Pilgrimage to Le Tub

Remember that list of the Best Burgers in the US that was published in Esquire Magazine a few years ago?  You know, the one that had Le Tub with the Best Burger in the country.  Well, I do.  I couldn't seem to forget that the Best Burger in the US was at a dive in Hollywood, Florida.

I live in San Francisco which is a bit far from Florida - even for the best burger in the country.  Lucky for me my parents live pretty close to Hollywood, Fl and my brother, another burger lover were recently there for a little vacation.   

We made the trip to Le Tub on Sunday afternoon after playing nine holes of golf.  We initially drove right by the place as it is pretty easy to miss.  We turned around and pulled into their very small parking lot.  They have a guy keeping order - kind of like a valet but he tells you where to park instead of actually doing the parking.  The Valet let us know what to expect.  "The grill holds 30 burgers and there are 100 seats.  You do the math."  

From the Esquire Article....  "This is a dream of a dump, located on the site of a former Sunoco gas station. Outside there’s assorted porcelain—toilets, sinks, tubs. Most have plants in them, and a lot of the plants look dead. Inside is a pool table, a jukebox, and tables reminiscent of the ones at highway rest stops. The view is magnificent, the Intracoastal Waterway at its broadest and most dramatic. Le Tub doesn’t take credit cards, and it has signs everywhere reinforcing that rule. I’m surprised anybody who eats here qualifies for a credit card."

We found great seats right by the water. We settled in, looked at the menu and were greeted by our waiter. We ordered drinks (Bloody Mary's were average) and our Burgers and Fries. Since the burgers would take an hour, we decided to start with the Chips & Salsa. I went to see the kitchen and it was a tiny nook with one guy manning the grill that, in fact, only held 30 burgers at a time.

Our seats were also right next to the servers station. We got to see them prep the plates for the burgers.  Buns, right out of the package were split and put on the plate along with lettuce, tomato and onion.  We were also next to the prep station and watched a guy bring out a couple of bags of meat and portion more burgers.  The view of the water was great and there was lots of good people / boat watching to keep us entertained.

After a while, the chips and salsa came out.  A basket of tri-colored tortilla chips with a plastic cup of homemade salsa and a plastic cup of nacho cheese.  The cheese was a bonus as there was no mention of it on the menu.   The Chips, Salsa and Cheese were fine and they took the edge off.

We saw a wave of burgers go out - apparently our burgers weren't in that group of 30.  A little before the hour was up, our fries were delivered and five minutes after that our burgers showed up.   It was showtime.