DarthLefty, Mylo and my son and I once again ventured out in search of Folsom's Best Burger, and this time we visited Big Dip on Natoma Street.
I had always thought this place was closed, it's got that dilapidated old sign out front and always looked vacant when I drove by. But it did look like it was once a nice drive in dining place in the 60's (?).
After arriving and getting a good look at this place, one can only say, this place is old, really old, but its got a funky kinda cool nostalgia to it. There is nice patched up wooden deck with tables and overhead shade that makes for nice outdoor seating and it's run by pop while mom does the cooking. That's something you don't see much anymore these days - a good ol' family joint run entirely on a couple's hard work. I give them props for that.... I always like spending my money at a place like this compared to mcdonald's or the like.
The menu is very simple, they do fish and chips and burgers... and a few sides. The prices were decent - here's some samples:
Fish and Chips: 1 piece $4.99, 2 piece $6.99, 3, piece $8.99 and up.... they also do clam chowder, clam strips, oysters, calamari, prawns and hush puppies.
For the burgers: single burger $2.50, double $3.60, triple $4.70 - the burgers came in a nice sesame bun with lettuce, tomato, and pickles and thousand island sauce.
These are your stock standard all American type of burgers - you don't order these any special way, they only come one way, fully cooked. The burgers were average size, a double burger made for a good sized meal and the price at $3.60 was good.
They also have hot dogs, and a pastrami burger $3.50 - add bacon and cheese for 99/25 more
From the fryer they have: fries, onion rings (pretty good ones too), mushrooms, taquitos, corn dogs, cheese sticks, zucchini and a burrito
When we arrived the place was empty, but within 10-15 minutes it was packed, apparently they have a pretty good lunch crowd.
We all ordered burgers and tried the fried mushrooms, onion rings and fries. It was all pretty good, the only thing I personally didn't like much were the french fries, they're obviously processed/frozen (like I assume most of their food is) and they weren't great. However, their onion rings were very good and the mushrooms were alright too (nothing spectacular).
Everything comes with ketchup or ranch dressing with plenty of condiments to choose from, including hot sauce and soy sauce (they also serve a grilled chicken and rice bowl)
I like the old nostalgic ambiance, some may look at that as being run down (which it kind of is) but it reminded me of the old burger places I went to when I was a teen. Simplicity at its finest. It was also nice to be able to sit outside and enjoy the good weather.
It's kind of hard to compare their burger to that from last week's visit to Folsom Bistro - they're in two different classes.
I'd call the Big Dip burger an all American classic burger and I'd call Folsom Bistro's burger a Gourmet Burger - two different leagues...
but if I have to lump them all together, I'd rate them as follows...
Folsom Bistro Burger 4.8/9 points (haven't found the perfect 5 yet)
Big Dip Burger 3.0 (it was a solid good burger over all)
DarthLefty really enjoyed his lunch
..and we would have stayed longer but then some dam hippy arrived....
For next week's outting, how about either Bidwell St Bistro or Karens Bakery (if its open)
