(Chickasha, OK) - How is it that we've never heard of this place before? How has the name never come up during chats with other burger connoisseurs when the topic of best out-of-the-way independent greazy spoons has come up? Seriously -- we need to know.
What you've got here is the classic, small-town diner serving up a simple menu. On the menu is the obligatory Oklahoma onion burger. We don't eat onion burgers but, what, with the depression being over and all, there are full-beef burgers on the menu now on account of there's no real need to stretch that beef as far as it will go.
The fries are fresh-cut -- which we didin't necessarily expect. It was a nice surprise but we were prepared for some flash-frozen shoestrings and those would've been fine. Love fresh cut fries and these were greasy and good. We'd recommend a blanching before opening to make them crispy and less greasy -- but we realize that can be a hassle and it's not like this place some gourmet hipster destination. This is real heartland food for real people.
Which brings us to the burgers. They are served in the smash burger style that will be familiar to patrons of such fast-food joints like Culver's, Steak N Shake, Freddie's and to a lesser extent, SmashBurger. But where these are good the burgers at J&W are bigger and juicy in the middle and caramelized to crunchy on the edges. Awesome!
In short, the burgers here are what we expected when we stopped on a whim to eat. Figured they'd be good, old-fashioned diner burgers with good, old-fashioned diner fries. But it was all 5-steps better than we had hoped. What a pleasant surprise.
Side note: It's a cash establishment. There's an ATM inside but if you want to avoid the fee bring the green.
-- Rufus
Do you by any chance know of a place or independent person who does a southern style pig pick? I realize we live in the the land of brisket and turkey BBQ and I love to eat it, but we are hosting a summer party and would love to to have a whole hog done...dare I write it, Carolina Style BBQ.
ReplyDeleteThanks for writing. My first inclination is to say ... not really. Not off the top of my head. But it occurs to me that many pitmasters are more than willing to smoke meat for folks in exchange for money. These would include some independent BBQ restaurants and also teams who might relish the prospect of breaking out of the regional grind.
ReplyDeleteFor the first I'd encourage you to contact folks like Smokin' Joe in Davis. He is a genuinely friendly guy who made a name for himself in competition before deciding that he'd just like to feed folks at a restaurant. His food is outstanding which is a testament to his skill and he has enough room to go "rooter to the tooter". There are other independents like him that you may have some luck with.
As for competition guys -- summer can be a slow time on the circuit in this part of the country which means they'd be free. You can find teams by city and state at WWW.KCBS.US -- and while there isn't contact information for them a simple google search of the team names will often turn up team websites. If they don't have one you don't want them doing it. I'd say you might consider contacting David Bouska with Butcher BBQ in Chandler -- he's one of the top-ranked pitmasters in the nation.
Finally -- I'll warn you to make it clear you will be saucing the hog yourself. That's because it is highly unlikely that most of these pitmasters can offer a Carolina style sauce -- either mustard or vinegar. You'll want to do some mail ordering for that. Again the KCBS website is a good resource and there's a place in Olathe, KS called the Kansas City BBQ Store that carries sauces from coast to coast -- including the Carolina varieties.
Good luck and let me know how it turns out!
--Rufus
Thanks so much Rufus! This is great info and I have high hopes it will all pan out accordingly! Before now we only knew of an Asian resturaunt in OKC that will roast a whole pig. I will let you know how it all goes.
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