I splurged last night and had an old favorite, the Doubleshot Burger from Lardos Grill & Saloon in McCall, Idaho. I have pretty durned fine memories of eating these burgers in my college days with friends. We’d stop at Lardos every now and again and power one down with a large Coke. To be young and invincible.
Anyway, it had been a long time since I’d had one, but it was time to see if they’ve changed. First off, what is a Doubleshot Burger you ask? If memory serves, it’s something like this:
2 1/3 pound beef patties topped with American cheese, Canadian Bacon, sauteed mushrooms, on a quite-buttered and grilled sesame seed bun. And of course, if you’re worth your salt, you’ll order it with Lardo Fries.
To quote Jules from Pulp Fiction, “that is a tasty burger.”
It doesn’t seem like much has changed over the years with regards to the burger. However, if I’m not mistaken, in the before times — yes, the long-long ago, I think they used canned mushrooms, vs. non-canned. I can’t be sure, but I’d wager a few bucks on this. And surprisingly, if I’m correct, I think I liked canned mushrooms better. I know it’s crazy, my wife can’t believe it, but there’s something about the texture of canned mushrooms that really work well with the Doubleshot. And if I’m wrong about this condiment change, then I suppose that it makes my opinion about the whole burger very suspect. Regardless, the Doubleshot is still a solid sandwich, an old friend, a formidable foe.
There is however a change that I’m positive about, and it’s not for the better. Lardos used to have the most AMAZING french fies. (And I don’t capitalize liberally.) They were hand-cut, fresh made, whatever you want to call it. Skins were on, it was obvious that you weren’t dealing with something from Sysco or otherwise. Sometimes they were very crispy, sometimes oily, but there were always unique and delicious. They were cut like potato chips, but much thicker and they would often bubble and puff of, proving they were recently exposed to some very hot oil. Heavenly. Lardos’ current fries are cut this way too, but it seems that they’re delivered in a bag, frozen, and likely par-cooked. There are no skins, they’re uniform and frankly nothing special. They still call them Lardo Fries, but they’re not the Lardo Fries that were every bit as tasty as the burgers. I presume that reduced cooking time was the primary reason for the switch, but whatever the reason, I would argue that having standout french fries is worth the expense. There are a lot of places in McCall that server hamburgers now, it seems like Lardos Grill & Saloon could differentiate itself by bringing back the olden-days.
Nothing like publicly dating yourself.
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