Angelo's is one of the independent
burger places you run
into all over the town. No fancy sign, no landscaping except for what the winds
blow by and surrounded by brand name
burger places up and down Huntington Drive.
I was driving to the fine and cheap Mexican place recently
when I eyeballed Angelo's for the hundredth time. On
impulse, I made a "Mad World" U-turn on Huntington,
hopped the curb and bounced into the Angelo lot. I had it all
to myself.
Angelo's is a medium sized roadside blight of a building
where the land is likely worth more than the improvements
on it. They had a couple funky OSH tables and chairs
outside and what might have been an eating area on a
porched area with a screen door. I decided to try their drive
thru service..
Angelo's shed/restaurant has a drive thru window that looks
like Angelo himself took a chain saw and cut a
square shapedng in the wall and installed a window.
The speaker and mic set up functioned, I think, and the sign
was placed just so you couldn't read it very well unless your
vehicle was pointed at it with your high beams on.
The selection seemed quite standard, BUT...Angelo's has
been a long time, so they must be doing something right,
right?
I ordered the quarter or half pound Angelo Burger (or
whatever) with ketchup, onions and relish. I also ordered a
medium size or large Cherry Coke. As my order was being
prepared, I watched some of the riff raff walking in the heat
on a warm day along the Drive. Disconcerting.
Some worker handed me my burger bag and my beverage
and I chose a place to park on the lovely Lot de Angelo.
There was a broken down car near the exit and I backed in a
few spaces away, using the wreck as a noise barrier from the
blazing Huntington Drive road race.
Id the burger and took a look. All the proper items
were on there. I had already tried the Cherry Coke and it
was your typical artless blend of cola and cherry with a
pound of ice displacing the liquid in the cup.
I bit into the over sized burger. Lotta bun there. Big bun.
Thicker than the average bun. Not much better, but a bit
better. Then the burger did I try. The patty was dense, my
friends. It was different than your usual fast food burger, but
not noticeably better.. I worked my way through it hoping
that the taste revelation would soon hit me. But, no...it
didn't.
What did hit me though was the sign on the side of the shack
that told me for another 5 cents, I could have had a sack of
fries with my meal on combo number whatever. Thanks,
Angelo, ol' pal.
I finished the 'meal', bagged the papers and stuffed them into
the empty soda cup and drove off into the daylight.
Something is keeping Angelo's but it isn't the
hamburgers. It's on Route 66! Maybe that's it.
