|
View the
Wolfe Burgers Menu
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Wolfe
Burgers is at 46 N. Lake Ave. in Pasadena |
Has a
nice patio area out back |
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Condiment bar for dressing your burgers |
Wall
display gives description of menu items |
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Chili
burger with hot chili was quite good |
Fries, fried zucchini and kids dog |
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Tamale plate |
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DOT COM DINING A Look At San
Gabriel Valley Restaurants by SanGabrielValleyMenus.com
Wolfe Burgers – Old Town Pasadena’s Big Bad (as in good)
Burger
By Bill Coburn
Mea Culpa Dept. –
There was an error in last week’s column. I said that the Arcadia Republican
Woman’s Club Chili Cook Off is scheduled for June 17th, and told you
to mark your calendars. Grab your erasers, it’s actually on the 27th.
More on the cook-off later in the column. Now back to our regularly scheduled
food review.
Wolfe Burgers, 46 N.
Lake Ave, (626) 792-7292, in Old Town Pasadena, is one of those places I kept
hearing had really good burgers, but hadn’t gotten around to trying. Well, I
got around to it, and what I’d heard was right. Not only do they have good
burgers, but they have good Mexican food, good chili, and good breakfasts, as
well.
The story goes that
Dan Wolfe, a photographer for food magazines, took lots of photos of gourmet
foods, but preferred a good burger, smothered in chili. Then there was
Josephine, who wanted to own a restaurant, and made killer chili. She was
working behind a counter at a dry cleaners. According to the story, Josephine
was providing chili for a party put on by a wealthy friend named Georgia Sloan,
when Dan showed up by accident, mistaking the party for a bar mitzvah he was
supposed to be attending. According to the legend, he went straight to where he
smelled the chili cooking, gave it a try, and proceeded to try to buy
Josephine’s chili recipe. She declined to sell, but suggested a partnership,
and Wolfe Burgers was born, or so the story goes.
I
can’t vouch for the veracity of the story, but I can vouch for the food. I’ve
tried the chili cheese burger, with the hot chili, and it was good. I know the
chili was good and hot because my son mentioned the sweat dripping down the wide
part I adopted (thanks to my mother’s genes) as a hair style some years ago.
Katie had a ½ Lobo, aka one
homemade beef tamale topped with homemade chili, jack, cheddar, and green
onions. Ironically, the Lobo is 2 homemade beef tamales, topped…Katie said it
was “Yummy.” We also had the fries, fried zucchini, and a Wolfe Hound, aka a
hot dog. Everything we had, we enjoyed, and one of the nice things about Wolfe
Burgers is the condiment bar, where you can dress your burger, dog or sandwich
with whatever dressings/condiments work for you.
Wolfe
Burgers also features a variety of sandwiches, including a Gyro, Philly
cheesesteak, pastrami, steak sandwich, BLT, chicken, avocado sandwich, and
several others. Their Mexican menu includes tacos, burritos, tamales and more,
including chili with and without beans.
I also
have tried the Wolfe-melet, which consists of egg, bacon, onions, tomatoes,
mushrooms, and bell peppers, and that was a delicious and filling breakfast.
Besides omelets, Wolfe Burgers offers breakfast plates, breakfast burritos,
breakfast sandwiches, pancakes, “Wolfles” and French toast.
Another thing I like about Wolfe Burgers is that unlike most “burger joints”,
Wolfe Burgers has a beer and wine license, so you can enjoy a nice cold beer
while munching on your burger. There is a nice covered patio area, and weather
permitting, a good-sized outdoor patio dining area, as well. If you’re in the
mood for something sweet, try the award winning rice pudding or some flan after
your meal.
You
can view the entire Wolfe Burger menu by visiting their web page at
www.sangabrielvalleymenus.com/wolfeburgers.
Now
about that Chili Cook-off. The correct date is Sunday, June 27th,
and attendance is by reservation only. Judges will be state senator Bob Margett,
Joe Grande of Power 106 (in case you listen to another station, he’s the sports
guy during morning deejay Big Boy’s show), Matt McSweeney, owner of Matt Denny’s
Alehouse Restaurant in Arcadia, and yours truly. The Cook-off will take place
from 3 to 7pm at the Community Center at 365 Campus Drive in Arcadia. Tickets
are $25, and reservations can be made by contacting Rose Mary Cossart at (626)
285-8760 or 482-5343. FYI – this is not a political statement. I’m told the
ARWC will not donate money from the Chili Cook-off to the candidates, nor do
they raise money to fund politicians. They raise money for local
philanthropies, such as scholarships, and donating books to libraries. So you
don’t have to be a Republican to attend, you just have to want to help fund
worthy causes and eat some chili. I’ll see you there.
Also – FYI – nobody responded with the correct answer to last week’s question
about which of the previous Dot Com Dining columns had mentioned my first
attempt at a machaca burrito. It was the Manny’s El Loco review, published on
the website about March 31, and in the SGV Weekly on April 1st. That
means there was no winner of the 20% off coupon to Beckham Grill in Pasadena.
So we’re going to try to give it away again, this time to the first person to
tell me the name of the owner of the Los Gueros Grill, which we reviewed on
April 28th on the website and in the April 30th edition of
the SGV Weekly. Here’s a hint, for those of you who don’t save your
newspapers. All reviews are archived on the San Gabriel Valley Menus.com
website. The first person to e-mail the correct answer to
bill@sangabrielvalleymenus.com will receive a voucher good for a 20%
discount at Beckham Grill. For a party of four enjoying steaks and prime rib
dinners, that could be a $20 savings or more. So pull my column out from the
bottom of the bird cage, or click your mouse a couple times, and send me the
answer. Your taste buds will thank you.
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. |
