The Frisco Shop

When The Frisco Shop first opened in 1953 its famous Frisco Burger was .45 cents. Today, it is significantly more, but at $6.75 still within the budget. The Frisco Shop is the last remnant of the old Nighthawk chain. I don’t know what that means but it sounds cool and makes FriedEd feel like he is an Edward Hopper painting. The Frisco Shop was run by the legendary Harry Akin, whose style is admired by Rock Star, and apparently the people of Austin who voted him mayor. A burger joint that launches its owner to city hall must be good. In the early 1960’s, his Frisco Shop was an equal opportunity employer before anyone had heard of the law and it was Austin’s first restaurant to allow African-Americans to sit wherever they wanted. For those reasons, it was a perfect pick for an Odyssey MLK Day hamburger. We felt that Obama might like it too.

The Frisco Shop was for many years located at the intersection of Burnet and Koening, but it closed to make way for a Walgreens, because you know we need a new Walgreens more than we need a fifty year old restaurant. After a few months a new Frisco Shop opened up about ten blocks north in an old Curra’s restaurant. FriedEd remembers this restaurant as a place where he broke up with his girlfriend over a really good breakfast taco while being waited on by another ex-girlfriend. It was a little weird. The restaurant has been completely reworked, the owners of Frisco Shop realizing that a Mexican themed restaurant does not quite square with an old time burger joint. The remodel added a counter with stools, booths, warm wood paneling and a cool old fashioned tile floor. FriedEd doesn’t remember if all of this is new, or if he was just drunk or breaking up with girlfriends at the old restaurant and hence not paying attention to design. Either way it looked cool and passed the Odyssey old time burger joint ambiance test. You could tell this because everyone in there was old, and old people like stuff that is old time feeling.

The Odyssey was joined by a new member, the band manager of Romance Fantasy, Jeff. He did a Murray style quick check of all present who included BurgerMatt, FriedEd, Rock Star Rodd and Onion Ring Sage. This was the first joint we have been to that has sit down service and the wait was well worth it. Nagelle from Districto Federal was our waitress and was the first hot woman we have seen at a burger joint since the P. Terry’s trip back in September. If you want to be sexually aroused by the name of a burger, ask Nagelle what is their best burger. You will hear a sweet, sexy pronunciation of “Frisco Burger.” I liked the burger right away.

The burger’s unique taste comes from its relish, a sweet pickled concoction. FriedEd usually skips the pickles, but he wanted the real deal so he went with it. It is included with lettuce, tomato and ketchup. The relish pulls out the sweetness of the meat. The fries are a little bland but the Onion rings are outstanding. A good onion ring allows the onion to do the talking. These rings did that. Finally, the Frisco Burger was a great burger on this night for FriedEd because it is the last burger of the Bush administration. Maybe that is what made it so sweet. And Nagelle, if you are reading, can I have your number?

One final note, the Odyssey is thinking of ways to advertise our blog. So far, all ideas are focusing on airborne means that could include a billboard, a blimp or skywriting.

Burger: 90
Fries: 77

Quality of Hot Chicks around: 90 (and that is with all the old ladies around, that is how hot Nagelle was)

Feeling of stomach one hour later: 77


BurgerMatt

This plus 50 year old burger joint was a great stop for the Odyssey on MLK day 2009. The sit-down table service diner style restaurant took you back to the days wanting a soda pop and some kind of malt, shake or homemade pie. Having done some research on burger joints that are over 50 years old and having already gone to a good number of them, The Frisco Shop was next on the list and it did not disappoint.

While most places offer a variety of burgers you have three choices here, The Frisco Burger with its tangy relish, the Down South Burger, and a Chili Burger. These come alone or if you order the plate you get fries and coleslaw. Coleslaw was a new addition to our burgers and added a new flair to the burger Odyssey. While FriedEd loved his burger, I think this had as much to do with his ever growing crush on Nagelle, I was not so fond of the sweet relish. The burger seemed lacking in flavor and the fries needed seasoning as well. The onion rings, were no doubt one of the hits of the night. They were the best onion rings to date and may be hard to beat from here on out. (I would go back just to get an order of onion rings.)

Some other aspects of this legend have to be mentioned. The homemade pies were without a doubt spectacular. Myself and the Sage indulged ourselves in the banana cream pie and it was sublime. The place definitely gets extra points for the homemade pies, the fully stocked bar and back to the future diner feeling. The memorabilia on the walls makes you long for the 50's and 60's, while the long diner style counters gives that authentic look and feel of a classic!

Burger 84
Fries 79
Onion Rings 94
Homemade Pie 93

The Rockstar had this to add:

"You can find your way across this country using burger joints the way a navigator uses stars....We have munched Bridge burgers in the shadow of the Brooklyn Bridge and Cable burgers hard by the Golden Gate, Dixie burgers in the sunny South and Yankee Doodle burgers in the North....We had a Capitol Burger -- guess where. And so help us, in the inner courtyard of the Pentagon, a Penta burger."
Charles Kuralt, journalist. (1934-1997)

"Hunger is insolent, and will be fed." Homer's Odyssey

I was asked kindly to submit an entry on the Down South Burger served at Frisco's on Burnet, I have committed to keeping my entry brief.

If Quentin Tarantino were searching locations for a diner scene similar to the one that took place in Pulp Fiction, he would look no further.