Non-upscale burger lunch Day 3: Bill's Place, "Home of the Hamburger," Clement St. near 25th St. in San Francisco.
Bill's has been open for business in the same location since 1959. It's one of the increasingly rare "lost in time" gems in the city ... stepping through the door, I felt like it could almost be '59 inside, with the exception of some details like the flatscreen TV showing Olympics highlights. The crowd was a far cry from the well-groomed hipsters of Super Duper or the squeaky-clean innocent-looking tourists of In-N-Out ... definitely a red-blooded oldskool SF working-class/family sort of spot.
But despite being a bit frayed around the edges, it's not grimey or dive-y at all. The staff is super-friendly and there's a nice outdoors patio in the back. Up front there's an ice cream station ... sundaes, shakes and scoops (Dreyer's) are available.
I ordered pretty much the most basic burger on the menu ... there must have been about thirty different burgers on it, many named for local luminaries like Carol Doda, Al "Jazzbeaux" Collins, and others who were definitely semi-famous before my time. I didn't recognize at least half of the "celebrity" names despite being a lifelong "local."
This might look pretty homely in my bad iPhone photo, but believe me, everything about this plate tasted
real and delicious.
Burgers are cooked to order (neither Super Duper nor In-N-Out even bothered asking how well I wanted mine done) and are available in three different sizes. Fries were tasty, although for whatever reason the lemonade had an "off" flavor. I think I need to stop ordering lemonade with burgers. Just not much of a soda fan.
Anyway, this was the best of the burgers on my little adventure this week. If you're thinking "Dean shouldn't be eating so many burgers," all I can say is that I've been craving them since becoming ill last April. I haven't been able to handle food like this since then ... I lost over sixty pounds very rapidly, so I don't mind filling up on some fattening comfort food for now. I'll go back to healthy eating next week.