Giant Burger - 2150 Telegraph Ave - 9.6.07

The project begins!

A trip to Telegraph and Broadway led us to The Bear Cafe as the most Oakland-pegged eating destination, but unfortunately this place was closed. Was it a gay bar for hairy men? Did it serve bear? We'll never know.

The next stop: Giant Burger. Now, I know we were going to avoid fast food, but Giant Burger is a bit of an institution and I'd never eaten at one, so we decided to give it a try.

As someone prone to eating organic whenever possible, I was slightly afeared of filling myself with what was most assuredly factory-farmed beef. However, in the interest of this project we'd already decided that our general adherence to sustainable produce and meat would have to be compromised.

So Giant Burger it was.

What we ordered: 1 bacon cheeseburger, 1 cheeseburger, large fries, chocolate shake
What we got: 2 cheeseburgers (oops - they forgot the bacon), enough fries for the whole block, chocolate shake
Service: distracted (our gal was on her cellphone arguing with someone)
Atmo: transient, industrial and automotive (it's a 50's style burger joint with a window and a parking lot - this is food to go)
Spent: $12.17
Overall rating: 3.5 sporks

Review:

Giant Burger surprised us both by being pretty darn good. This is the kind of burger you expect at a beach bbq - white buns, good lettuce, smoky flavor. While I wouldn't call the burgers "giant," the insane amount of fries that our gal poured into the bag (perhaps she was compensating for yelling at someone on her phone while she was taking my order?) was most certainly giant.

The fries turned out to be quite tasty. I'm guessing they're frozen, but they're a lot better than In 'n Out's weird soggy/squeaky fries. They're bigger than McD's fries, and mealier inside. They did need some salt to reach their true fry potential. No potato skin on these bad boys - just pure spudsy goodness.

The shake was insanely good, and I'd go back just for a chocolate shake.

Clearly this wasn't the healthiest meal in the world, but with a name like Giant Burger we weren't expecting to feel virtuous. So go ahead and order that shake, because the burger/fry/shake trifecta is really the best way to experience any burger joint.

All in all, Giant Burger is a good cheap way to get your burger on.