
Today on the way to Burrito Boyz, we looked around and figured getting sidetracked wouldn't be such a bad idea.
First we checked out the menu of a Mexican place along the way and decided we just didn't feel like spending that much on lunch.
Besides, half the menu seemed to be in Spanish so I couldn't even figure out whether a burrito was going to be too expensive or not.
We continued on our way toward BB when we came across HAL Burgers. The prices looked reasonable and it seemed interesting so we went in.
The place was rather different. It's all very bright green and the chairs are molded plastic, probably from Ikea. It all seemed a bit too playful to be good but it wasn't long before that changed.
Shortly after ordering our drinks, the waitress dropped off a little tray with three bowls in it and some little spoons. These were the house condiments, which was some sort of home made ketchup, mustard-that-looks-like-yellow-caviar, and some sort of peppery mayo. Suddenly things were feeling upscale.
The burger I had was most excellent, though tough to really consider a burger. It was a big chunk of chicken patty with slices of genuine brie (with the skin and all), some sort of apple sauce, and smoked ham that made a great substitute for peameal bacon. It was all on a sort of sliced loaf rather than a burger bun and it was delicious!
With it was a pile of fries that were a bit too thin for my liking but a forkfull of them did a good job of scooping up the house ketchup. I was happy to have them instead of the salad, which certainly wouldn't have scooped ketchup quite the same.
While this place was definitely a bit too costly to be a regular lunch haunt, at roughly double what I normally pay for lunch, it was definitely worth checking out. If you're just going out with someone for a nice sit-down meal for a reasonable price, give it a shot and I'm sure you'll be pleasantly surprised.
Be forewarned though… the Philly Cheese Steak is not going down without a fight.