Gardendale, Jefferson County
This joint is on the AL.com list of 22 Greasy Spoon Burger Joints in Alabama
you have to visit before you die.
The AL.com list with the 22 Greasy
Spoon Burger Joints in Alabama you have to visit before you die has two minor
flaws – one is that Number 22 is actually a Hot Dog place (although I am
certain that it fits well into a list of Greasy Spoon places), and the other
one is that one of the joints is actually a small local chain of restaurants.
Hamburger heaven started out in
1982 with a restaurant in Irondale near Birmingham, and has since added four
more locations in the Birmingham area. They claim to have the World’s Best Burgers,
Shakes, and Fries, and they promise you to make everything fresh to order, and
not to pre-cook, microwave, or thaw anything. They call it the old-fashioned
way, and I find that very commendable.
From the outside, and also from the
inside, the Hamburger Heaven in Gardendale - which is the newest addition to
the chain – does not look very much different from every other burger joint any
of the big franchises would put on that piece of real estate. There are some
booths, some free-standing tables, a couple of flat screen TVs, and the only
thing you might not find in any of the national burger franchises is a wall
that is decorated with Crimson Tide memorabilia.
So, the atmosphere is rather unspectacular,
if not a little dull. The burgers, on the other hand, ain’t. I had the Holy Cow
Special, which is a half-pound double jumbo cheeseburger, large fries and a
large drink. I was on my way home from a football game in Birmingham and hadn’t
eaten all day (except for a slimy hot dog in the stadium), so I was hungry as a
wolf, and the Holy Cow Special sounded like something I needed at that time.
But, holy cow, that is a lot of
food they are giving you for roughly eleven bucks! The burger is huge, and it
comes with all the veggie fixins’. I especially liked the shredded lettuce,
which is much better to handle on such a mammoth burger than the usual leaf,
which always works as kind of a slide for the meat patty and thus makes for a
very messy eating experience. Well, I am not saying that in this case it was
not messy. The sheer size of the burger and the fact that the bun slowly but
surely disintegrated the more I pressed on it to get a good grip, left a pile
of stuff on the plate in the end. Which, I admit this without shame, I
scooped up with some fries. The sauce they use is more on the tangy/sour side
of the spectrum, and it is very delicious. It is something completely different
than the usual ketchup-based concoction, and it reminded me a little bit of a
sour variety of tartar sauce.
The beef was juicy and succulent,
and very flavorful. Altogether, the whole burger was a splendid mess, so to
speak. But is it the best in the World? Well, I travelled the world to some extent,
and had quite a few burgers, especially in the USA. And while I would not dare
to pass a judgment about if this burger is the best on this planet, it
certainly is one of the best I ever had. The fries on the other hand are really
nothing special, so to include them in the “Best in the World” spiel is a bit
cocky in my point of view. And for the shakes – I do not know. I intended to
have one as dessert, but after I was finished with the burger, I was finished
period. So I guess an additional visit is in order, maybe even at the original
place in Irondale. I will just stay away from the Holy Cow next time.
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