Breakfast At A Burger Joint?

I will freely admit to eating at the Hamburger Station whenever I am in the mood for a slider or two. The fact that there is a location so close to where I live in neighboring Ellet (a suburb of Akron), the burgers fresh taste and the homemade fried onion rings and mushrooms are just some of the reasons why I return on a somewhat regular basis. When I first wrote about them in my comparison to the national chain White Castle, based on signs I saw in the store, I knew that they also served breakfast. However, until today, I had simply assumed that "breakfast" meant the same type of fast food individually wrapped breakfast sandwiches available at other national fast food chains.

Since I was in the area during an early morning Saturday, I decided to stop by and check them out. I pulled into the parking lot, walked in the side door and was immediately greeted by an employee. I thought this a little odd at first until she asked me if I was here for dine-in or take-out. It was only then that I noticed that the normally barren white tables had place mats on them complete with napkins and silverware. Additionally, baskets of half-and-half and a small carrier of jams and jellies adorned each table.

As I sat down at my table, I noticed the daily special being advertised on a small placard:


What surprised me even more was when my server handed me a printed menu:


For a place that primarily served sliders and chicken wings during lunch and dinner time, I was quite amazed by the selection that was available for breakfast. Essentially during breakfast hours, the kitchen staff were transformed into short-order cooks, preparing pancakes and omelettes to customer's demands. After looking through the menu, I began to realize that a lot of the ingredients used to create the dinner-time sandwiches (such as the Italian sausage) were also being used to fuel the breakfast menu, too.

My server started my meal by bringing me a cup of decaf and a glass of water to my table:


The coffee was decent enough, especially given the location. It certainly wasn't the best cup of decaf I've ever had, but a little sugar helped to control the bitterness of the brew.

Having given the menu careful consideration, I decided to go with something simple: an order of the buttermilk pancakes and a side of bacon. It seemed bizarre listening to other customers order food cooked to specific temperatures, like eggs over medium, especially considering that during dinner hours, everything came out of the kitchen at only one preparation, done.

I sat at my table and sipped my coffee and soon my breakfast arrived:


At $3.69, these pancakes were fresh, hot, fluffy and had just the slightest tang from the buttermilk. I didn't notice if these were available as a short stack (meaning two instead of three), but these three pancakes were enough to fill me up and the price was quite reasonable.

Along with my pancakes came my side of bacon:


The bacon was decent enough. There were small bits of burned spots on various strips, most likely coming from not scraping the grill of previously fried bacon or sausage patties before putting my strips down. The bacon itself was of nominal quality and pretty much standard for diner fare. I would've gladly paid the same amount of money for three better quality bacon strips than four average ones, but given that I was being served bacon cooked to order at this burger joint was still a bit amazing to me.

Along with my breakfast came a basket of butter pats and a container full of syrup:


I was happy to see actual pats of butter instead of margarine and while the syrup was definitely sweet, I highly doubt that the Hamburger Station had any problem serving me syrup that was maple-flavored and sweetened with high fructose corn syrup. While I certainly don't expect real maple syrup at these prices, I know that there are some nationally produced syrups that are actually made using sugar instead of HFCS. Some might argue that you are simply substituting one form of sugar for another, but if given the choice, I will always pick the naturally occurring substance over the chemically created one (and yes, I do realize that most commercially created sugar is whitened through chemical bleaching).

In the end, my meal came to slightly over $7 and while I think that there are some other breakfast joints that far surpass the Hamburger Station in quality (such as Flury's Cafe, Golden Goose, and Twig's Diner just to name three), none of those are just down the street from where I live. If I am out and about running errands in that part of town, I would be happy to return again for a breakfast here rather than at one of the national fast food restaurants that seem to litter the surrounding landscape. If you are looking for the absolute best in breakfast foods, however, you'll definitely want to give this breakfast joint a pass in favor of some of the others I have mentioned.

Erratum (aka, Oops, my bad!)

In an earlier post about the Hamburger Station, I stated that both the onion rings and the fried mushrooms were cooked from frozen. One of my astute blog readers pointed out that from what he remembers (as well as what is printed on the Wikipedia page), they are indeed made fresh. I returned to the exact same location I used for my earlier review to verify the veracity of his statement (and mine, too). After speaking with the counter person, this is what I learned. Every day they prep fresh onion slices and mushrooms. These are then dredged in the batter and left to sit in the reach-in (think refrigerator) during the day. At the moment an order is placed, an appropriate amount is removed from the reach-in and freshly fried.

My statement that the fried mushrooms could use a spicy horseradish mayo dip stays on record though.

100% accuracy in reporting is my goal. Occasionally, things just slip through the cracks and it takes others to point out the truth. Anytime you, gentle reader, find an error in something I've written, please let me know and I will be more than happy to address the problem. It could be as simple as me not explaining something properly. Or, as in this case, I was just plain wrong.

I've altered the original post to correct this misrepresentation.

A Tale of Two Sliders, Part II

In my last installment, I had thrown down the gauntlet and decided to do a head-to-head comparison between the national chain, White Castle, and a local Akron favorite, the Hamburger Station. Today was the perfect day to finish this up. Currently there are four locations around Akron and the suburbs and while each offers the same basic fare (like the sliders), each also offers something unique. The Hamburger Station I went to on Canton Rd. near Ellot offers chicken wings as part of their menu. But I wasn't there today for the wings. I was there for the sliders.

First up, a shot of the exterior:


And a shot of the door with a sign promoting the double-plus goodness of their ingredients:


While the Hamburger Station does offer several combo meals, I wanted to get a specific set of items to demonstrate as much of the menu as I could. Not to mention that the combo meals all come with the fries, and truth be told, if the winner was judged solely on fries, White Castle would win hands down. The fries at the Hamburger Station may be fresh cut, but they are typically a limp, oily mass that generally just aren't good.

Here is my full order:


The slider on the back left is my post-mortem slider (just like I had at White Castle). The two sliders on the back right are my lunch. In the front you have a small order of onion rings and a small order of fried mushrooms.


The onion rings are freshly prepared every day like the fries are, except they are dredged in the batter in the morning and then left to sit in the reach-in by the fryer until the moment an order is placed. They are a nice thick onion ring and because they've had a chance to sit in the batter for a while, it doesn't completely fall apart when you take a bite. You definitely get a nice contrast between the crispy coating and the soft, creamy onion on the inside. For fast food onion rings, these rate better than average.


The fried mushrooms are prepped in exactly the same way as the onion rings and have the same crispy exterior. Again, these were better than average, but what they really could've used was some type of spicy dipping sauce, like a horseradish mayo. That would've kicked them from good to pretty darn good.

When you ask for a slider with everything, that means mustard, onions, and pickles. Unfortunately, the onions they use for the sliders are raw. Some days the onions are sliced, today they were coarsely grated. Regardless, raw onions and my stomach don't particularly care for each other. The sliders I ordered for consumption had just the mustard and pickles on them (I added a little ketchup tableside).

The sliders here are better than average. If I'm in the mood for an exceptional burger, nothing comes close to the one I had the other day at The Greenhouse Tavern. But sliders are a slightly different beast. And these are the best example I've had so far. They aren't cooked exactly the same way that White Castle cooks theirs. Most notable is the fact that they are cooked to order and the buns are grilled while the burger cooks, so there aren't any sogginess issues. To my taste, the burgers at the Hamburger Station have a much fresher taste to them and the flavor of the meat actually comes through.

Here is the post-mortem slider with everything:


And with the crown of the bun off:


As you can see, when you get onions, you get a LOT of onions. I'd show you the heel of the bun, but the cheese between the meat patty and the heel had fused the two together. Thankfully, I didn't get the same floor show at the Hamburger Station that I got at the White Castle I went to for my earlier post. That's not a show I want repeated very often.

And so, gentle reader, to whom goes the slider crown? The Hamburger Station, of course. The product tastes better, has more bun integrity, and is cooked to order instead of sitting on a griddle for who-knows-how-long. The fact that it is a local chain found only in Akron, OH is a serious bonus in my book. If anyone out there in Internet-land really loves White Castle and is able to try the Hamburger Station's version, I would love to hear what you have to say. I might even print it here in my blog. Maybe. But only if you find in favor of the Hamburger Station. No, no, I promise to be fair.

After finishing my lunch, the sun was reaching its zenith and I decided that some frozen custard was necessary to cool me off in the hot afternoon sun. I spent some time in my youth living in Stow, OH, and fondly remember trips to Stoddard's Frozen Custard stand.

Here is what you'll see as you drive up:


Today's flavor of the day was strawberry. This looked promising. A shot of the Stoddard's stand:


One thing to note: if you want the flavor of the day in a cup and not on a cone, don't say the word "sundae". There was much confusion when I went to order the flavor of the day. To me, a sundae is whatever kind of ice cream/frozen custard you want, toppings, and possibly some whipped cream. To the fine Stoddard's folks, a sundae is ALWAYS vanilla soft serve with toppings and whipped cream. There was a little confusion until I finally understood that they make a distinction. What I REALLY wanted was a "small flavor of the day in a cup with whipped cream on top". Once we established that, I paid my $2.60 and went out into the sunshine to eat my cool treat.

The color is subtle, but it is a very light pink.


When I first got up to the ordering window, I asked them how they made the strawberry flavored custard. The manager said they use real strawberries in the mix and I can tell you that by simply inspecting the frozen custard, you can still see little bits of strawberry right in the cup. The flavor was amazing. This had none of the problems that I experienced with my pumpkin frozen custard at Strickland's. The flavor was there from the first bite until the very last. And then some. Just a perfect amount of strawberry essence.

It seems a little cliche' these days to order strawberry since everyone seems to offer it, too (besides chocolate and vanilla), and isn't nearly as exotic as pumpkin or royal cake batter. But sometimes, simpler is better and when you can revisit a flavor done as well as this one was, I say go for it. While I love Strickland's attempt at the pumpkin, Stoddard's strawberry is declared the winner. At least this time around.

All in all, this was a lovely way to spend a Sunday afternoon. I hope you enjoyed reading about it as much as I enjoyed eating and then writing about it.

A Tale of Two Sliders, Part I

"It was the best of times. It was the worst of times."

I first read A Tale of Two Cities by Charles Dickens back when I was a wee youth. Prone to reminiscing from time to time, there are many things from our youth that we romanticize, even as adults. I grew up eating sliders from The Hamburger Station. This is a local chain of about four stores (I think there were quite a few more when I was younger) in and around the Akron, OH area. After moving out of Akron in mid-junior high school, though, this practice ceased. To be fair, my new home in Wadsworth wasn't all that far from Akron, but they just sort of fell off my radar.

As I was perusing around the 'Net the other day, I happened to come across a discussion of White Castle sliders. Now, I know that some people absolutely LOVE White Castle. And to others it is one of the most disgusting things they have ever put in their mouths. Personally, I've never had a White Castle slider, even though I lived in Columbus for a number of years and the retail stores were all over the place. It just never occurred to me that it should be something I would want to try.

Reviewing the food of national chain restaurants is not something I want to focus on in my blog. If they are national and you can get them anywhere, in my mind they lose their uniqueness. At the same time, having never had a White Castle slider before and the fact that I could do a head-to-head comparison with a LOCAL chain like The Hamburger Station, I decided to acquiesce on this particular rule for now. Doing a quick Google Maps search led me to the White Castle located on South Arlington Street, right off of I-77.

Upon entering the store, there was a fairly short line to place your order. I looked over the menu and decided to just go "Plain Jane" and order the basic combo meal: four sliders, an order of fries, and a soda for $4.99. When I finally got to the front of the line, I placed my order and upgraded to cheese sliders for $1 more. For some reason, the person taking my order only then asked if I wanted to add their new pulled pork slider to my order (from what followed after I paid for my order, it occurred to me that she wasn't the shiniest rock in the box). I declined, paid for my meal, and stepped to the side so that she could take the next customer's order.

Apparently, that's when the floor show began. Another co-worker, obviously flustered with the order taker's performance, pushed her (not hard) out of the way so she could access the register to "fix" the orders. Cue Jerry Springer-esque shouting match. Yes, right in front of the customers. It reminded me of the Arby's on Rt. 82 in North Royalton from a decade ago. We would go in there to grab lunch and would be treated to the antics of some of the most brain dead employees any of us had ever seen. Even the managers were terrible, yelling back at employees in front of the customers. Tonight's performance ranked right up there.

Ok, back to the food. Now, I knew from reading about White Castle how they prepare their sliders. The square patties go down on the grill, are then covered with some grilled onions, and the heel (bottom half of the bun) is placed on top. This allows the bun to "steam" as the burgers cook on the grill. At service time, the burgers are flipped right side up, topped with pickles and cheese (if ordered), and the crown (top half of the bun) is placed on top. This is then inserted into a small cardboard box that stays open on one end. Condiments are the responsibility of the consumer at the table.

One thing I did notice while I was waiting for my order to be completed was that both flat top grills had about 1/3 of their area covered with already cooked (and onioned and heeled) sandwiches just sitting there. While this was covered with a bit of parchment paper to keep them from airborne particulate, who knows how long they had been sitting there. And honestly, the parchment may have contributed to the problems I will describe a little later in the post. Just as the parchment keeps things from landing on the burgers from the top, it also helped to hold in the moisture underneath, too.

Probably due to the shouting match between the two employees, the four sliders I had ordered had already been taken off the grill, finished, and were sitting on a plate on one of the counters. It took another five minutes for the fries to join them. First thing that popped into my brain? Lukewarm sliders. And sadly by the time I finally managed to get my drink and napkins and condiments, they were exactly that.

Here is a shot of my meal:


Remember how I said that each of those cardboard boxes is open at one end? Take a look:


First, let's talk about the fries. These actually weren't terrible. Some were pretty crispy, others had a bit more limp to them. Fortunately, though, they weren't greasy. I consider the fries to be the highlight of the meal.

On to the sliders. Like I said at the beginning of the post, I think you either love these things or you hate them. And no offense to any of my gentle readers out there who love a White Castle slider, but I didn't find them good in the least. Tasteless meat, overly soggy heel, onions with a strange bitter flavor; truly a trifecta of terrible. I kept trying various condiment combinations thinking that I must be missing something. After three of the four sliders were gone, I just gave up and decided to use the fourth slider for a post-mortem analysis.

Out of its cardboard home:


Just the picture perfect shot I'm sure White Castle's marketing department hopes for, right?

Next up, the slider with the crown removed:


As you can see at the front of the burger (bottom of the picture), the brownish/gray coloring is where the heel has basically lost all integrity because it had become too soggy.

And finally, the money shot. Soggy city, indeed:


Like I mentioned earlier, the fact that the heel had been sitting on that grill for who knows how long AND underneath the parchment paper probably contributed to this soggy, yucky mess. By all means, if you enjoy these, don't let me dissuade you. Better yet, if you enjoy a good floor show with your sliders, I'd highly recommend the White Castle on South Arlington. It didn't make the burgers taste any better, but at least I cracked a smile once or twice.

Knowing that I needed some culinary redemption after my meal, I decided to stop by an Akron favorite for some frozen custard. Strickland's was started in the mid 1930's and has proliferated in Akron and the surrounding suburbs. Some of the locations are walk-up only (like the one that I went to tonight), while others have indoor seating. I decided to go to the store right across the field from the Goodyear blimp hanger, on the corner of Massillon Road and Triplett Boulevard since it was on my way home. For some reason, Yahoo Maps can't find that location, but the link above should get you to a map. Here is the side view:


Strickland's custard is wonderfully dense and rich. Being made on-site, every day they feature two new flavors. In fact, not all of the Strickland's are on the same flavor schedule, so you could literally go to two store locations on the same day and find two completely different sets of featured flavors. Today's flavors were pumpkin and royal cake batter. They will give you free taste samples if you ask and I opted to try both flavors. The royal cake batter was good (think of a cross between frozen custard and vanilla cake batter), but the pumpkin was WAY good. Not only that, but they were currently churning out the pumpkin, so I knew it was fresh.

I opted for a small pumpkin sundae with nothing but whipped cream on top for $2.85. Here is what I received:


How do I describe this? The first bite with the whipped cream was nothing short of spectacular. The pumpkin flavor, the traditional pumpkin spices (cinnamon, nutmeg, allspice, clove), the controlled sweetness, and the whipped cream all came together to whisk me back to the traditional Thanksgiving pumpkin pie slice. In custard form. It was so delicately balanced and delicious. Which oddly enough, turned out to be its downfall.

The first bite, heavenly. The third bite, pretty good. By the fourth bite, my tongue was so cold that the only thing I could taste was creamy and sweet. And that pretty much was how the rest of my sundae went until after I finished it and was back on the road. By then my taste buds had been given the proper time to start warming back up and suddenly I was hit with round two of the flavorful pumpkin and pumpkin spices.

Don't get me wrong, I truly enjoyed that sundae, but by making the flavors of the pumpkin and spices so delicately interwoven and subtle, they ended up with a flavor that can only be enjoyed at its maximum at the beginning and end of the experience. And I can understand how the person developing the recipe might not realize the problem. They are tasting it one spoonful at a time before making adjustments, thus allowing their taste buds to remain in the unfrozen and useful state.

All that said, Strickland's is definitely recommended.

In my follow-up post, I plan on visiting another frozen custard stand that was one of my childhood favorites, Stoddard's, for a head-to-head comparison to Strickland's. That is, after my visit to The Hamburger Station.