The Great Hamburger Road Trip
This story starts off with what should have been bad news. We were scheduled to take a trip to a car show near Memphis this weekend, but there was a mix-up and we found out we couldn’t go. As the old saying says, “When life gives you lemons, make lemonade”.
We decided that since the car was cleaned and serviced and we were planning a road trip anyhow, we might as well go someplace. But, where? Our one-day road trips usually involve going somewhere to eat. It was just a question of what we were hungry for.
I threw out the idea that we should get a good hamburger. Not just any ole’ hamburger, but an old-fashioned greasy spoon diner type of hamburger cooked on real diner griddle.
A search on line turned up a couple of reasonable candidates and we finally picked a place called Angelle’s ( Ahun-jzell) in Breaux (Bro) Bridge Louisiana. This was 140 miles south of us deep in Cajun country. This explains the decidedly French pronunciations of the names. The reviews raved about the burgers and onion rings. I’m a sucker for a good onion ring. Ok, let’s do it.
The trip down took us through miles and miles of sugar cane fields full of cane ready to cut. We paralleled the Atchafalaya (uh-chaf-uh-lahy-uh) and Mississippi River levees for much of the trip. The weather was just about perfect for an open car and didn’t really start heating up until we were on our way home. We timed it so that we could get there after they opened at 11:00, but before any lunch rush they might have.
Cane fields.
https://i.imgur.com/qjBRaYI.jpg
Well, appearance wise, it definitely looked like a greasy spoon. They have been in business for over 20 years making pretty much only hamburgers and a few other sandwiches. The kitchen was right there when you opened the front door, so you knew where your food was cooked. This was absolutely a place you probably wouldn’t stop at based on the way it looked, but, in this case, looks were very deceiving.
https://i.imgur.com/FAyzUT6.jpg
The cooks and kitchen.
https://i.imgur.com/wDV5vci.jpg
The burger was perfect. Just the right amount of seasoning and the meat was very good quality. One of the cooks (may have been the owner) told me he grinds his meat out of shoulder roasts every day. No scrap meat in these burgers and it was cooked just right. The bun appeared to be very high quality as well and may have been made in-house. It definitely was not a typical run-of-the-mill hamburger bun.
The only thing I noticed was that one of the condiments they included on a fully dressed burger was ketchup. Nope, sorry, don’t need ketchup on a good hamburger. I’m glad I noticed that and had them hold it. I did have them add bacon because, well, it’s bacon. No other explanation needed!
And then there was the onion rings! I’m an onion ring fan for sure, but most I’ve found are mediocre at best. These were as close to perfect as you are likely to find. The batter was as well seasoned as the burger, and they were cooked to perfection. They were crisp without being too hard and the onion broke clean when you bit into it. There was none of that pulling out a long string of onion leaving just a hunk of fried batter.
https://i.imgur.com/dxczPp9.jpg
As to the trip, there was only one small incident and that was the paved “ditch” that ran right across the road on the way down. At least that’s what it looked like. The car bottomed out and something on the chassis scraped on the pavement, hard. That would have been the passenger side rear trailing arm mount. I mentally marked that spot and slowed way down on the way home.
https://i.imgur.com/j9a27Nw.jpg
I guess there was a second small incident when the 18 wheeler tried to run us into the median. I had the driver’s side tires in the grass before he realized we were there.
All in all, though, it was a good road trip and an even better burger. If you ever find yourself around Breaux Bridge, Louisiana, check out Angelle’s. I don’t think you’ll be disappointed.
