Like the title says, sometimes you just want a burger.
I travel a fair amount and get the chance to eat at some pretty awesome restaurants. First and foremost, there's no place like Richmond County, and sometimes you just want a burger.
Dixie Burger popped into my head yesterday. Maybe it was the effect of standing in front of it taking pictures during Ellerbe's Farmer's Day Parade a few weeks back, connecting the smells coming out of the restaurant to memories of growing up.
I was greeted by Sherry before the door closed behind me. I adventurously ordered a bacon double cheeseburger, all the way. If your “all the way” doesn’t involve chili, mustard, onions and slaw, I might make some assumptions. Chili cheese fries and a jumbo sweet tea finished out my order, so I picked a booth and slid my bag into the seat beside me.
For the record, I don't tell anyone what I'm there to do, and I don't carry my camera in a traditional bag. I know the time will come when people might suspect what I'm up to, but we're not there yet. I want that food to arrive the same way it will arrive when you visit.
McKenzie and Danny were working the flat top and fryer with both mastery and a sense of urgency, just keeping up with all of the orders coming in. The part of the kitchen I could see was as clean as could be, particularly considering that I felt like I came in on the tail end of a rush.
I declare that burger turned the corner before Sherry did. I immediately knew my eyes had outrun my stomach, but if it tasted like it looked, I was going to give it a go. It did, in fact, taste as good as it looked.
That big ol’ thing had chili and slaw running down my wrists, and I would have expected nothing less.
The chili cheese fries were just great. I love the fact that they add shredded cheese to the dish, too. The fries were perfectly crispy at the beginning and had gotten soft by the time I got to the bottom of the pile. That was intentional on my part, by the way. I like to leave a little bit of chili toward the bottom so those fries and chili become friends.
I almost made it through that burger, but I had to wave the white flag early.
The service was phenomenal, the burger and fries were terrific, and I'm giving them two extra points. I believe that when you get to see a tractor riding by a restaurant while you're eating, that's a sign that you're in the right place.
John White is a photographer and lover of food who lives in Hamlet.
