grilled patty. A consistent 9, I've had this burger several times a year for years now. The only kvetch is price -- In'N'Out can make a superb $1.65 cheeseburgert, and Fatburger charges roughly twice the amount for similar quality. A 9 anyway.
Showing posts with label Crocodile Cafe. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Crocodile Cafe. Show all posts
Thursday, June 28, 2007
Thursday, June 7, 2007
The Best Cheeseburger in Los Angeles
7 or 8 years ago I started to do a comprehensive survey of the best cheeseburger in Los Angeles. To that end I made a list of restaurants, read all the "best burger" lists -- I'd eaten most of those places already, as it happened -- and started eating burgers and taking notes.
I soon realized I was never going to finish. New restaurants open too quickly. Burger variations pop up at places you've eaten at before. Rather than an article summarizing the best burgers in Los Angeles and picking a winner, I realized that the best I was going to be able to do was keep a running tally, updating as I had the chance --
The scale goes 1 to 10 -- and there are negative number burgers -- Jack in the Box, which serves meat that actually killed four people back in the early 90s, for example. Even when they don't kill you, every Jack in the Box burger gets (and merits) a negative number. I risk my life (for you, the Consumer) every few years to verify that the burgers are still as lousy as ever there, and my expectation has never been disappointed.
A 1 is a burger I'd eat for free if I was hungry; a 10 is perfection. There are only three 10s.
The current three Best Burgers in Los Angeles are:
10. The Apple Pan on Pico Blvd., west of Westwood Blvd..
I've been eating at the Apple Pan for twenty plus years, and the restaurant itself has been on the same location on Pico Blvd. since 1947. The burgers are consistently perfect. They serve a "steak burger," which is a 10, and a barbecue burger, which is a 9.
Apple Pan is seriously old school. There's a counter -- you stand and wait until a seat becomes available, and then you eat, and pay, and leave, because there are people waiting for your seat. The fries, pie, coffee and drinks are all good, but the burgers are why you come.
The burger comes on a slightly greasy toasted bun, lettuce, Tillamook cheddar, pickles, mayo, and what's probably the best burger relish anywhere in the known universe, a sweet red ketchup relish that takes a great burger and makes it perfect.
If you're visiting Los Angeles and have time for only one burger, make it this one. I've eaten here dozens of times over the years, and not only is the burger great, the consistency can't be beat. It's the same perfect burger every time.
About $7 for the burger alone.
~~~~~
10. The Pie'n'Burger in Pasadena, California Blvd. east of Lake.
I've only eaten here once, and the burger is a surprise to me, because on description I wouldn't have expected perfection ... the Pie'n'Burger resembles the Apple Pan – thin, well-done patty, soft toasted bun, a big chunk of lettuce, good pickles, onions and tomato if you ask for them – raw onions actually make me physically ill, so I skipped that, but I asked for tomato.
Apple-Pannish, so far. But the cheese is American, which I don't normally like, and the dressing is thousand island, which I also don't normally like – but here it works. A 10 and though I haven't been back in the year or so since I first ate here -- I don't get to Pasadena too often -- I will be back, and I'm pretty sure the quality of the burger will be the same.
I've heard people complain about the cleanliness at Pie'n'Burger, but the one time I was there it was as clean as any other diner.
Didn't note the price. Usually I try to, but sometimes I forget. Around $7, if I recall.
~~~~~
10. The Crocodile Café, 3 locations
I used to eat here more often -- there used to be four Crocodile Cafes, scattered around the L.A. area: one in Santa Monica near the pier, where I ate at frequently; one on Colorado Blvd. in Pasadena; one on Lake in Pasadena; and one in old Burbank. All but the Lake Avenue location are gone (there are only three Crocodile Cafes left anywhere: San Diego, Glendale, and Pasadena.)
Writing this summary, I glanced at the menu for the Pasadena location -- and this burger may be gone. There are now three burgers listed on the menu, all marked "NEW" -- a "Kobe Cheese Burger," a "Ranch House Burger" with barbecue, and a "California Cheese Burger," none of which sound like close matches to the classic Oakwood cheeseburger.
The classic Oakwood cheeseburger was a thick patty, which I always ordered medium rare. The seasoned beef was cooked over a 900 degree oak fire, resulting in a taste really unlike any other burger I've had elsewhere. It came with shredded lettuce, mustard, pickles, tomato, on a bun thick enough to deal with the juice – when a burger can be ordered medium rare, I do.
I'd guess you can still order that classic burger, even if it's off-menu now; they still call it an "Oakwood" burger, in any event. I can't vouch for any of the new items.
About $10 for the burger alone.
~~~~~
Those are the three best, out of about 300 reviewed and written down in the last decade. Yesterday I had lunch at Hamburger Mary's, a chain with locations in half a dozen places. It had the chain feel. I ate at the location on Santa Monica Blvd. in West Hollywood.
Had the Kobe Burger, medium rare. The pickles weren't burger pickles, they were chunky half-sours, the bun was a fairly thick sesame seed, good cheddar cheese, and a nice hunk of iceberg lettuce.
The beef didn't come medium rare, it came medium, just a hint of pink in the center. And the odds of it being real Kobe are very small -- the burger was $16, which sounds like a lot for a burger but isn't much for Kobe. Most likely it's American Wagyu – a good chunk of what's sold in America as Kobe beef isn't, and I'm pretty sure this is one of those cases.
A good burger -- a 7 -- but not worth what it costs. I may head back and try one of the other burgers -- they have quite a selection.
I soon realized I was never going to finish. New restaurants open too quickly. Burger variations pop up at places you've eaten at before. Rather than an article summarizing the best burgers in Los Angeles and picking a winner, I realized that the best I was going to be able to do was keep a running tally, updating as I had the chance --
The scale goes 1 to 10 -- and there are negative number burgers -- Jack in the Box, which serves meat that actually killed four people back in the early 90s, for example. Even when they don't kill you, every Jack in the Box burger gets (and merits) a negative number. I risk my life (for you, the Consumer) every few years to verify that the burgers are still as lousy as ever there, and my expectation has never been disappointed.
A 1 is a burger I'd eat for free if I was hungry; a 10 is perfection. There are only three 10s.
The current three Best Burgers in Los Angeles are:
10. The Apple Pan on Pico Blvd., west of Westwood Blvd..
I've been eating at the Apple Pan for twenty plus years, and the restaurant itself has been on the same location on Pico Blvd. since 1947. The burgers are consistently perfect. They serve a "steak burger," which is a 10, and a barbecue burger, which is a 9.
Apple Pan is seriously old school. There's a counter -- you stand and wait until a seat becomes available, and then you eat, and pay, and leave, because there are people waiting for your seat. The fries, pie, coffee and drinks are all good, but the burgers are why you come.
The burger comes on a slightly greasy toasted bun, lettuce, Tillamook cheddar, pickles, mayo, and what's probably the best burger relish anywhere in the known universe, a sweet red ketchup relish that takes a great burger and makes it perfect.
If you're visiting Los Angeles and have time for only one burger, make it this one. I've eaten here dozens of times over the years, and not only is the burger great, the consistency can't be beat. It's the same perfect burger every time.
About $7 for the burger alone.
~~~~~
10. The Pie'n'Burger in Pasadena, California Blvd. east of Lake.
I've only eaten here once, and the burger is a surprise to me, because on description I wouldn't have expected perfection ... the Pie'n'Burger resembles the Apple Pan – thin, well-done patty, soft toasted bun, a big chunk of lettuce, good pickles, onions and tomato if you ask for them – raw onions actually make me physically ill, so I skipped that, but I asked for tomato.
Apple-Pannish, so far. But the cheese is American, which I don't normally like, and the dressing is thousand island, which I also don't normally like – but here it works. A 10 and though I haven't been back in the year or so since I first ate here -- I don't get to Pasadena too often -- I will be back, and I'm pretty sure the quality of the burger will be the same.
I've heard people complain about the cleanliness at Pie'n'Burger, but the one time I was there it was as clean as any other diner.
Didn't note the price. Usually I try to, but sometimes I forget. Around $7, if I recall.
~~~~~
10. The Crocodile Café, 3 locations
I used to eat here more often -- there used to be four Crocodile Cafes, scattered around the L.A. area: one in Santa Monica near the pier, where I ate at frequently; one on Colorado Blvd. in Pasadena; one on Lake in Pasadena; and one in old Burbank. All but the Lake Avenue location are gone (there are only three Crocodile Cafes left anywhere: San Diego, Glendale, and Pasadena.)
Writing this summary, I glanced at the menu for the Pasadena location -- and this burger may be gone. There are now three burgers listed on the menu, all marked "NEW" -- a "Kobe Cheese Burger," a "Ranch House Burger" with barbecue, and a "California Cheese Burger," none of which sound like close matches to the classic Oakwood cheeseburger.
The classic Oakwood cheeseburger was a thick patty, which I always ordered medium rare. The seasoned beef was cooked over a 900 degree oak fire, resulting in a taste really unlike any other burger I've had elsewhere. It came with shredded lettuce, mustard, pickles, tomato, on a bun thick enough to deal with the juice – when a burger can be ordered medium rare, I do.
I'd guess you can still order that classic burger, even if it's off-menu now; they still call it an "Oakwood" burger, in any event. I can't vouch for any of the new items.
About $10 for the burger alone.
~~~~~
Those are the three best, out of about 300 reviewed and written down in the last decade. Yesterday I had lunch at Hamburger Mary's, a chain with locations in half a dozen places. It had the chain feel. I ate at the location on Santa Monica Blvd. in West Hollywood.
Had the Kobe Burger, medium rare. The pickles weren't burger pickles, they were chunky half-sours, the bun was a fairly thick sesame seed, good cheddar cheese, and a nice hunk of iceberg lettuce.
The beef didn't come medium rare, it came medium, just a hint of pink in the center. And the odds of it being real Kobe are very small -- the burger was $16, which sounds like a lot for a burger but isn't much for Kobe. Most likely it's American Wagyu – a good chunk of what's sold in America as Kobe beef isn't, and I'm pretty sure this is one of those cases.
A good burger -- a 7 -- but not worth what it costs. I may head back and try one of the other burgers -- they have quite a selection.
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