Mother Maybel's

I have eaten thousands of cheeseburgers all across the globe, and I am an expert in the field.

Mother Maybel's is right down the street from my house, and while I really wanted it to be great, it simply wasn't. The burger was served swimming in an average burger-sauce variant, somewhat piquant, and somewhat indistinguishable from 1000 Island dressing. My date managed to easily scrape off two or 3 tablespoons worth of the stuff. The patty was nothing special, probably frozen, and a little large at 1/2 pound. It was well salted. The veggies were fresh, and the bun was quite good, chewy and substantial. The burger was far from expensive, coming in at only seven dollars.

The french fries were hand-cut, soggy, oily, bland, and lifeless. I'm not sure why it is so difficult for American-style restaurants to make good hand-cuts, because it's very, very simple. Cut, soak overnight, par-fry at 325 for 3 minutes, cool, fry at 385 to 400 until crisp before serving, and heavy on the salt. It's not that hard, but Maybel's is just another in a long line of places to screw the pooch in this regard.

And a quick note on atmosphere. When we came in at 5PM, the stereo was playing the Shins at a completely excessive volume. Honestly, it was louder in there than in most bars on a Friday night. And get that freaking LCD television off the wall. We sat through our meal with a mortgage seminar infomercial playing six feet away, with closed captioning no less. Maybel's needs to choose an identity, and do it real quick, or they'll be going the way of the 401.

You can't be fine-dining, and a burger-joint, and a Sports Bar, and a breakfast spot, and an upscale lounge all at the same time. Well, maybe someone can, but Maybel certainly can't. Here's to hoping they can get on track and steal some of that business from Pambiche', those guys were slammed!

Pros: bun, seasoning, fresh vegetables, great server

Cons: excessive sauce, french fries, mediocre patty, atmosphere

Posted 11/21/09