Juicy Lucy From The Burger Dive Gets High Score

I didn't see the sign above at The Burger Dive on 27th St, near the corner of 1st Ave and 27th St. This is the logo I borrowed from their presence on Facebook. What I did see is taken from near the sidewalk entrance. See below.

I surfed around on the Net and found some info on the place in Jan Falstad's column from early September of 2010. There are multiple Facebook entries and of course, UrbanSpoon has some reviews and other things.

I was reminded of some burger joints I knew from my earlier days prowling around Milwaukee and Chicago. That would be in the 40s and 50s of the last century.

 Maybe someone should nominate these folks for the 3rd edition of George Motz's Hamburger America. The second edition should be out soon, supposed to add quite a few to the 100 or so places featured in the 1st edition. I visited a few of those, one just south of Denver, another just outside Santa Fe, another in Sacramento, and two in Minneapolis featuring Juicy Lucys. They were all good though Motz seemed to emphasize small and down home sort of places, the kind that makes you wonder how anything so good can come from a place like that.

The place seemed clean and the customers and waitpeople were agreeable; the latter were very helpful. They are only open for lunch during the week, about 10:30 to 3:00 or so. No beer/wine.

The menu featured a lot of special burgers, including the above-mentioned Juicy Lucys: these are two quarter pounders with a decent-sized chunk of American cheese between them. Be careful when you first bite into it as the cheese is very hot and can squirt in an explosive way. Stick your fork or knife in it to let off the pressure. The piece of bacon is optional. The buns were pretty good too, slightly toasted on the insides.

Next time I go I will try the "Blackened Sabbath" Burger even if it alludes to some anti-Christian ideas as bleu—is that the way we spell it now?—cheese, blackened by spices, and topped with bacon are mighty alluring to me.

My picture of the menu didn't come out but it looked like there were some good shakes and malts, as well as things besides burgers, like Nathan's hot dogs. The soups change from day to day. Mine was a nice bacon and potato chowder on Monday.

This is a place worth going back too, especially if your alias is J Wellington Wimpy.