No trip to California would be complete without a stop at the BEST chain restaurant in the West: In-N-Out.  Heading back into San Francisco, we realized that we needed to eat and had no earthly idea what we wanted.  And then we saw the sign on the side of the freeway.  The clouds broke, a […]

Since we’d already hit all of the burger spots on my list, I did some wandering around town while Jo was antiquing.  The first place I stopped in was Nation’s Giant Hamburgers.  With a name like that, how could I drive by?  I didn’t know this going in, but they’re a chain out of the […]

One of the places that I did have targeted on the trip west was Val’s Burgers in Hayward, just south of Oakland.  Val’s has been in business serving burgers and steaks since the 1950s.  We headed down that way from Sonoma and arrived just ahead of the dinner-time rush.  When we got there the waitress […]

On Monday, we decided that the weather opportunity was as good as it was going to get during the rest of our visit to walk the three miles back and forth across the Golden Gate Bridge.  Into San Francisco we drove.  Man!  I thought Atlanta traffic was miserable – the ride in through Berkley and […]

One of the most pleasant food stops on our visit to wine country was the Girl and the Fig in Sonoma.  We were staying in Napa and while checking the reviews for restaurants in the area, the Girl and the Fig kept being mentioned.  On Monday evening we took the drive over.  Sonoma is a […]

Opened as Taylor’s Refresher in St. Helena in 1949, the restaurant was bought from the Taylor family by the Gott brothers and the named was changed to Gott’s Roadside a few years back.  We stopped for a late lunch on a sunny Sunday afternoon at the original location in St. Helena.  At 2:00, there were […]

When I found that I had to be in Northern California for a meeting, I consulted all of my “burger sources”.  With diligent preparation, I had multiple places that I intended to hit when we were in the Bay Area.  Before we left, I looked at who was open on what days and ranked my […]

THIS RESTAURANT IS CLOSED. On the way to a meeting, after flying into Jacksonville, I stopped off at the Georgia Pig in Brunswick, GA for some barbecue.  I had eaten there two or three years back, but I didn’t remember anything at all about the meal.  I blamed that on my memory – what I […]

Keller’s was the last stop on my DFW burger tour at the end of September.  When I read about them in Hamburger America, I’ll have to say they were high on my list of prospects, just based on the restaurant itself.  When I pulled up, my expectations were matched – this place was a true […]

When I knew I was heading to Dallas in late September, I called my friend (and professional photographer) Chris Moseley, and asked him where HIS favorite burger was.  He did what any reasonable person would do – created a Facebook poll.  The consensus was that we should meet and eat at Maple & Motor.  So […]