Fatburger

After the finish of the world cup game I decided to venture forth from my apartment and into my local Fatburger. The first thing I noticed when walking in to the restaurant, besides the awkwardly placed Juke box, was the high price of everything on the menu. The combos were all around eight dollars, which reaches around nine with tax. This may seem expensive for fast food, but everything around Los Angeles costs about two dollars more.

I am a big fan of dining in at fast food places because it allows me to keep refilling my soda with that oh so delicious diet coke. Brands may have been originally created to guarantee uniform quality and flavor so one would think that a product from such a developed brand as Coke would taste the same no matter where it came from. In practice, an experienced connoisseur knows that the flavor of diet coke at different fountains varies greatly due to the syrup content. Just as a waiter pours a small amount of wine into a glass to make sure the cork has not spoiled, one should take a sample from the fountain just to make sure that it isn’t overly diluted. The fatcoke, as I want to call it, was particularly concentrated. It was something I noticed as I waited what seemed like an eternity for my combo to arrive. I noticed that service is a bit slower in Los Angeles, even though consumers often seem upset with the extended wait.

My wait was brought to an end as my combo finally arrived. The fries were well crisped and well salted, but my appetite piqued as my eyes turned to the burger. My first bite brought me many pleasant surprises. The patty itself was very flavorful and seasoned with pepper, the extra pickles I requested were tasty, the whole wheat bun added a nice base, and most importantly, all the ingredients of the burger were warm. While Heston Blumenthal worked hard to develop his hot and cold tea, the mixing of temperatures in a burger just dulls the taste of the veggies. Fatburgers well heated ingredients brought out the full flavors and combined to make a very tasty burger. The restaurant heralding itself as “The last great hamburger stand” may not deserve quite that distinction, but it was well worth the inflated price tag and extended wait.