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Burgers Fast Food Restaurant Reviews

Freddy’s Frozen Custard & Steakburgers

I get excited when I hear of a new burger place.  I was surprised to hear about a new place, a chain no less that has been open for quite some time and is just down the way.  I guess I don’t get out as much as I used to, but I checked out the menu and decided, oh hell, I have to try this place.  Not only do I love burgers, but frozen custard?  The only reason I didn’t go that night is because I had a huge lunch with friends that day and couldn’t bring myself to go out to eat again on the same day.

So three days I got my chance and went to Freddy’s Frozen Custard and Steakburgers.

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Located on Paseo Del Norte and San Pedro, it’s a little out of the way, but for a lot of people, It’s on the commute home.  The place was packed when we got there and it was quite noisy.  I’m not sure what it is about places doing nothing to reduce ambient noise in their restaurants but this place certainly suffers.  With the relatively small dining area compared to the size of the place and about 2 dozen people behind the counter, it’s difficult to have a conversation with anyone, including the cashier, unless you feel like snuggling up and whisper sweet somethings in their ear.  Though you may not want to whisper, or perhaps just sit outside.

Custard1The first thing I noticed when standing at the counter was the totally awesome frozen custard machine. Long ribbons of frozen goodness dumping out of a machine in a long flowing strand.  How can you NOT order custard at this point?  Well played Freddy’s, we’ll played. 

On the topic of custards, they have two kinds, a sunday and a “concrete”.  The concrete looks similar to a shake, they take the custard and all the toppings and blend it up.  It’s not.  Their description is apt in that no amount of sucking through a straw will ever provide anything but frustration and a crushed straw, but I’ll get to that more in a minute.

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If you go, you have to get a frozen custard.  The ice cream is so smooth and creamy and the portions are larger than you’d expect.  I couldn’t finish mine and neither did my friend.  I got the concrete, which turns out to mean, everything blended into a smooth emulsion so there are no identifiable flavors.  Next time I’ll try the sunday.  My friend had the Classic turtle sunday and it looked awesome.  He gave the thumbs up.

This is a burger place, so of course I had to get a burger.  Of course no burger is complete without bacon, so I got the bacon double with green chile, mayo, mustard and ketchup.  I have to make a sad face here Sad smile as you actually have to pay extra for lettuce and tomato.  You can get all the sauerkraut you want, but if you want a single slice of tomato, it’s going to cost you.  Not cool.

Whenever you look at a picture from a fast food place, you see the perfect example of handcrafted, meticulous, exquisite, delight.  A photo of the item they brought to the very first investor and said, "Here, a feast for your eyes, a feast for your stomach.  The perfect balance, served in a plastic basket, something to inspire people to stand in line for hours just for one bite."

Bacon-Cheese-Double1This is one of the few cases where the picture is right.  The meat may be shifted slightly to one side, or not all condiments showing squeezing out from the edge with surgical precision, but it’s close.  The meat looks the same, the bun looks even better as it’s slightly toasted on the griddle. 

The burger is soft, very soft, almost like you are eating meat marshmallow.  Ok that sounds gross, but believe me, this isn’t.  The burger doesn’t give you this satisfying chew, but the taste is really good.  Well seasoned, I really like the smashed burger way of cooking and this one delivers. It is a very very thin patty, if that isn’t your thing, then don’t bother.   Is it the best burger in the world?  Of course not, but this is a fast food place and it is one of the better fast food burgers I’ve had.  I’m actually craving another one and will likely be going back sometime within the week, maybe today. 

As much as I am a fan of burgers, part of that is they usually come with fries.  I love fries of all kinds, thick, thin, screwy, covered in cheese, plain, you name it, I love it.  These are shoestring fries, which you can’t really get anywhere else in town.  They are crispy and salty and as much as I want to try their onion rings, I’m not sure I’ll ever be able to go and not get the fries.  The only downside is they get cold fast.  By the time I sat down, the fries were at best lukewarm. This didn’t actually bother me all that much though.  Normally when fries get cold, they get soggy and limp.  These stayed crispy and tasty through the very last scrap.  And of course they had fry sauce, which is basically mayo and ketchup mixed, which is pretty awesome.

Chile-FriesI also, of course, had to try their chili cheese fries.  I ordered a side, but what I got was a meal all on it’s own.  They use a cheese sauce instead of the traditional melted cheddar so you end up with a big pile of goo on top of a big pile of goo sitting on top of a bunch of crispy fries, which after sitting there for a few minutes turn into a big pile of goo…er…mush.  This goo covered mush isn’t bad, but I’ve had better.  Given the choice between a giant mess of mushy gooiness and the crisp salty fries ready for dipping, I’m going to have to choose the plain fries every time.

All in all, this is a fast food place.  Even though it has “steak” in the name, this isn’t a place to bring a prom date, unless she/he really likes burgers, then why not, go for it. 

I don’t’ eat at places like McD’s or BK, not because I have anything against them philosophically, I just don’t like their food.  This place I would gladly eat at again.  It satisfies a craving.  If you are only going to go out to eat once a month, you may want to save your special occasion for a slightly more upscale local, but if you like burgers and tired of the same ole same ole, then this is definitely worth the trip. 

 

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