CONFESSIONS OF A                                                                  
     
RESTAURANT WHORE
A San Francisco Girl's Down and Dirty Adventures in the Culinary Playground

Monday, October 11, 2004

Automatic for the People (Taylor's Automatic Refresher -- San Francisco, CA or St.Helena, CA)

Here's the Taylor's review -- better late than never, right?

The original Taylor's is in St. Helena, on the side of the road. It is quite possibly the nicest hamburger stand in the world. They've got a gorgeous lawn with huge picnic tables in back, and the friendly staff will even bring your order out to you. And man, is the food good. Besides the expected burgers, Taylor's has fish tacos, corndogs, chicken sandwiches (and fingers), garlic fries and super thick shakes made with Double Rainbow ice cream. It is a challenge not to stop when in Napa, even when your dinner reservation at Martini House is only a half an hour in the future.

We were overjoyed when we hard Taylor's was opening an outpost here in San Francisco at the Ferry Building. They've got those same picnic tables (except they are on the sidewalk instead of a lawn), and the same great food.

On our last visit, we had the chicken fingers basket (we subbed in garlic fries for regular ones) and the Chinese chicken salad. Lots of chicken on this visit, I guess...I usually get a veggie burger and Jon usually gets a regular burger but we decided to switch it up. Every time we go, we have a hard time deciding what to order since everything is so damn good!

We took Jon's parents, sister and his sister's boyfriend there on their last visit. We each ordered something different (Angie, Jon's sister, had a GREAT looking ahi tuna burger) and there was no food left on the table. In fact, Jon's mom, who doesn't eat much at all, sent Jon back in to get some of the mini corn dogs and more beer. I think that we may have eaten everything on the menu in that one meal. And everyone loved it. Keep in mind that these are people who spent the rest of the weekend eating at Delfina, Slanted Door and Zuni. And they couldn't get enough of Taylor's.

Taylor's gives you nifty little pagers so that you know when your food is ready. All of the staff is super friendly. We like to sit at the counter so we can watch them make the food, while wishing we had thought to order what ever it is they happen to be making at the time.

The best thing about Taylor's is it gives you haute hamburger stand food while still providing the fuzzy nostalgia feeling that a regular hamburger stand gives you. I'm so glad we don't have to drive 90 minutes for that feeling anymore.

Eat there now!

xoxo
Joy


"To eat is a necessity, but to eat intelligently is an art."
--La Rochefoucauld

4 Comments:

Anonymous Anonymous said...

Agreed and agreed... but you forgot to mention that Taylor's makes one of the best shakes in the City! My favorite flavor is their mint chocolate chip... my eyes are rolling to the back of my head as I type this.

3/01/2006 3:39 PM  
Blogger Joy said...

See, I think their milkshakes are only OK. I don't love Double Rainbow ice cream, so that's why. Also, once you've had a Mitchell's shake, there is no going back...

3/01/2006 7:06 PM  
Anonymous Anonymous said...

How could you forget the sweet potato french fries?

5/11/2006 2:15 PM  
Anonymous Anonymous said...

Oh, the white pistachio shakes, so thick and nutty that you are still spooning ice cream and whole pistachios out of your cup an hour down the road.
With a rare Ahi burger and their wasabi mayo, sweet potato fries.
It's a twelve hour drive, think I'll start now.

12/05/2007 6:43 AM  

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