Charlie's Burgers

The wife is gone today visiting her family, so I took a cue from that and ate this evening at Charlie’s Famous Burgers down the street. I don’t know just how famous Charlie or his burgers are, but it was just what I expected. An older gentleman (my age) who was overweight and not very concerned about looking dapper was cooking in a kitchen that was about half the size of my office and much dirtier and greasier than my office ever thought of being. He had a helper with him who seemed competent, but hadn’t yet ingested all of the grease that Charlie had taken in over the years.
The menu was hamburgers, fries, and other fried foods. Not a salad to be found. No fruit cups. No yogurt. Just burgers, accessories, and variations thereof.
I got the Charlie special, which was a double cheese burger with fries and a drink. I got it to go and within five minutes was actually going on my way with a brown bag filled with hot fries and a burger. The grease was soaking through the bag and the smell was of old grease. What a wonderful meal this would turn out to be!!
The fries were the kind that everyone dreams of, but one seldom finds any more. You know, those cut from the unpeeled spud, all different sizes, limp, hot, and fresh. No McD’s uniformity here. The burger was seasoned a little TOO much, but was greasy and hot and good. The drink was what it was supposed to be.
Charlie runs his store out of a little building in a parking lot of a strip mall. The whole building is maybe 500 square feet, and includes 8 or so tables in varying states of cleanliness and repair. There’s a high table with bar chairs out front in a glassed-in area that is glass on three sides so you can see all around you. It probably was some kind of show area in the business that was there before Charlie.
The Charlies of this life are the people that make life interesting. Look for them next time you’re out and around. And if you can’t find any, do something different so you’ll run into them once in a while. I probably won’t go back for awhile. I think it’ll take time for the grease to leave my system. But Charlie and his helper certainly made an impression on me that I like. Thanks for the experience, Charlie.