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Apple Pan
[SIZE=2]My family have been Apple Pan regulars at least since Lew Alcindor played freshman ball. The top and bottom buns of an Apple Pan burger are both crisped and slightly oily, crunchy at the edges, working toward a near-complete softness at the middle; the pickles are resilient dill chips; the sheaf of fresh iceberg lettuce provides a dozen-layered crispness at the core. The beef, generally cooked to a perfect, pink-centered medium, is juicy and full-flavored; the cheese, half-melted to a kind of sharp graininess, is good Tillamook Cheddar. And come dessert time, no matter how many waiting people may be crowded in behind you, no matter how hungrily they stare at your enormous slice of incomparable Apple Pan pie, the countermen will always draw you another cup of coffee from the gas-fired urn and give you with it a dram of fresh, heavy cream. 10801 W. Pico Blvd., West L.A.; (310) 475-3585. Open Tues.–Sun. 11 a.m.–mid., Fri.–Sat. till 1 a.m. Dinner for two, food only, $9–$14. No alcohol. Takeout. Cash only. -Jonathan Gold L.A. Weekly EVEN IN LOS ANGELES . . . WHERE IT IS possible to eat not only wood-fired goat-cheese pizza with duck sausage and sun-dried fennel, but also reasonably authentic Merida-style cochinita pibil and properly made Cambodian catfish amok, hand-ground of course, steamed to a fine fluffiness and garnished -- why not! -- with a single, perfect banana blossom . . . sometimes only a hamburger will do.
The Apple Pan
[SIZE=2]Here is the homey plaid wallpaper; the worn wooden walls; the clean, warm funk of frying meat. Here is Coca-Cola poured into paper cones snug in plastic holders. Here are the long, thick French fries that are customarily served with a separate cardboard plate for the ketchup. No matter how many waiting people may be crowded in behind you, the countermen will always draw you another cup of coffee from the gas-fired urn. When nostalgia-mongers attempt to duplicate the Los Angeles hamburger experience, it is to the Apple Pan hamburger that they should turn. The top and bottom buns of an Apple Pan hamburger are both crisped and slightly oily, crunchy at the edges, working toward a near-complete softness at the middle; the pickles are resilient dill chips; fresh iceberg lettuce furnishes a dozen-layered crispness at the core. The beef, generally cooked to a perfect, pink-centered medium, is juicy and full-flavored, and the cheese, half-melted to a kind of sharp graininess, is good Tillamook Cheddar. I really like the sandwiches they make here with smoky, thinly sliced Virginia ham, but I suspect that I will never get around to ordering one of my own. 10801 W. Pico Blvd., West L.A.; (310) 475-3585. Open Tues.Sun. for lunch and dinner. Lunch for two, food only, $10$15. No alcohol. Takeout. Cash only.[/SIZE]
Oh yeah, did someone mentiond Cassels?
Cassell's [SIZE=2]Though other burger stands figure more prominently in the consciousness of most Angelenos, those who know consider Cassell's hamburgers to be among the very best in the United States: softballs of freshly ground USDA prime beef that weigh a full one-third or two-thirds of a pound, broiled in a hinged inferno of Mr. Cassell's own design, served naked on a toasted bun. Even when the Wilshire District restaurant is crowded with besuited insurance executives gobbling a quick hamburger lunch, there are usually at least a few foodie tourists at Cassell's, nibbling on horseradish-tinged potato salad from the buffet and having a Culinary Experience. If Cassell's has a flaw, it is that the meat is too good, the preparation is too careful . . . so that when you splash your burger with ketchup, every gram of Heinz-borne sugar makes itself known. A Cassell's hamburger stands out not because it is typical of the Southland, but because it is apart from it, the sort of hamburger you might expect at a quality-obsessed diner somewhere in deepest Iowa, a Spartan, anti-exuberant hamburger qua hamburger in which each element tastes only of itself. 3266 W. Sixth St., L.A.; (213) 387-5502. Open for breakfast and lunch Mon.Sat. Lunch for two, food only, $8$12. No alcohol. Takeout. Cash only.[/SIZE]
Oh god, so many great places to eat, so little time..... [/SIZE]
I've eaten at In n Out a couple times when I traveled to Southern Cal. It's nothing special, and definitely overrated since I hear so many people rave about it. I ate at Carl's Jr too, and Carl's is way better than In N Out.
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