If it has not been said before this moment, I shall say to you now: Rosecrans Avenue through Hawthorne is the chili corridor of Los Angeles. Here, consumer chili-cheese confidence at some point over the course of the past few decades did peak at an all-time high, flatline, and remains there still, fluctuating plus-or-minus chili5% per annum. The intersection of Rosecrans and Hawthorne alone manages to sustain not one, but two full-sized Wienerschnitzels, believe it, their perimeter immediately surrounded by Piggies to the west, Cougars to the northwest, Chili King to the north, Fabulous Char-broiled due east and of course not forgetting the locale of, you heard it here, possibly the best burger in Los Angeles, B & R Burgers, even closer, east. But this grouping is merely the tip of the chili-and-cheese-coated iceberg; indeed, the list of atherosclerosis purveyors rivals even that of auto mechanics here in Lenawthorgundowood as it bleeds into Torrance and Gardena.

Consider the chili cheese fry platter as a meal in itself, and the sole the reason for my visit to Chili King Friday last, a nondescript shack in Lennox, both dwarfed by and servicing the needs of the car wash whose lot it shares. The cost of said meal (pictured, top): $3.25.

»continue reading Neither The First Nor The Last Chili Cheese Fries of the Decade: Part Three of a Three-Part Chilogy

Ryan migrates east: fries get fatter, prices fluctuate accordingly

Here at Gardena’s edge do I then temper Thursday’s Tustin Timor et Tremor tussle with a plate of heart-stopping fries and mighty bacon cheeseburger. It is as it should be. Welcome, 2010: Thick fries; $4.69/plate. More than a meal in itself; still, Piggies, a chili fry’s throw away, has nothing to worry about per se. Not a true Googie, this Fabulous, but dig that crazy SoCal façade just the same, Dad: booths built in to the outside wall!

Brief notes:

• Requisite off-duty security guard spotted chowing down. Good sign
• Cheery, cordial staff
• As I eat I chat with a few locals about Jason Patric stinking up the Geronimo movie on the telly. Christ, man. Just how may different Native Americans has Wes Studi played, at this point?
• Novelty machines galore crowd the walls, including one that vends “jokes and tricky toys” (whoopee cushions) and at least two fully-stocked rows of “Cooby Doo Playing Cards” (sic)
• I do believe that I’ve just shat my pants. More soon

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