Here's something you might be interested in.
Ask a Hipster — Advice you didn't know you needed
Big Screen — Movie commentary
Blurt — Music's inside track
Booze News — San Diego spirits
Classical Music — Immortal beauty
Classifieds — Free and easy
Cover Stories — Front-page features
Drinks All Around — Bartenders' drink recipes
Excerpts — Literary and spiritual excerpts
Feast! — Food & drink reviews
Feature Stories — Local news & stories
Fishing Report — What’s getting hooked from ship and shore
From the Archives — Spotlight on the past
Golden Dreams — Talk of the town
The Gonzo Report — Making the musical scene, or at least reporting from it
Letters — Our inbox
Movies@Home — Local movie buffs share favorites
Movie Reviews — Our critics' picks and pans
Musician Interviews — Up close with local artists
Neighborhood News from Stringers — Hyperlocal news
News Ticker — News & politics
Obermeyer — San Diego politics illustrated
Outdoors — Weekly changes in flora and fauna
Overheard in San Diego — Eavesdropping illustrated
Poetry — The old and the new
Reader Travel — Travel section built by travelers
Reading — The hunt for intellectuals
Roam-O-Rama — SoCal's best hiking/biking trails
San Diego Beer — Inside San Diego suds
SD on the QT — Almost factual news
Sheep and Goats — Places of worship
Special Issues — The best of
Street Style — San Diego streets have style
Surf Diego — Real stories from those braving the waves
Theater — On stage in San Diego this week
Tin Fork — Silver spoon alternative
Under the Radar — Matt Potter's undercover work
Unforgettable — Long-ago San Diego
Unreal Estate — San Diego's priciest pads
Your Week — Daily event picks
Burgers for all in South Park
Five adults, three kids, and a dog at Station Tavern
Keeping it simple with the straight cheddar cheeseburger
When family comes to town, everybody looks to Uncle Ian to ask a deceptively simple question: “Where should we meet for lunch?” Visiting friends often ask for recommendations such as “Where can I get good Thai food?” or “What place do you like for fish tacos?”
That’s not what’s happening with the family. They’re not looking for the food writer’s pick. What they’re really asking is, “Where is a place that can accommodate all of our wants and needs?”
Five adults, two kids, and a very active toddler. When you roll like this, somebody always wants a vegetarian option, somebody else is off wheat, and the teenager only wants a cheeseburger. At least one of us insists on good beer, and everybody wants to eat outside. That last part is good, because we’ve also brought a dog.
The answer I came up with was Station Tavern & Burgers. It’s got a spacious dog-friendly patio with long picnic benches, a sandy play area for small children, a handful of local beers on draught, and plenty of tater tots. And for my family, it offered burgers done three ways.
This is where you can play after you’ve sampled your grilled cheese
My sister went for the very good spicy black bean veggie burger (she could also have chosen a chickpea-based patty). My mom opted for the Farmers’ Market Salad, which featured mixed greens and seasonal vegetables. She topped it with a beef burger patty. My nephew got a hot dog, and the three–year-old nibbled her way through a grilled cheese before running off to the play area. The rest of us kept it simple: cheeseburgers.
I picked the place for its amenities, but I’ve been down on the Station’s burgers in the past. I ate there often when it opened several years back and found myself going veggie at Station in search of more flavor. I’ve smothered the uninspiring eight-dollar burgers with add-ons to give it some oomph, whether it be avocado, fried egg, bacon, jalapeños, and/or caramelized onions for a buck or two apiece. I’ve also cycled through several of the Station’s 50-cent sauce add-ons, including smoky paprika or chipotle mayo.
On this day, I went with everybody else’s straight cheddar cheeseburger so there’d be no large-party confusion. I’m glad I did, because it went way better than what I experienced years ago — more flavor, nicely melted cheese, a toasted bun.
Now that I trust this burger again, we can start this relationship over fresh. I’ll start slow, with a little bacon, maybe some pepper jack. Only to complement the beef, not because it needs frills. And those extra sauces really work better with a large order of tots anyway. Make that two large orders when hungry kids are involved.
Here's something you might be interested in.
Burgers for all in South Park
Five adults, three kids, and a dog at Station Tavern
Burgers for all in South Park
Five adults, three kids, and a dog at Station Tavern
Keeping it simple with the straight cheddar cheeseburger
When family comes to town, everybody looks to Uncle Ian to ask a deceptively simple question: “Where should we meet for lunch?” Visiting friends often ask for recommendations such as “Where can I get good Thai food?” or “What place do you like for fish tacos?”
That’s not what’s happening with the family. They’re not looking for the food writer’s pick. What they’re really asking is, “Where is a place that can accommodate all of our wants and needs?”
Five adults, two kids, and a very active toddler. When you roll like this, somebody always wants a vegetarian option, somebody else is off wheat, and the teenager only wants a cheeseburger. At least one of us insists on good beer, and everybody wants to eat outside. That last part is good, because we’ve also brought a dog.
The answer I came up with was Station Tavern & Burgers. It’s got a spacious dog-friendly patio with long picnic benches, a sandy play area for small children, a handful of local beers on draught, and plenty of tater tots. And for my family, it offered burgers done three ways.
This is where you can play after you’ve sampled your grilled cheese
My sister went for the very good spicy black bean veggie burger (she could also have chosen a chickpea-based patty). My mom opted for the Farmers’ Market Salad, which featured mixed greens and seasonal vegetables. She topped it with a beef burger patty. My nephew got a hot dog, and the three–year-old nibbled her way through a grilled cheese before running off to the play area. The rest of us kept it simple: cheeseburgers.
I picked the place for its amenities, but I’ve been down on the Station’s burgers in the past. I ate there often when it opened several years back and found myself going veggie at Station in search of more flavor. I’ve smothered the uninspiring eight-dollar burgers with add-ons to give it some oomph, whether it be avocado, fried egg, bacon, jalapeños, and/or caramelized onions for a buck or two apiece. I’ve also cycled through several of the Station’s 50-cent sauce add-ons, including smoky paprika or chipotle mayo.
On this day, I went with everybody else’s straight cheddar cheeseburger so there’d be no large-party confusion. I’m glad I did, because it went way better than what I experienced years ago — more flavor, nicely melted cheese, a toasted bun.
Now that I trust this burger again, we can start this relationship over fresh. I’ll start slow, with a little bacon, maybe some pepper jack. Only to complement the beef, not because it needs frills. And those extra sauces really work better with a large order of tots anyway. Make that two large orders when hungry kids are involved.
Comments