Bacon-mania at Slater's 50/50!

Slater's 50/50

6362 E. Santa Ana Canyon Road

Anaheim Hills, CA 92807

It is a rite of passage for food blogger's in our county to review Slater's. The north county spot has been reviewed on almost every blog that I read. It was even the site for a gathering of Food Frenzy fans. So when I had the rare opportunity to find myself in north Orange county for lunch time, it was a no-brainer where I was going to eat.

Slater's 50/50 is located in a non-descript shopping center off the beaten track in Anaheim Hills. I can not even tell you what else was in this shopping center, because I had a burger in my cross hairs, and could not wait to get inside and wolf one down.

Slater's is a decent sized restaurant with about fifty, or so tables. They also took over the area next door and made a sports bar out of it. We arrived just before 11:30 on a Thursday, and the place was moderately busy. We were sat right away, and given ample time to peruse the menu. The menu features salads, sandwiches, and signature burgers. The menu also has a, "design it!", section where you check off what you want on your burger. Overwhelming can be one way to describe this check list. After some deliberations this is what we came up with.

Here is my brother in law's creation, the self-proclaimed Ja-Rod Burger. His two-third pound burger featured the 50/50 patty. This patty is fifty percent ground beef, and fifty percent ground bacon. Crazy that no one has thought of this before, since people are so bacon crazy. Anyways, he also opted to get red onion, a fried egg, relish and dill pickles, piled on a honey wheat bun. He took a small break from eating this to tell me that this was really a good burger, but next time he will choose a smaller version. Jarrod has a big appetite, but did not finish this burger.

I went big here. Literally. I had the full pound burger. They weigh all of their burgers after cooking, so it truly was a pound. Not only did I have a the 50/50 patty, but I also added bacon, relish, mayo, grilled onions and cheddar cheese. When filing out the checklist they ask you to name your burger. I named this one Bacon Overload. I love bacon, and this was even too much bacon for me. I was thirsty for the next four hours after eating this. It was delicious though. The meat had a great flavor, and the toppings were top notch. My only complaint would be about the bun. It was baked well, but it did not fit the size of the patty. If you are going to have a pound burger, have buns that fit the pound patty. That was the only fault I could find with this burger though.

So you do not feel like a burger? Okay you can go the route my Mom went and get the Spicy Buffalo Chicken Sandwich. This monster of a chicken sandwich also came with lettuce, crumbled blue cheese and tomato. The chicken was tender, and the sauce on this really added a kick. If they did not serve burgers here, this is what I would get.

As much as people rave about their burgers, the same can be said about their appetizers. We ordered the Pick Three Combination Plate. We chose the french fries, fried pickle chips and the beer battered onion strings. We all agreed we would leave the fries out next time. They were nothing special. What was special was the fried pickles and onion straws. I am not usually a big fan of pickles, but fried this way they were very tasty. The onion straws had a great flavor as well, and were not too greasy. Next time we will have to try the sweet potato fries or the fried artichoke hearts.

Slater's 50/50 creates some problems for me, in a good way. There are far too many choices for me to make here. Maybe the route for me to take will be to just try their signature burgers, so I do not need to think about which one of the 12 different cheeses I want on my burger. Ever since I have left here I have been craving their Peanut Butter and Jealousy Burger, with you guessed it, peanut butter and jelly, along with bacon. I can not wait to go again.

Out of five ripper's, (a tool that is used by a Slater to remove broken slate. You probably thought I was going to go with an A.C. Slater reference here, right?), five being best to zero being worst, Slater's 50/50 gets a solid 3.5 ripper's.

For more information on Slater's, click here: http://www.slaters5050.com/