LA Burgers - Apple Pan

Apple Pan harkens back to the old days of Los Angeles burger consumption, when the main thoroughfares were lined with burger joints. Dating back to the 1930s when this area was pretty rural, and located on Pico Blvd, it still is housed in the original space with a horseshoe counter, griddle in the middle, the servers are all old men in paper hats and aprons, and drinks are served in paper cups in a metal holder.

The slogan of the joint is “Quality Forever”, beckoning all from their neon sign. The menu is limited: two types of burgers, fries, tuna sandwich and 3 types of pies.

The burger offers are the Steakburger (which is just a regular burger) and their famous Hickory Burger with their homemade BBQ sauce. I went with the Hickory, opting for a slice of cheddar which is supplied from the same farm that they get their meat from. The meat is ground fresh and delivered everyday, I guess keeping up with the mantra of quality forever.

I started with some fries. The fries were standard frozen variety, not too much to talk about. As with In-N-Out you can order them “rare” or “well done”, I just went with a regular order with a mix of both I guess. The one interesting point with the fries, is that when the server asked if I wanted ketchup, he pulled a Tom Cruise-Cocktail flip of the Heinz bottle and poured a perfect amount of ketchup on an adjacent plate.

In a few moments my burger came out, served old school style wrapped in wax paper. It was bigger than I thought it was going to be, I’d estimate a good 1/3 lb. patty. It was cooked a fine medium (I prefer med rare but I didn’t have a choice), on a nice toasted bun. I was worried that the BBQ sauce would be too overpowering, but it wasn’t too strong (more tangy than sweet) and my first bite allowed me to enjoy the good beef flavor and the nice mild cheddar. The lettuce and pickles were under the meat, which allowed for me to get the meat/cheese bite right at the top, and kept the burger from getting too messy. The last few bites were the best though; nice and soggy from the sauce and juice from the meat, with the bun good and soft. I quickly devoured it; one hand holding the burger in the wax paper, and the other hand dunking the fries.

I was seriously considering ordering another burger, but the server talked me into going for a piece of pie (it is called the apple pan). Their pies and when the recipes were made are listed on the back of the menu (the apple pie recipe originated in Ohio, and was brought to LA in the 1920s). I went a la mode, and a nice steaming hot piece of apple pie with two huge scoops of French vanilla ice cream came out. Honestly I should’ve gone with the banana cream. I was raised on my grandmother’s apple pies, and nothing still compares to those. However it was clearly homemade, and with the quickly melting ice cream it still tasted great.

So in the superficial land of trendy LA it is still good to know that a place like Apple Pan still exists (and is very popular; the crowd was thick with many people waiting for an open stool). So quality forever!

Fantastic Documentary

20 min documentary on The Winstons "Amen Brother" drum break; one of the most widely used samples in history. Goes into great details of the birth of sampling, copywright laws, and the use of drum breaks in particular.

Amen Brother Documentary

Bloc Party - Intimacy

So today I downloaded(legally - I paid for it) the new Bloc Party record, Intimacy. I've given it only a cursory once over, and I have to say it is great. I think it is more put together than the haphazard Weekend In The City, giving more hard hitting guitars, vocal hooks and of course the fantastic "drum machine" drumming of Matt Tong. My first impressions are that this is a pretty hard record with a raw sound, the guitars are much more in the fore front than their previous releases, and this record seems less "danceable". Which is striking as there is more of an electronic footprint on some of the songs, with synth drums and lines that go in and out through most of the tracks, notable on "Signs" and the single "Mercury". "Mercury" is pretty classic Bloc Party and the most "dancey" track so far, that I'm sure will have about 150 dance remixes of. However they have married the rawness of their style of rock with minimal electronic flourishes that mesh nicely. A difficult task to say the least, as many bands in the past 5 years have tried to do this but didn't reach this level. I'm sure it is attributable to the production work of Jacknife Lee and Paul Epworth.

One of the producers, Jacknife Lee, who has worked with such artists as Weezer, U2 and Snow Patrol came from the "big beat" sound of late 90s Britain. The sound is evident on some of the tracks here, with large drums surrounding most of the tracks. He is a welcome addition to Bloc Party's boards.

So I will have to listen to the record a few more times, but for a first listen I am impressed and like it more than their last record. They have definitely grown as a band, with Kele Okereke's vocals even more confident and powerful. Bloc Party are definitely one of the more interesting and great sounding bands currently out there.

Mr. Bartley's Burger Cottage - Cambridge, MA

Mr. Bartley’s is a Harvard institution, located right across the street from Harvard Square since 1960. It is a very small, loud yet friendly place. The walls are covered with political bumper stickers, a few long tables, and a bar where you can order directly to the soda jerk making all the old-fashioned drinks such as egg creams, frappes, and lime rickeys. Being by myself, I chose the latter.

Bartley’s grinds its beef fresh everyday, for a solid 7 oz. patty. They have about 30 different burgers on their menu named for politicians past and present, as well as Boston area figures. Each burger supposedly has something to do with the personality (the George W. Bush is a “Texas” burger; two patties, cheddar and BBQ sauce). They have many toppings you can put on your burger (garlic, peppers, 5 kinds of cheese, etc), or you can order one of the specialized “personality” burger. Since it was my first visit I wanted to keep it simple so I could enjoy the overall beef flavor.

The Burger Supreme is just a regular burger with the standard toppings, and I added American cheese. The “supreme” means that it comes with a side order of fries and their “famous” onion rings. You can also order sweet potato fries, which I love, but I wanted to keep my first order basic.

Egg creams are rare these days, so I had to order one. With the choices of vanilla or chocolate, I went with vanilla. It was excellent; not as filling as a milkshake but had lots of flavor. I compare it to a frothy cream soda. It seemed like the perfect drink for the place.

I will get the bad review out of the way first: the fries were standard operating procedure; frozen fries cooked in the fryer. Nothing to write home about. The fries didn’t bring me down for long however, since the onion rings were fantastic. Nice and thin, and lightly covered with batter, they are the type of onion rings that you can eat by the handful. I love good onion rings, and now I see why Mr. Bartley’s are famous. Definitely homemade (opposed to the fries) they should be the only side you should consider. They give you a good heaping pile too. I basically stopped eating the fries concentrating on the rings, until I discovered a large pickle spear underneath fries! The fries adjacent to the pickle then were covered in dilly goodness, so I had to gobble those up. I love dill potato chips, so the taste was like that.

The burger looked fantastic. A nice sized patty that didn’t look like it lost any of that 7 oz. size from cooking. The toppings looked fresh: green iceberg lettuce, red onion slices (not too big to be overpowering, but a perfect size) and deep red tomatoes. The whole artwork had to be held together by a toothpick, right through the sesame bun. I went in for a bite. The beef was perfect for a burger; just the right consistency, cooked a perfect medium rare (with clear juices streaming out), and I managed to get all the toppings (including cheese) in my first bite. This burger needed no condiments. The melted cheese mixing with the juice from the meat was all you needed. I was happy with the quality of the meat; I should have asked what beef they used for grinding. I do not think they are Angus otherwise they would have advertised that. But I don’t think it was straight chuck either, it had to be some mix of sirloin and chuck. Since the patties are made in-house I assume that they have good control on the meat being used, and since the place has been serving burgerheads for almost 50 years that their recipe is legit.

Good times at Mr. Bartley’s. The burger was excellent, and you have to add in the atmosphere of a crowded, old-school college restaurant where you can just feel the history and energy, and wonder how many burgers Ted Kennedy has scarfed down here. Added bonus: after a rib-sticking meal, it was nice to walk off the meal around Harvard Square and Cambridge soaking up the history and beautiful old New England homes. Right before you know it, you don’t feel as full and it is time to duck into a friendly bar for a pints and to watch the Sox game, which of course I did.