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E-mail StoryPete Tittl: Green Frog Deli takes a leap with deep-fried burger, and it works
| Monday, May 19 2008 2:36 PM
Last Updated: Monday, May 19 2008 2:23 PM
There’s an old joke about Southern cuisine that they will literally take anything, any old food item and offer a deep-fried version of it, sometimes just for fun. It’s my belief that this is how the deep-fried Twinkie and Oreo were created, by a good ol’ boy looking to throw something into the fryer to amuse drinking buddies.
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3711 Columbus St., 871-6500
Hours: 8 a.m.to 8 p.m. Monday to Saturday, 9 a.m. to 5 p.m. Sunday.
Prices: Cold sandwiches $4.95 to $5.95, salads $4.95 to $5.50, wraps and burritos $4.95 to $6.95, hot sandwiches $4.95 to $6.95, submarine sandwiches $5.50. No child’s plate.
Payment: MasterCard, Visa, American Express, Discover and personal checks accepted. Does not accept The Californian’s Press Pass.
Dress: Casual.
Amenities: Wheelchair accessible; no alcohol served; some vegetarian options.
Food: 21⁄2 stars
Atmosphere: 3 stars
Service: 3 stars
Next week: The Highland Cafe
Photos:
The B-Town Burger plate comes with fries, pickle wedges and small drink for $6.50.
Mother and daughter Ruth Johnson and Kris Casparie enjoy lunch with one another in the deli at Greg Frog Market Friday afternoon.
Now there are those who think Bakersfield cuisine has an unnatural reverence for fried foods, too. I’m not sure if we’re that bad — I have been to Louisiana, after all, and was almost deep fried myself in the process. Nonetheless, it was brought to my attention by a reader that I was missing out on a grand creation at Green Frog Deli on Columbus: a deep-fried burger.
I wrote that first paragraph before I called the deli to ask how they came up with the idea, and was stunned to hear from employee Rick Canez how it came about.
“The owner and I were playing around at lunch time, frying Twinkies and Oreos, and he said, ‘Throw a burger in the batter.’ I did it with a patty, then did it with a whole burger. It came apart, but we played around with it, and worked it out.”
Initially, I thought it would be something like a chicken-fried steak and I was unimpressed. But then I visited the deli, which has about six silver metal tables and chairs tucked into a corner of the supermarket, and I saw what the “B-Town Burger” ($6.50) really is.
They take a half-pound burger, with lettuce, tomato, cheese and mayo, cook and build it, dip it in a thin batter that most resembles tempura batter and deep-fry (probably pretty quickly) the whole thing before serving it. It’s a burger with a crusty shell. Amazing.
How can I evaluate it? I predict if the paragraph above made you queasy, you will not be charmed by this creation. Look away now. If the paragraph above made you cancel previously scheduled lunch plans, or stimulated your imagination to wonder if you could replicate this at home, The B-Town burger is for you. Head over there pronto. At the very least, it will give you bragging rights to your friends. “Have you ever had a deep-fried hamburger” is a killer conversation opener.
Now the most interesting thing is that the burger itself is not greasy from the additional cooking process. It comes across as a regular burger with a crispy shell, nothing bad, no grease in the lettuce, no harm done overall from the novel process. Whereas the Twinkie mentioned above is significantly changed by the whole process (gooey “creme” filling), the burger is like a preserved artifact that tastes similar to what you would expect, with the sole added taste note of the crunchy exterior texture throwing you something unexpected. And because the whole creation was so relatively grease free, it’s not as repulsive as you would think.
Green Frog is the kind of place that makes you wish you lived on the east side if you don’t already. It’s the kind of homey grocery store where they’ll put your ice cream in a special insulating bag inside the other bag, and all the women call the customers “Hon” at the checkout. It’s small, like a Trader Joe’s with just that kind of personal touch.
The deli has a lot of burritos, wraps, hot and cold sandwiches and even daily dinner specials. The pit-style beef is a specialty, and I recommend that inside the colossal burrito ($5.25), which is made with quality cheese, black beans and rice (you can also get chicken in the burrito). Pit-style turkey here is also good, as is the meatloaf.
I wouldn’t recommend the Philadelphia cheesesteak ($6.50) as the beef was overdone and dry when I ordered it. I loved how grilled the onions were with the beef, and the portion of provolone was generous, but someone overcooked it.
Also available is a salad bar and fish and chips ($5.95), though I didn’t get a chance to try them.
Service was solid and friendly, with customers ordering at the counter and the staff bringing it out to your table when it’s done.