Showing posts with label Olympia. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Olympia. Show all posts

Friday, April 15, 2011

Van's Burgers Returns

There is not a lot on my calendar these days. The one thing that had been there for quite a long time, however, was the reopening of Van's Burgers. Van's Burgers is a number of things that I will describe below.

1. Open for only half the year. They open in April and close in October. 

2. Only open 3 days a week (Thursday-Saturday). They recently expanded their hours to be open from 11-7. It used to be 2.5 hours for lunch and 2.5 for dinner.

3.  A box shaped cart that's no bigger than my parents' tool shed in the middle of nowhere (in between a farm and a golf course).

4. A drive through in which you can expect to spend a significant amount of time in line.

5. Without question, the best fast food style burger in the Olympia area. Probably the best in all of Washington. 

I arrived on opening day at a few minutes after 2 P.M. While I wasn't naive enough to believe that there would be no line, I thought the lunch rush would have died down a bit. I pulled in and there were 11 cars in front of me. I stopped at the relatively new Vans Sweet Spot (another cart that you pass by in line on your way up to the burger cart - they've been open since last year, Van's itself has been open for 12 years) and got a peanut butter and hot fudge milkshake. Thick, chocolaty, an filled with real peanut chunks. It was divine. 

40 minutes from my arrival I finally made it up the line and ordered. Their signature Big Pete Double is fantastic and I've had it multiple times. With that in mind I decided to go for the everything... Big Pete with grilled onions, bacon, and a fried egg. The total cost was about $10 and it lived up to all my expectations. I also didn't need dinner. A truly fantastic experience. 


Monday, April 4, 2011

My Life in Burgers: 1st Quarter 2011

I would like to present the roster of all the burgers I ate in the first quarter of this year. They are in no particular order and include the establishment, location, and one sentence description. Click on the link to check out the yelp review or blog post associated with it. You can also check out my burger list on Yelp that just hit the 50 burger mark.

Over-sauced and under-seasoned.

Wonderfully flavorful and juicy with too much bun.


Overcooked beef with a plethora of other good things.

Expensive and upside down.

Strange soggy veggies and unmelted cheese.

Dried out and bland.


Strangely constructed and in need of better beef.

A large boring patty surrounded by a wealth of other quality items.

Excellent ingredients, just needs more of them.

Best of the quarter. Chorizo and Beef blend that's perfectly seasoned and juicy.


Worst of the Quarter. Cash and Carry Burger.

Excellent burger in need of more veggies.

It was 10:35... Why not?

Twenty Six Dollar Burger.


Thin juicy patties packed with flavor.

Wednesday, February 2, 2011

Sofrito So-failure


Sofrito Burger from Cascadia Grill.

Overcooked burger loaded with strangely sauteed toppings.