LAGary

I am a hot dog lover and I can’t tell you how many people have over the years told me to eat at Pink’s. I finally did, and the disappointment on my face was visible from bite number 1. I believe that no one that told me to go to Pink’s ever had the hotdog at Costco.

Let’s start now with the many problems at Pink’s and to make it easy to read—I will sequentially number them: 1) Take out a dime from your pocket. Your Pink’s hotdog will not be thicker than the diameter of your dime. It will disappear between the buns. You will wonder if there is a hotdog in your bun. 2) No worries if you burnt your taste buds the day before—the Pink’s hotdog is tasteless. It is the most tasteless hotdog I have ever had in over 35 years of eating hotdogs all over the world, on streets, fairs, and deli’s. 3) Be prepared for a line at all times. The staff monitors the line and will slow down service, and sometimes walk away to make sure that there is always at least two lines in front of the shack so that it looks busy and desirable to everyone passing by or waiting. 4) There are magicians working at Pink’s who have made real chili disappear and reappear as watered down, tasteless slop on your hotdog. I ordered Chili! on the dog and I have no idea what that brown watery stuff was. 5) The Pink’s $5.00 commandment: There shall be no hotdog on the menu that shall sell for less than $5.00. The $5.00 hotdog without anything on it at the ballpark is way, way better my friends. 6) There is nothing fun, exciting or nostalgic about eating at this dump.

So, the next time someone tells YOU to go to Pink’s, claiming that it is such a great hotdog, and they have recently been there—just do one thing: DO NOT trust anything that person ever tells you about food again!

I just ate at the Apple Pan on Pico in Los Angeles tonight, and yes the burger and fries were very good—not the best—but very good, but they will NEVER see my George Washington’s again and here is why: A single patty basic hamburger, size no greater than the single at In & Out Burger or a single at Wendy’s or McDonalds that only comes with lettuce, pickles, mayo and their sauce costs $6.50! I added small fries to that for $2.20 and no drink, no cheese and nothing else—came to an unreasonable $9.30 with tax, not including a tip for the gruff service.

After I left, I felt that I was really taken, or as my mother would say, “they have some nerve!” This Apple Pan hamburger and fries tastes just the same and not better than the one at In & Out Burger all over California and if you go there—the same exact single burger and fries would cost you less than $3.50! Now folks, please keep these other things in mind. Add a slice of cheese: $60 cents and a drink: $ 1.75 and you will walk out of there paying $12.00 for a thin fried burger, small fries and a drink. Still hungry—order their Apple Pie Slice: $5.00 a slice. Now, $5.00 is not bad for a nice sized slice with chucks of apples, but not the small 3-4 fork serving that they give you there. Now your bill is up to almost $18.00 with tax, and no tip. $20.00 for one person to have a complete hamburger meal at this place: As my mother your say again: “They have some nerve!” But folks—It gets worse—there are NO TOMATOES. (In & out on the 1.75 burger has a tomato or two.) I ask the waiter who says, “use the sauce.”

There are some places that have been around for a very long time that regularly attract the locals that grew up there and went there with dad and now they take their children, but whose value is now diminished or non-existent. Apple Pan is one of them. Go somewhere else unless you have a lot of money to burn or want to walk away hungry—there is nothing memorable about this place except how you paid 3x the price for a fast food hamburger and how they are probably still laughing at you.