Nostalgia brought me back, but won’t again.
Bob’s Big Boy is the restaurant chain of my adolescence. It was the first restaurant we ate at when we first came to the US. I had fried chicken, which seemed just so American, and thus quite exotic to me. And it was the restaurant where we would go to celebrate special occasions – birthdays, graduations, visits from relatives abroad. In our dire financial situation, it was the best my parents could do – though when my generous aunt would visit, we’d sometimes go to Sizzler’s.
I loved Big Boy burgers – the two decker ones with the flat bread in the middle and I absolutely loved their chocolate fudge cake. Then I moved away, Big Boy closed most of its locations, and I mostly forgot about it. Then last week, while visiting my family in LA, we drove past the Big Boy restaurant in Northridge, it reopened about a decade ago. I knew I had to go. I’m glad I did, but I probably won’t come back any time soon.
To a large degree, Big Boy hasn’t changed. Sure, this restaurant is different from the ones we’d eat at in Encino or Reseda, and the Big Boy character itself has changed looks over the years, but the menu is almost practically the same. It still has that fried chicken, those double decker burgers, those sweet strawberry pies and chocolate fudge desserts. I was happy to see that; I wanted a trip to the past.
And a trip to the past it was, as I convinced my mother and siblings to come along. Of course, neither my dad nor my sister are with us any more, but we had a new generation to bring along. It was probably good that the restaurant was mostly empty – there was one other big party but very few others -, as the younger members of our table were pretty rowdy (no blame to the newborn baby, who was quiet the whole time).
I ordered, of course, the original Big Boy combo ($15) described as “the original double-deck hamburger with two “never frozen” burgers, lettuce, cheese, mayo, and our special red relish” with a side fruit instead of French fries (I’m pretty much done with potatoes) and it was a HUGE disappointment. HUGE.
The problem were the burger patties. They were paper thin. I ordered them medium-rare, but they were too thin to be pink in the middle: there was no middle. That meant, of course, that he burger tasted of bread with just a hint of burger. And even after discarding the bread and just eating the patties, the experience was just sad. The patties were too dry and very unappetizing. I can assure you, this is not how the Big Boy burger was in the day.
Fortunately, everybody else’s food was far better.
My mom got the All American Burger ($16) “American cheese, lettuce, tomato, red relish, mayo, and red onion” and at least it had a single, thick patty. I do think her patty was larger than both of mine combined. She thought the burger was fine – but she’s not super fond of meat anymore, so perhaps that explained her lack of enthusiasm.
My brother and nephew both got the BBQ Bacon Cheeserburger ($18) “crisp bacon, BBQ sauce, sharp cheddar, onion rings, balsamic onions” and they were both much happier. The burger looked much better than mine, and they both thought it was pretty good.
My sister had the Patty Melt ($16) “on grilled Rye with Swiss and American cheese grilled onions on request” and she also was quite happy. As she said “you can’t really mess up a patty melt” but really, they could have done so by having paper thin patties like in my burger. Fortunately they did not, and she enjoyed her meal. I’d probably order this if we were to return.
Camila had the Chicken Parmigiana ($15.50) “breaded chicken tenders served on spaghetti topped with mozzarella cheese and marinara sauce.” She was happy enough with it – this is a favorite dish of hers, and Big Boy did it at least as well as Stouffer’s.
The kids had chicken nuggets and were more occupied with fighting than eating. But they’re kids.
I had to get Bob’s Famous Hot Fudge Cake for dessert and this, at least, was just as good as I remembered it. This dessert is all about the fudge and Bob’s fudge is delicious. The cake is moist and spongy, the ice cream tempers the sugar and I would have loved to eat the whole dessert, even if it killed me, but my sister stole it from me and gave it to my nephews. Well, I still cherish the few bites from it I got to take. And crave it.
So who am I kidding? I will return to Big Boy’s, but just for the dessert.
Service was very friendly – it’s hard to serve a party of 8 but the waitress did a fantastic job. And even though I missed my dad and my sister, I’m glad I got to relive a little bit of that far gone adolescence and mentally toast to the family we once were.
Bob's Big Boy
8876 Corbin Ave
Northridge, CA
(818) 772-2627
Su - Th: 8 AM - 8 PM
F - Sa: 8 AM - 9 PM
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