Double Texas Burger at Southern Fried Chicken, Helsinki, Finland

My buddy, Brad, came to Helsinki for a few days. I picked him up from the airport. He wanted to take a shower and we planned to meet later in the hotel lobby bar. I planned to take him to local place named as Southern Fried Chicken. I didn't bother to find out what this place was like and it was a big mistake.

When we walked in we started to lauch since we already knew this place sucks big time. The place was a cheap mix of KFC, typical kebab joint and burger chain. Everything under one roof, on the menu they have kebabs, fried chicken, burgers and salads. Well, we decided to give it a try anyway, the clock was ticking and jetlag was about to come in. Brad ordered Fried Chicken combo and I took their Double Texas Burger combo. We moved to the table and started to chat. After couple of minutes our plates were slammed to the table by one waitress.

The burger was built in a standard supermarket bun, fluffy like they are and barely grilled. The two slaps of frozen beef was seasoned with hot chili flakes (they called it piri-piri) and piled with cheddar, tomato, lettuce and onion. The hot chili flakes does not belong to a burger, maybe over a pepperoni pizza slice but not on a burger. Well it really didn't matter since the burger was tasteless anyway.

This place sucks big time. Texas this, Texas that, there's nothing related to Texas or Southern food in this place. It's just another place where everything comes from the freezer and is quickly warmed up. Not recommended.

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Southern Fried Chicken
Mannerheimintie 20
00100 Helsinki, Finland
+358-9-685-7721


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Elvis Burger at Rock 'n Roll Diner, Oceano CA

We left this morning from LA and already visited Irv's for early lunch. Our goal was to reach Santa Cruz by evening and we stopped at Rock n Roll Diner in Oceano, which was located around half way. Rock 'n Roll Diner is situated in two railroad cars which sit next to Highway 1 just outside Oceano. The cars are surprisingly roomy, the one we dined in had double and single booths made with red and pearl checkered vinyl. The cars are decorated with vintage ads and pictures plus rock 'n roll memoribilia. The menu offers everything you expect from a regular 50s diner plus Greek entrees since the owner, Marios Poyuioukkas, was born in Creece.

On the menu they had around ten burger choices. Burgers are made with flame-grilled fresh lean choice chuck steak. All the burgers were served with fries, coleslaw or green salad. I ordered an Elvis Burger which basically was a standard Bacon Cheeseburger. After Irv's I skipped the fries and ordered a green salad.

The burgers were served with condiments on the side. You had a standard choice of lettuce, tomato, onion slice and pickles. The bun was grilled from the inside and was spread with little mayo. The bun was the standard hamburger bun, soft and fresh. I added some mustard and piled my burger with condiments and it came out looking as a perfect burger. Personally I think that this burger image is one of the best I've taken so far. The meat was fresh, mildly seasoned with good taste from the flames. All the condiments were really fresh and crunchy. Overall the taste was pretty standard. Everything seemed to be really fresh which was nice as we were surrounded by fields of lettuce, potatoes and other greens.

This place is worth a visit if you are driving along Highway 1. Prices are a bit on the high side and the food offers no suprises, it's just a good basic burger in great atmosphere. Recommended.

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Rock 'n Roll Diner
1300 Railroad St
Oceano, CA 93445
+1-805-473-2040


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Mel's Cheeseburger at Mel's Drive-In, San Francisco CA

Someone might remember Mel's Drive-In from George Lucas movie 'American Graffiti' where teenagers cruise Main Street and stop at Mel's Drive-In and listen to Wolfman Jack on the radio. This legendary drive-in was built in 1949 when Mel Weiss and Harold Dobbs started their first carhop eatery. They lured crowds of patrons that fancied dining-in-your-car and it didn't take long for the first unit to multiply into eleven!

As the new franchised fast food outlets and the philosophy of "serve yourself" began to reprogram attitudes about dining, Mels began its gradual decline and in 1972 colorful marquees were scheduled for removal. Mel's story was about to end forever but then came George Lucas and kept the place in history forever. This event didn't eventually save the drive-in since when the movie hit the theaters the bulldozers had already left the site and the trucks where carting off the debris.

Thirteen years later, Mel's son Steven opened the Mel's again. At the grand re-opening in 1985, former teenagers who once dined at the first Mels were now re-visiting with their families. Weary of tasteless road food, they wanted to show their kids a glimpse of what the good times were really like. Mel's was back on the charts with new locations on San Francisco's Lombard and Geary Street. Two more opened in Los Angeles - joined by full-scale replicas at the Universal theme parks in Florida and California.

Mel's serves pretty standard diner food. You can get breakfast, soups, salads, sandwiches, burgers, and thick shakes and other fountain drinks. We visited their Geary Street location which is not so tourist filled as their downtown locations and it has more authentic feel in it.

Their burgers are pretty standard with 1/3 pound patty and there's several options. You can also upgrade any burger to 1/2 pound version. I had a 1/2 pound Mel's Cheeseburger, no fries, no coleslaw - just a medium rare burger. Their burger are served with lettuce, tomato, pickles, onion and a side of mayo. All the condiments come on the side so you can build as you like. Oh, and the cheeseburger comes with not one, but two slices of cheddar. I added some mustard, and piled the burger and it looked nice apart from the bloody juices squeezing out from the patty. The bun was pretty standard, a bit dry, hardly toasted from the inside. Meat was over done and it wasn't particulary juicy since most of the juices had left the patty before it came to me. I would say this was pretty average burger. Interior was nice, service was good and the history is worth telling but I would not bother to visit them again. You can get better burgers from other joints in Bay area.

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Mel's Drive-In
3355 Geary Blvd
San Francisco, CA 94118
+1-415-387-2244
www.melsdrive-in.com


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Special Burger at Café Brazil, Dallas TX

Last night went to a local punk rock gig and ended up having a burger in Café Brazil around 2am. Café Brazil is local Dallas restaurant chain where you can enjoy a great breakfast and specialty roasted coffees from around the world in a smoke-free environment. Their Deep Ellum location is areas premier 'deep night' dining spot.

After the bar was closed we headed to Café Brazil for 'breakfast', or salt and grease as I say it. I didn't know if they would serve burgers so I just ordered the most bodacious burger they could come up with. They serve two burgers and after reviewing the menu from their website I guess that I ended up having a mix of Brazilian Burger and BBQ Burger. Let's call it as a special burger. This burger had a slap of meat covered with jalapeno bbq sauce, bacon and american cheese with tomato, lettuce, red onion, bell peppers, mustard and mayo.

If I remember right the burger was excellent. Juicy and tasty, and I have to mention those peppers, excellent addition to a burger. During the time, place and situation it might have been the best burger I've ever had... It was served with fries which were crispy and coated with spicy seasoning. Just excellent.

I have a feeling that I need to give Café Brazil another, and a sober, try someday for objective review.

Country Burger at Southern Recipe, Irving TX

We had lunch in this hole-in-the-wall place in Irving. My local buddy knew the place but told that he hasn't gone there for years after her sister had a bug in her meal. It was nice to hear after making your order.

There's not much to tell about the place. The building had seen it's best days and it had propably worked as a restaurant longer than I have lived. It was just one of those local small diners where you can get decent food quickly and cheap. The place was almost empty when we arrived. Couple of things that I noticed was a sign "Non-smoking Area" and an electronic fly trap. First when you see a sign which says non-smoking area you don't expect to see anyone sitting under that sign with a cigarette in his hand. Secondly should the flies be trapped before they get in?

I was about to skip the burgers and go with Chicken Fried Chicken but their Country Burger caught my eye. Brown gravy? On a burger? What the heck? This burger had slap of meat, grilled onions and mushroom topped with some white cheese and brown gravy. The burger was ok. With that gravy it was a safe bet to mess you up so I ate it with utensils. You didn't really taste the gravy that much so it ended up being just a regular burger with gravy on it.

I also had some excellent onions rings that I renamed to Chicken Fried Onion Rings since this whole concept of chicken-fried-something is really confusing. There's no real logic for it, even thou that my buddy does his best to convince me that there is.

This is one of those places that you really can't say if you recommend it or not. If you come across it, go and have a meal but don't bother to make any extra effort to get there. Homemade food is homemade food, even with bugs on it.

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English Burger at Babe's Cafe, Aliso Viejo CA

Our "quick" visit to Babe's Cafe could be called an unique dining experience. We decided to rush in to Babe's since it was the only option and we kind of got lost on our way to a meeting and were forced to pick something quick for lunch. When we went in and sit around the table, we already knew it was a big mistake. Place was half full of senior citizens and everything seemed to resemble slow motion film.

The only waitress, age of 50+ or something was doing her best to handle customer service in her own unique style. She approached to our table and my buddy said hello and threw in how'ya doin' with his Texas accent. This was a big mistake. She started to tell her story how today was better than yesterday when she had somekind of allergic reaction and big rash and she wasn't really feeling well. That's something you don't want to hear from waitress.

We ordered our drinks and she went away. After a while she started to serve food to other table and continued go around the cafe and clean tables etc. After a while she appeared again in her slow motion style and we got our drinks, five different sizes of water for four people!? She got our order and went away. At this point we were already checking the time and hoping for the best.

After a while our food started to appear on the counter from the kitchen side, but our waitress had disappeared. After a while she showed up again, this time with couple of coffees. It seems that if you order two it means three and so on, since she approached our table with extra cup of coffee asking if anyone would want that. Hell yeah, but where's our food, Mam? During this our food including a tuna salad and coleslaw, were sitting under the heat lamp. We declined the coffee and she finally remembered the food and went to the counter to pick it up, slowly but surely. When she served the food we told her that we were in a hurry and asked for the check right away. She came back and I gave her my credit card, took my photo and started to enjoy my burger.

After a while we were done and ready to leave and I still hadn't got my credit card back. I decided to do a move and went to the counter and asked for my credit card and receipt to sign. At this point she started to complain how difficult these cards are and most of the people pay with cash. After ten tries she got me my receipt to sign and we got out and on our way. Finally.

Well the story didn't end up here. We had our meeting and got back to the airport when Babe's hit me again. I rushed to the restroom and you don't want to know the rest. After three or four trips to restroom I got the Babe's out of my system and things calmed down.

Sooooooo, what did I ate at Babe's Cafe. I had an English Burger which was just a basic bacon cheeseburger and it had tomato, lettuce and red onions. I also ordered a coleslaw on the side. The burger wasn't bad but there is nothing special to mention about it. Just the basic burger that you can get from every other place. Coleslaw was mixed with mayo and vinegar and I didn't notice anything weird than it was a bit warm. I didn't think about the coleslaw at the time but afterwards it was pretty obvious with all the waiting mixed with the heatlamp. What can you expect with mayo and heat?

Well, one thing is for sure, I recommend you to stay away from Babe's!

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Babe's Cafe
24310 Moulton Pkwy
Laguna Woods, CA 92637
+1-949-380-0465


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