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July 3-9, 2008
buzz@boulderweekly.com
• Soil and the city
Urban farms sprouting up to feed poor
by Mary Lynne Vellinga
• Grill-perfect pineapple
by Carole Kotkin
Good times, guilty pleasures
Finding nostalgia in a delicious, grease-soaked slab of beef
by Clay Fong
I’m just going to come out and say it — no long-winded justifications or rationalizations here. Just as I’ll readily admit that Journey’s Escape is the quintessential guilty pleasure pop album of the 1980s, I’ll cop to yet another besetting sin: Good Times Burgers and Frozen Custard is a favorite guilty pleasure fast-food outlet. Waiting in line at the Good Times during lunch hour, I shamefully savored the tantalizing greasy aromas that reminded me of teenage days at the delightfully ramshackle Santa Cruz Boardwalk. Pavlovian triggers fired in my brain, and like the protagonist of the ’70s novelty hit “Junk Food Junkie,” I was quick to discard any pretense of eating healthy, opting instead for a fix of the fried and fatty. Undoubtedly, Good Times’ menu of burgers, chicken sandwiches, fries, rings and frozen custard treats had something that would fulfill these cravings.
To get things rolling, my old friend Tertia and I rounded up two large $2.79 onion ring orders. Like anything fresh out of the fryer, these were best eaten quickly to retain their crisp texture. Tertia and I sampled a selection of dipping sauces, including ranch dressing and barbecue sauce. Our unanimous favorite was the “wild” variety, which possessed both peppery and smoky tones reminiscent of chipotle chiles.
My friend followed up with a $5.69 Burnin’ Buffalo Chicken sandwich, which possessed many of the pluses and minuses of its bar food inspiration. “I like the fact that the lightly fried chicken isn’t Kentucky Fried Chicken heavy,” Tertia said. “It’s a comforting sandwich.” On the downside, the sauce coating the white meat poultry tasted more of vinegar than red pepper, an all-too-common condition afflicting subpar chicken wings. But it was unquestionably a more interesting choice than a bland chicken patty dolled up with a dollop of mayo.
At first glance, my $5.99 bacon guacamole burger was hard to distinguish from other fast food offerings. This choice had the smooshed-together appearance and texture typical of mass-market burgers. The bacon seemed closer to faux bacon bits than the genuine article, and the guacamole was unremarkable. But the patty was a different matter. While this sandwich can’t compare with a good homemade burger or even that from a mid-level eatery, it’s as flavorful and satisfying as anything you’ll get from a drive-up window. Natural Coleman beef is the key ingredient, and this higher-quality meat offers a noticeably richer and complex flavor than similar offerings at this price.
Heeding the advice of There Will Be Blood’s Daniel Plainview, I drank my milkshake after ordering a large $2.79 vanilla specimen. Although it didn’t have the density of the your-cheeks-will-implode-and-your-eyeballs-will-look-like-Steve-Buscemi’s-when-you-try-and-suck-it-through-a-straw-In-N-Out-Burger version, it was still suitably thick and creamy, augmented with a pleasing swirl of whipped cream on top. I also preferred its subtle vanilla aroma over that of shakes suffering from over-the-top artificial flavor.
While no one will mistake Good Times for Frasca, it’s the best game in town when it comes to fast food — it’s my second favorite hamburger chain. Using all-natural beef and dairy products in the frozen custard pays off with respect to taste and makes this chain stand out from the competition. In a perfect world, the tab per person might be a buck or two less, but Good Times is still a reasonably cheap, albeit guilty pleasure.
Good Times Burgers and Frozen Custard
2050 26th St.
303-449-5185
Respond: letters@boulderweekly.com
Clay’s obscurity corner
A not-so-secret favorite
Despite the fact that Good Times opened its first location in Boulder in 1987, my number one favorite fast-food outlet is California-based (gasp!) In-N-Out Burger. Officially, the menu consists of nothing more than a double cheeseburger, cheeseburger, hamburger, fries, shakes and various soft drinks. Unofficially, there’s a “not-so-secret menu” enabling knowledgeable customers to order specialties like the 4x4, a four-patty burger. But the real secret to In-N-Out’s success is the use of only fresh ingredients in their made-to-order burgers. Their beef has never been frozen, and the fries are cut in each store, resulting in a difference you can taste.
Respond: letters@boulderweekly.com
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