When a restaurant is named 'burger' its easy to guess what's on the menu

When I went to Santa Cruz a few weeks ago, I figured it would be a great opportunity to meet a one of my New Year's resolutions to eat at five new restaurants (Resolution No. 13.) Driving on Hwy. 1 toward Natural Bridges State Beach, I noticed a brick red restaurant along the road called simply Burger.

So after walking around to visit the monarchs and visiting the beach for a time, I was ready for a late lunch. As I drove back up Hwy. 1, Burger again got my attention. My boyfriend and I decided to stop there since we were pretty sure we knew what would be on the menu.

Burger has just that on the menu - plenty of burgers. But they also have a full dinner menu with a lot of other items. The burgers are just the typical cheeseburger, bacon burger or barbecue burger. The menu runs the gamut from burgers topped with unique items such as the Don Ho - garlic aoili sliders with a slice of pineapple on top - or the Bada Bing Boy - meatball sliders served with garlic fries. There were also vegetarian burgers, salmon burgers and turkey burgers.

In addition to the burgers, there are milkshakes on the menu and though we didn't try it, they even serve beer shakes and beer floats. There is a bar full of a variety of beers, although my boyfriend laughed that several of the TVs in the bar area were atypically showing something other than sports.

Customers order at a central cash register area and then are given a picture of a movie star instead of the typical number to let staff know where to deliver the goods. We got an '80s shot of Winona Ryder, pre-shoplifting charges. Other tables had Keanu Reeves circa "Bill and Ted's Excellent Adventure" or other stars from yesteryear.

The bathroom walls had a monster theme, including werewolves painted in the bathroom.

More important than the decor was the fact that burgers were really tasty. The burgers are made with free-range beef. My sliders were tender and tasty. The hawaiian sweet bread complimented the tart pineapple well. The fries were crisp. The only complaint I had was that my meal came out well before my strawberry shake.

The sliders we order were reasonably priced and if we didn't have to drive home on Hwy. 17, I'm sure the drinks or beer would have been great, too.

Photo by Melissa Flores
The Don Ho sliders
The Bada Bing Boy sliders