Yelp Review #3: Standing Room

Are you ready for another Yelp! Review? This one is definitely one of the most unconventional food spots I’ve ever been to but also one of the most delicious! Here’s my The Standing Room review:

When I first walked into the liquor store that houses The Standing Room, it reminded me a bit of a scene from a movie where the liquor store is cover for an undercover operation. It’s a little liquor store that you might drive by regularly and the kitchen is in the back. But once you go inside and order, it’s clear that this little business is a huge hit.

We got there around 1:00PM or so and because we’ve never been there before, we had to take a little time looking at the menu. The Standing Room serves burgers and fries with an Asian twist. For about four dollars, you get a huge order of parmesan truffle fries that I’m still working on today (crisp them up in a pan real fast and they’re good as new!). I also ordered the Hapa Burger – ½ pound pattie, spring mix, onion, sesame leaf, scallion, fried egg, gouchu-q & Korean aioli. I love a fried egg on top of all my burgers and this was no exception. If you’re feeling extra adventurous, I’d go for the Napolean burger - ½ pound pattie, bacon, smoked gouda, cheddar, caramelized onion, spring mix topped with braised short rib, fried egg, &truffle parmesan fries. The fries are actually inside the burger!

The Napolean Burger - fried egg and fries. There's a burger bun under all that somewhere...

The perk of having the burger shop inside the liquor store is that you can grab a drink (non-alcoholic too!) since you just pay at the front anyway. Be forewarned, grab extra napkins! My Hapa burger was bursting with flavor and with flavor comes lots of liquids: the aioli, the gouchu-q, the fried egg – all of that makes for some drips while eating. You can ask for cutlery but when it comes to burger, I find that devouring it like a savage makes it all the more tasty!

My Hapa Burger

There are still a bunch of menu items that I want to go back and try: the pan fried edamame, Danger Burger, Bully Sammy, and even the Portobello Mushroom Sammie. Parking is a little tight since it’s a tiny store and there are some posts in the ground that could potentially wreak havoc on your car if you’re not careful but there is plenty of street parking as well. This little hole in the wall joint is definitely worth a second visit, and third…and fourth!

Parmesan truffle fries. SO delicious and SO many of them!

Stacked – Food Built Well

I had originally tried to leave work a bit earlier than usual so I could take my sister to happy hour at Ra Sushi but I ended up getting swamped so we had to postpone our plans for sushi. We did, however, go to the mall anyway and shop around and have dinner. Polly wanted to buy some Levi’s jeans and when she was trying on a pair of straight cut ones, one of the retail clerks asked if the pants were a fit and “if they made her calves look less like sausages.” Needless to say, it was hilarious.

Instead of Ra Sushi, we went to a place called Stacked where they boast that their food is “built well.” It’s a sport bar-like place with several large screen TV’s playing various ESPN channels and it serves the American classics: burgers, pizza, mac & cheese. The cool thing is that everything is customizable. After being seated, a waiter doesn’t come to take your order – you order on an iPad at your table! They’ve built a custom app where you can actually swipe to add toppings to your burger/pizza/mac & cheese and then when you’re ready, you can send it to the kitchen where a cook will put your order together. It’s pretty nifty and for those of you who are quick to order, you can send your order in first while your slower friends hem and haw over their orders.

We ordered a small fries with their garlic aioli (DELICIOUS) as well as two custom burgers and a milkshake. I had originally checked in with my Yelp! account but I completely forgot to use my 50% off a milkshake! Alas, next time then.

The burgers were well made (and well built, I suppose) though I think P went a little overboard and put too much on hers. She couldn’t even take a bite out of it because it was so large! We left stuffed but happy. It’s a pretty cool experience even if the food is nothing out of the ordinary. I’m a sucker for anything that’s modern and technological and I’m hopelessly awkward around strangers so the iPad interaction was perfect for me. Next time, I’m going to try one of their “adult milkshakes!”

Not an "adult milkshake" but still delicious!

Look at the monstrous burger.

No need to bring lunch tomorrow since we’re having a luncheon at the office. Can’t wait!