Monday, October 19, 1998
Satiate carnivorous needs at Mo’ Better Meatty-Meat Burgers
FOOD: Reasonable price enhanced by home-style cooking, savory
entrees
By Vanessa VanderZanden
Daily Bruin Senior Staff
Mo’ better grillin’. Mo’ better service. Mo’ Better Meatty
Meat.
When a thin Westwood patty alone doesn’t make the gravy, it’s
time to check out the corner of Pico and Fairfax for Mo’ Better
Meatty-Meat Burgers. Located near a coin laundry and a Vons, the
scenery could be improved upon, but pay no heed. It’s all about Mo’
Better Meatty-Meat and how you can get some of their good stuff
inside of you.
Up the street, the golden arches seem to moan pitifully in the
cruel night air, serving burgers that taste like ground kitty stew
next to the hulksome offerings of Mo’ Better. Patrons of the
one-window establishment don’t seem to mind the makeshift gazebo
eating patio set up in the parking lot. With a few ferns on each
side and two television monitors playing sports games, the
customers can idle away the few minutes it takes to cook up a meal
in style.
However, by the time hungry orderers decide among jumbo chili
cheese dogs, tacos, burritos, pastrami sandwiches, 7-Up cake, peach
cobbler, veggie burgers, chili fritos and onion rings, along with a
host of other delicious treats, it can become difficult to wait
anywhere calmly. A quick flip through a free issue of the L.A.
Watts Times can only hold one’s attention for so long before the
need for meat takes over. And what could satiate this need better
than, say, an $8, 14-ounce Double King Burger served with mustard,
‘may-o,’ lettuce, tomatoes, onion and pickle.
But if 14 ounces of grilled-to-order beef disgusts rather than
tempts, the same sandwich can be obtained in far lesser quantities.
Those escaping the red-meat health hazards can order the same meal
in turkey burger or veggie burger varieties  or instead, have
a regular 5-oz. turkey burger costing just $3.75.
As much as the hangout sells itself on its mouth watering, not
too done, not underdone, savory, juice-gushing, quality meat,
though, the surrounding aspects of the sandwich make it worth the
drive.
Instead of the greasy-spoon sounding fare the joint’s name may
connote, the soft, whole-wheat bun and fresh vegetables inside
provide the ideal, crisp environment for the flavorful burger. Even
the grilled mushrooms, for an added 80 cents, and the crunchy
bacon, an added 50 cents, feel healthy rather than gut-churning.
And although one sandwich alone could fill up even the most
emaciated of burger slaves, who can enter a proper street-side
corner grill without a side order or two.
The $5 cheeseburger meal-deal includes a fountain drink and a
grip of fat fries, lightly peppered and looking more like browned
potato wedges rather than oil-dripping, artery-clogging morsels.
They taste like home-made  not too crunchy, stale or mushy.
Their sister order, chili cheese fries for $2.25, leave something
to be desired.
Served on a huge paper boat, the splayed quantity of fries basks
in a thick blanket of melted American cheese and runny chili. The
dish, even though microwaved on top of being pre-heated in a
warmer, still tastes less than toasty when put to the test. Lacking
sizeable beans and substantial chunks of meat, the bland chili only
provides a mediocre sauce to the saturated fries.
Redeeming Mo’ Better side order’s good name, the onion rings
fulfill the chili fries’ void. Soft, with a touch of brittleness,
the rings feel clean, though obviously fried in fat. Perhaps the
only place to ever offer a truly decent onion ring, this dish alone
could explain the health code ‘A’ hanging in the window.
Though the menu appears to advertise the standard burger-dive
fare, it includes the Mo’ Better Rainbow Fruit Shake for $3.50,
which comes as an irresistible surprise. A mixture of watermelon,
strawberry, blackberry, orange and pineapple with Haagen Daz ice
cream, the gourmet shake continues the upscale edge to a down-home
burger stand. From one item to the next, Mo’ Better Meatty-Meat
Burger stays true to its name.BAHMAN FARAHDEL/Daily Bruin
Jean-Luc Valentin, a frequent customer of Mo’ Better Meatty-Meat
Burgers, waits for his order.
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