Last Saturday afternoon I drove over to Ecky -pon -Rex's house (no relation). He had called and wanted me to go to one of his neighborhood haunts. From his house, we walked to Gallaghers on Broadway and Temple. Located in the old Key Largo spot, both the decor and crowd has changed. I hear the glory hole was the first to go followed by the daiquiri machine and Bet Midler impersonator.
Now Ecky warned me that both the service and food was a real gamble. In fact, the last time Ecky ordered a burger he was told that they were out of buns. I bet Ecky never heard that at Key Largo.
Well, this whale was ready for some burger baccarat!
We entered and took a seat on the sidewalk patio. We ordered our first pitcher and I slowly perused the burger choices. Gallaghers offers a wide variety of burger combinations for an "Irish Pub". The sun was shining and the beers were cold. The waitress was an attractive brunette who was quite personable. In fact, she warned me not to leave my camera near the patio railing due to the risk of theft from the local curbside cat burglars. Ahh... you have to love Long Beach!
After another pitcher, I ordered the "Old Fashion American Burger". I figured what better place to have a burger named after America than at an Irish Pub. The Old Fashion is a 1/2 lb. grilled angus patty served with green leaf lettuce, tomato, pickle, red onion, American Cheese, mustard and ketchup for $8.95. Ecky went for the Shannon river BBQ burger, while Hot Dog Jones, the patty patriot, ordered the Old Fashion American also.
My Burger was served hot and smothered in gooey American Cheese. While the burger was cooked past medium rare it still had a great grilled taste. The 1/2 lb. patty spilled out from beneath the bun, like Andrew Zimmer's gut in a belly shirt. After the first bite, I noticed the overwhelming taste of mustard. While, I'm not a huge fan of the yellow condiment, the combination of American Cheese and French's mustard somehow worked well on a burger served by the Irish.
My advice for all you hamburger hunters, take your own gastro gamble and try Gallaghers, at least its not Key Largo anymore.
