Well, the Odyssey is expanding with our waistlines as we had seven eaters in all. It was seven times the burgers, which means seven times the fun and seven times the laughs. Sadly, the evening began with tragedy. The original plan was to meet at Top Notch, but a member of the Top Notch family had passed away and they were closed until further notice. We will have to try them again when they are having better days. This led to a last second audible and a flurry of Internet searches, texts, and phone calls led us to Dan’s.
Everyone in Austin, big and small, knows the story of Dan and Fran. All except FriedEd, who had to do a little bit of inquiry. He found out that Dan and Fran had once been married and opened a burger restaurant which may or may not have been called “Dan’s and Fran’s”. But then, Dan started hooking up with Sandy and Fran got dirty with Dirty and things in the Austin burger world all blew up when Sandy posted on Fran’s Facebook Wall and divided the once mighty Dan’s and Fran’s. Today, there is a Dan’s and there is a Fran’s and they are far away from each other (even though their kids now own both of them????, uhmm, the plot thickens, whose kids are they?).
Today, there are a few Dan’s and we went to the one on North Lamar which sports a cool red sign. Inside, you have fake wood tables several of which are grouped together into eight tops, which was perfect for the ever expanding Odyssey. Back in the good old days of September, FriedEd and BurgerMatt were all alone just chattin’ about chicks and football. The tradition still continues, but now we have been joined by a couple of rock stars, one of which is a Sage, a brother (not a monk) and two super hot chicks named Erica and Anne (not my sister). NOTE: I have a sister named Anne. To keep everything appropriate here, we will have to leave out the tales of weekend conquests (and one of the greatest text messages ever sent- five guys looked at it and said “whoa.),” but we can say the Odyssey was jazzed to have a 2-0 weekend from the Horns and Boys. Always a good sign of an awesome week to come. But, wait, is this a burger blog or what?
FriedEd ordered up a bacon cheeseburger. Dan’s patrons can go with a small (2 oz), medium (4 oz) or large (6 oz) patty. Since FriedEd is watching the old belly, he went with the medium and a small Dr. Pepper. He was going to go with a large, but then brother (not a monk) pointed out that you get free refills so why not go with the small. A small it was, Dan’s was going to be tricked. But, karma always catches up because the Dr. Pepper, an essential part of the FriedEd diet, was out of order and FriedEd had to go with Coke which is lame. FriedEd also ordered the curly fries.
The burger was solid with a good, seasoned and juicy piece of meat. I would describe it in several paragraphs, but instead I will let the Sage speak, who in a few choice words overtook The Dude as a brilliant speaker: “The meat was finely ground to the point you could see the grain which means the meat had not been overworked.” Wow. Pause for reflection..... Need anything else be said?! Finer, more brilliant words, have rarely been uttered by man. The meat was good, but on my burger I didn’t quite care for the mustard, and I felt the bun was just slightly stale. The average person may not have noticed the staleness of the bun, but I have a very developed sense of this. Overall the burger was good, but could have been better.
Burger: 87
Curly Fries: 85
Onion Rings: 92
Coke: 24
Average Score of Chicks Around: 99
Feel of stomach one hour later: 77
BurgerMatt:
I must say this Odyssey, in the words of Borat, was a "Great Success!"
Following the Longhorns victory at Kansas and my prediction of a Cowboys win at Washington, (see blog from trip to Dirty Martin's,) I could not have been more pleased with the start of my week. Then again, my weekend was about as epic as can be, but that's for another blog. (Baxter is that you? Bark twice if you're in Milwaukee.)
We had the delight of being joined by, well, pretty much all of our followers. Pulling into Dan's one of the first true signs of a classic burger joint is a great sign outside and Dan's was right there with the best of them. Classic retro 50's sign, does it get any better?
Going with the large double with cheese and the works I was sure to have a challenge on hand. Much to my delight the burger was an instant hit. Excellent flavor, the meat seasoned deliciously, the bun light and toasted and all the fixins were right on par. The fries were a bit unseasoned and bland however the onion rings were very good. One of our guest commented on the burger by saying, "I never usually finish my burger, this one was good."
The extra napkins and condiments on the table were and added bonus as were free refills. I must say I really enjoyed the evening, the company was nothing short of great and the burger and locale were on par of what you would want a classic burger odyssey to be.
Burger: 90
Fries: 80
Onion rings: 87
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