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View the T Burger's Menu
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T
Burgers is at 226 W. Foothill Blvd., in Monrovia |
This
is the small order of fried zucchini. It's designed for two, I say it
could be enough for 4 |
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This
is the small order of fries. My family of three doesn't finish it. |
The
roast beef dip |
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This
grilled chicken salad doesn't come with the avocado, but for 99 cents,
that's a lot of avocado |
Combination burrito fills me up, and I haven't finished one yet. |
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DOT COM DINING A Look At San
Gabriel Valley Restaurants by SanGabrielValleyMenus.com
Good Food at T Burgers in Monrovia
By Bill Coburn
In January of this year, a new drive-thru “burger
joint” opened up at 226 W. Foothill Blvd., called T Burgers. The thing about
this place though, is that while the name is new, the tried and true methods
used by its owner have years of experience behind them. Jim Bicos owns
another popular burger drive-thru in Pasadena, has for 18 years. And that stand draws experience off another location, owned by another
member of the family. The family tradition actually started way back in 1952,
so even though T Burgers has been around less than half a year, you’ll find
service and food quality that has been more than fifty years in the making.
The hallmark of T Burgers is the consistency and the
quality of the food. I have been eating at his other location for decades, and find that the
food at T Burgers is just as good as what I’ve come to expect over the years.
My personal favorite is the chili cheese burger (single or double, I order it
plain or with onions, since all T Burgers come with T Burgers Homemade 1000 Island
dressing, lettuce, tomato, pickles and onions, which I can do without on a chili
cheese burger), and I have to say that over the years I’ve had dozens of them.
I’ve already had a few at T Burgers, and they are just as good, the chili tastes
just the same, the burger is a good ¼ lb. of beef, and by the way, could you
please give me some extra napkins?
I’ve also enjoyed the bacon cheeseburgers (single
and double), the beef dip, and lately I’ve been ordering the Combination Burrito
off their Mexican menu. The Combination Burrito comes with ground beef, beans
and Jack & cheddar cheese. This is one good sized burrito folks, and at just
$3.79, it’s a really good value. The beef dip comes with lots of lean roast
beef on a toasted French roll, with a side of au jus for dipping.
Katie regularly enjoys the pastrami dip, and there’s
so much pastrami on this sandwich that frequently she ends up splitting it with
Keelan, and both of them are full when they leave. That’s one of the things
that my family generally has in common when we leave T Burgers, that feeling
that the Coburn family describes as “food coma.”
Part of the reason for that is the size of the
portions. The small order of fries is designed for two people. The fried
zucchini is designed for two people. And let’s talk about that zucchini for a
minute. I asked Katie, how am I describing this fried zucchini? I’m not a big
fan of zucchini, but Katie and Keelan regularly split it, and I felt pretty sure
I’d heard her describe the T Burger fried zucchini as some of the best she’s
ever had. So I asked her, and she got this kind of happy, goofy look on her
face and said GOOOOOOD. Add a little sing-song lilt to that extended syllable,
and you’ll be close. Anyway, then she said, “It’s crisp on the outside, soft on
the inside, never overcooked.” I asked her if I was correct in remembering it
as some of the best she’s had, and she said yes, definitely. You see, T Burgers
cuts their French fries daily, and their onion rings and fried zucchini are
homemade daily. And frankly, while they say their side orders of these items
are designed for two, the three of us combined have never finished an order of
fries, or an order of onion rings, or an order of zucchini. There’s just so
much food.
Tonight, Katie tried the
Grilled Chicken Breast Salad, with a 7 oz. Chicken Butterfly Breast served on a
bed of mixed greens, with tomato, eggs, onions, cucumbers and black olives.
When I worked back at the Velvet Turtle in the late 1980s and early 1990s, we
had a similar salad, that came with papaya, but didn’t have the eggs, onions,
cucumbers or black olives. Back then, the cost of that salad was over $8.00.
Katie said her only complaint with the T Burger salad was that her plate wasn’t
big enough for all the food that came on it. And this salad was just $5.79,
though she paid a little extra for avocado. But the quantity of avocado she got
for the $.99 cent extra charge was surprisingly large.
In addition to its tasty
burgers, T Burgers also offers dinner plates, several sandwiches (including two
types of Gyros), a varied Mexican menu, and breakfast, seven days a week. Their
breakfast menu includes 4 types of breakfast burritos, 4 different breakfast
sandwiches, and 4 breakfast plates. Right now, according to the sign over the
door, they are running a pretty spectacular breakfast special, Monday through
Friday. The special features 3 eggs, potatoes, toast and ham, bacon or sausage,
for just $2.99. Breakfast is served till 11am weekdays, and till noon on
weekends. They open at 7am every day but Sunday, when they open at 9am.
T Burgers does have a
drive-thru for your convenience, and if you’re short on cash, you can use the
ATM that’s on the premises, though you’ll need to go inside for that. Be
forewarned, though, it’s not a Point of Sale ATM, it’s a free-standing machine,
and there is a $1.50 charge to use it, plus whatever your bank charges you. You
can find the T Burger menu at
www.sangabrielvalleymenus.com/tburgers. There are really only two main
differences, between Jim's two locations, the Pasadena store has cappuccinos, lattes, and espresso, which
Monrovia does not, and the Monrovia store is a little cheaper on quite a few
items, about a dime, though there are a couple items that are as much as forty
cents cheaper. And one other difference – there’s a 10% off coupon for T
Burgers at the T Burgers menu page. So an already great value just keeps
getting better. It’s old, it’s new, it’s cheaper, and it’s really good. Stop
by and say hi, and enjoy some good food while you’re at it.
Bill Coburn is owner of SanGabrielValleyMenus.com, a
restaurant website featuring dozens of restaurant’s menus, as well as
downloadable coupons. He has nearly 20 years experience in the restaurant
business, and has been eating for much longer than that. |
