Saturday, November 15, 2008

The Monstrosity of a Massive Burger @ Hawkins House of Burgers (Watts)


I prayed to the lord and asked him one favor before I bite the big one. I asked him to get me through the day because I do not want my visit to Top lsland Seafood (worst Dim Sum place ever!) as my last dining experience.

It just cannot end that way for me!

After I finish giving out my testaments in my will, after work I decided I needed something exciting to eat. I decide to hit down to Watts and grab a burger at good ol' Hawkins to see if that famous Hawkins special was truly special.

Let me tell you, this thing was a lot bigger than I thought.

The place is located one block east of Central Ave on Imperial Highway. Google map messed up and probably will give out the wrong direction. I wish I can tell Andy Shamberg to suck it when he said Google Map is the best. So not true at this point.

It didn't take me more than 15 seconds to decide on this monstrosity (see below). The lady behind the counter wanted to make sure I understood it's going to be big. Oh yeah....I understood. Big time!


Hawkin's Speical

It comes in three layers with about two pieces of top and bottom buns each separating the three beef patties. The first layer on top comes with a bacon and egg smothering the first beef patty.


First Layer

On the second layer, they decided to enlist the help of the pastrami and a piece sausage cut in half on a butterfly style engrossing the 2nd piece of beef patty in the middle.



Second Layer

The third layer of this mundo king size burger was a simple egg, a tad of chili and onions to fill out the bottom layer with the final piece of the patty. This was very intimidating to eat as I had to figure out on how to split this burger so that I may be able to eat in smaller unit.



The Third Layer

On top of the big size burger, you also get two cans of sodas and a stash of fries. For $16.99, it's not bad of a deal for this combo.


Fries


Two cans of soda

How was the neighborhood? I was expecting ghetto or hoodlum, but all I got was a quiet nonchalant ordinary street. It's not all that exciting at all, even at 9pm at night. Bah humbug! North Long Beach would had been more dangerous compared to this place. Seriously!

The parking situation might be a problem considering they are not designed to expect more than a few cars. Make sure you park in front of the place or side street visible within distance. There is a parking lot across, but it's seemed like it's intended for the market customers only.

I have taken some pictures of the dining area next to the place. You can see for yourself on whether or not it'll hold a large crowd. Again, they designed the place on not to expect huge rushes.

Since that was the case, be prepare to wait 20 minutes per big Hawkins burgers special. I don't think they have more than one guy in the kitchen making it. I'm pretty sure the poor souls that ordered behind me will have to wait at least an hour before getting his burgers as people are lounging around in front of the place to await their huge artery attack. I sneaked in way ahead of these guys. Thank goodness for that!

The burger was actually pretty good and definitely very fulfilling. I barely finished the top two layers and will saved the last layer until tomorrow. The spectacle is something to be amazed at. One of those of things you don't see too often.

Now that I know this neighborhood or at least where the place is located at was exaggerated as a ghetto, I would gladly stop by more often to pick up a Hawkins special on my way home......

...only if it doesn't take more than 20 minutes.

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*One Day later:

From the same visit, I was able to finish the burger two days later. I also just had the chili dog and it was delicious.


Chili Dog

If you haven't visit this place, why don't you? It's worth the visit to get your around the three layers of the leaning tower of Watts!

Hawkins House of Burgers
11603 Slater Street
Los Angeles, CA 90059
(323) 563-1129

Grade:

Hawkins House of Burgers on Urbanspoon


2 comments:

Thomas Pluck said...

This place sounds incredible. next time I'm in L.A. I will make the pilgrimage.
If you're ever in Atlanta you must go to Miss Ann's for a Ghetto Burger.

Right Way to Eat said...

Hey Tommy,

Thank you very much for the suggestion! I will go to Miss Ann's for that ghetto burger.

I'm on my mini burger crawl nowadays. When you get here, make sure you go to Phillips or Mom's also.