Burgers | Where Sasha Went

Parlour – St. Paul, Minnesota

May 1, 2019

My favorite Minnesota haunt strikes again, this time with its second location in St. Paul. Parlour is a Minneapolis bar that I first visited at the behest of a coworker a few years ago while I was in town for work. Then the last time I was in town the same friend took me to the newly opened second location in St. Paul.

Dare I say I like the St. Paul location better? I think it is probably not surprising, while the original is dark and luxurious. Sitting in the basement annex of its larger parent restaurant in downtown Minneapolis it is velvet tufted booths and rich colors. All of which I love. But for me, a large renovated turn of the century building with floor to ceiling windows is tough to beat. Plus I love the smaller town vibe of St. Paul over Minneapolis.

We brought a vegetarian friend with us, which is a bold move for a bar known for their not veggie burgers. But she ordered the cauliflower (above) which was almost better than the burgers. And their fries which this round were not pineapple and bacon but vegetarian served with a side of delicious dip.

And then of course for those of us who eat meat, the main course, the burger. Buttered non sesame bun, salty delicious patty, cheese and pickles it really cannot be beat. If you are in the area make it a priority you and even your vegetarian friends won’t be disappointed.

The Drive-In – Condon, Oregon

October 7, 2018

A few weeks ago I talked about the Condon Hotel which is a darling historic hotel in Condon Oregon. While we were there we obviously needed to eat dinner. There were a couple restaurants that we wanted to eat at, one was closed and the other was out of to go boxes. Third times a charm took us to The Drive-In, which is on the south end of town across the street from the newly built city park which was also having a farmers market that we had wandered around earlier in the day.
We chatted with the owner a bit while we waited for our burger, which we split with a large order of curly fries and a chocolate shake. He had mentioned that they had recently opened but they were busy so I didn’t get the chance to get too many details about how new or the history of the building they occupied. It was clearly built as a drive in, and was very popular with the locals.

They had an extensive menu with some really fantastically inventive burgers. We chose one that had a slice of ham as well as the burger. It was incredible! If it weren’t a 10 hour drive from my house I would go there for dinner every week.
We had a wonderful time sitting there waiting for our food, not only chatting with the owner but the locals that came and went for their dinners as well. I love getting to witness this kind of small town community and caring. They do not have a full website but a Facebook page with their hours can be found here. I would highly suggest stopping in if you find your way out there. Though as I write this in August they are currently closed as they are feeding the firefighters in the area trying to keep the wildfires from burning any more farms and historic homes. Once again, small town caring and community, it’s so wonderful to see.
Additional Information:

433 S Main St. Condon Oregon
11am to 7pm
Closed Sunday

Mel's Drive-in – Los Angeles, California

March 28, 2018

When I was last in Los Angeles I twice saw an “Original Mel’s Drive-in”, in two different neighborhoods. I am a huge movie buff so I of course recognized the name as the diner from the movie American Graffiti. However it has been years since I had actually seen the movie and couldn’t recall just by looking at the diner and surrounding area to recall which of the two locations were actually used in the movie.

We were pretty busy when we were in LA, so I completely forgot to look up while we were there which location was used. And then as we were headed out town we needed to grab a bite to eat so we popped into the Sunset Blvd location, which my dad had also suggested as a decent place to eat. I later looked up filming locations of the movie and it turns out neither of the LA locations were used, as the movie was mostly filmed in San Francisco and the original location has since been demolished.

Despite not actually having been used for the movie the Sunset location is full of movie memorabilia and holds true to its 50s style decor and menu. There isn’t a lot of information out there that I could find out the diner’s history or at least there appears to be some contradictory information. But the general idea is that Mel Weiss and Harold Dobbs built the first location in San Francisco, a true drive in style diner which catered to the ever growing car traffic on the west coast.

Several more locations were added over the years and ownership has since changed hands from the original families that built the drive through empire. Regardless that the location we ate at was not the original we thoroughly enjoyed our experience. As I mentioned the waitstaff was incredibly friendly, helpful and prompt. The diner was clean and while we were there blissfully empty. Which was a nice reprieve for us from the busy LA mood. I would most certainly go back if I find myself near a Mel’s location, the kitschy decor and delicious diner food made the whole experience quite fun.