Recommendation: Delicious!
1211 Pine St
Seattle, WA 98101
(206) 457-4148
http://lilwoodys.com/
Hours:
Sun-Thu 11 am – 11 pm
Fri-Sat 11 am – 3 am
Awards:
None yet.
Review:
I just couldn’t wait; the curiosity of Li’l Woody’s was compelling me to go. It was Thursday and I had no other lunch plans, so off I went. I tried very much to reset my expectations about what I would experience. Would it be a disappointment like Skillet or a surprise like Zippy’s?
First impressions, walking in the door, the staff are mostly dressed in black tees and some with baseball caps. Some of these guys could do double duty as bouncers or tattoo artists. Heck, just throw down some tattoo chairs accompanied with the sound of needles buzzing in the air, I’d be down with some burgers and tats.
Anyways, back to the business at hand. Of course, being second in line was enough time for me to doubt my decision of getting a “Smoked Out” (Smoked sharp cheddar, sliced raw onion, tomato and their own chipotle sauce) burger. I briefly thought about getting some “Crack” (Hand cut fries with a bit of shake to dip it in) but I didn’t want to carry the drug theme too far. I’m sure it is possible to “overdose” (hopefully a newly inspired menu item?) as well.
I placed my order, got my number, went upstairs and surveyed the rest of the establishment. Great view of the staff prepping the food. I had a balcony seat was loving it. As I’m waiting, I see the Li’l Woody’s guy on their menu and on their signs but I did not expect to see him making my burger. Seriously, there was a dude there that if you threw on an “I heart Burgers” blue coveralls on him, he’d be the life size version of Li’l Woody’s himself. Then there was the dude flipping the burgers, seriously reminded of Milton (Stephen Root) in Office Space in a white tee. Then Chuck Berry’s “You Never Can Tell” comes on over the speakers and I’m expecting John Travolta and Uma Thurman to jump on the counter to twist the afternoon away.
My number gets called as fifteen minutes rolls of the clock. My order was done and I was hungry. This time I remembered to take a photo before my first bite. The burger was tightly wrapped with the meat hanging out revealing the melted cheese on top. I seriously could not wrap my mouth around this burger to take in the bun, fixings, and meat. So I did next best thing, I took a bite of the dark, crusty, salty, juicy meat. One word, delicious! The meat was hot but ohh soo good! It’s obvious that the grill is searing the meat a very high temp and the results are evident in the meat. I’ve never had such a hot, juicy piece of dark goodness in my mouth before.
What about the rest of the package? The bun had a wonderful sweetness to it and was certainly nicely toasted. I could taste the tomatoes and the lettuce was crisp. The chipotle added a nice little kick to it and overall it was pleasure bite after bite. I was down to my last third of the burger and to my disappointment, I was out of meat. I couldn’t believe it! What the hell was I going to do? Normally, I would just walk away and call it a day but I was really enjoying the burger and I wanted to finish. Fortunately, the bun would help me finish. It was an unsatisfying finish to what was to be a great experience.
So Li’l Woody’s, size matters when you don’t want people to have an unsatisfying finish. The meat should be proportionate to the bun. I want a piece of meat with every bite. Perhaps it was positioning issue. And if this was the case, I wouldn’t want someone else moving my meat around. Once it’s packed in tight, no one else is touching it except me. I know this sounds all kinds of wrong but I think you get my point. Handle your meat and perhaps we’ll have a happy ending.
