Feb 8^th, 2006 - Ercoles

By Kathleen

It was the Best of Times...It was the Worst of Times...

While our recent tour led us to Tommy’s - the ultimate Burger producing machine, this week’s tour couldn’t be any different. Being the first girl to pick a place I had to step up and take a risk – Ercoles in Manhattan Beach.

This place has been there since 1927, around that time when Kenny saw the light of day. At Ercoles barbequing is only part-time work to feed some hungry party fellows, they mainly focus on beer, pool and dive. That’s maybe the reason why we experienced a shocking and unexpected incident for every burger tourist out there– Ercoles ran out of burgers! Despite that unpleasant and tragic occurrence, I proved my status as a valuable Burgertour member (quoting the Meat Maestro Lincoln), because the burgers are just fabulous. The meat ratings scored the highest and we even saw some perfect 11’s on the rating sheets, which is not easy to reach among our critical burger crew. The meat was big, thick and juicy to quote some of the tourists and one stack of napkins was not enough to stay clean eating this enjoyable ensemble of meat, onions, salad, tomato, mayonnaise, ketchup and mustard.

The ratings for the other criteria came in a bit divided, especially for the Baggage due to the lack of fries, onion rings or other side dishes. However some critics very much enjoyed the pickle on the side for a change.

The overall Mulletude was quite even, it’s a place to hang out, to read the carvings in the wooden benches or just simply to enjoy a beer.

They are maybe not as committed to the burger like other places, but they sure do an awesome job as long as they have meat in stock. So if you ever come around the South Bay, make sure you stop at Ercoles for a burger!

By the way: None of the 16 burger tourist got harmed or had to starve – people were sharing burgers!

Some quotes:

-          Big & fat, not thin and wimpy (on the meat)

-          I came in with low expectations, I was pleasantly surprised

-          For not being a hamburger place, they sure have a proper and thick slice of meat

-          boy factor: minimal

(well someone on the tour is for sure not committed to the burger!)