Restaurants: Burgers at Bill's Place

H is my favorite eating buddy.  While other friends will raise an eyebrow when I request the dessert menu and then say ‘why don’t we share one dessert?’, I can always count on H to say ‘let’s order all three!”.  H and her father have a standing ‘Burger Date’.  When they get together it is always over a burger – good burgers, not so good burgers, bad burgers.  Expensive burgers, cheap burgers, good neighborhoods, borderline neighborhoods and neighborhoods I have never even heard of (sorry, Outer Clement).  So when D and I craved a burger last week, I got on my cell phone, called H and within five minutes we were parking in front of Bill’s Place on a part of Clement street I had no idea existed.

It is the kind of place my mother would describe as ‘tidy’.  I’m not sure how to characterize a burger joint that boasts crystal chandeliers, indoor-outdoor carpeting, red white and blue tile accents, a collection of limited edition U.S. President’s China Plates (Franklin Mint?) and burgers named after San Francisco celebrities (most dead, some obscure) including Carol Doda, Herb Caen and Al ‘Jazz Beaux’ Collins.  When we walked in at noon it was empty.  “Uh, oh” I thought.  Within ten minutes eight more customers had been seated.  Not a crowd but clearly all regulars. 

I went whole hog (H will be proud) and ordered the Daily Special Burger – 1/3 pound Bacon Cheeseburger with BBQ sauce served on a soft sesame bun with the usual set up of lettuce, tomato, pickle and mayonnaise.  I requested my Bermuda onion grilled.  I always order my burger rare when it looks like I’m in a place that a) will not poison me and b) knows what I mean by rare.  Bill’s Place wins on both counts.  All their burgers are served with a choice of French fries, potato salad or coleslaw.  I opted to pay the $1.35 surcharge and got the slightly spicy curly fries.  We shared a chocolate shake made with Dreyer’s chocolate ice cream, not with vanilla ice cream and chocolate syrup, which I hate, but they will make it that way upon request.  The shakes are brought to the table in the frosty blending container.

And how was it?  Just what I craved – the burger was just greasy enough, the fries salty and crispy enough and the chocolate shake smooth and creamy enough.  One of my better burger experiences even if they do use weird American cheese slices.  We are going back tomorrow.

Bill’s Place (since 1959), 2315 Clement Street, San Francisco, 415-221-5262

Comments

[Eddy Mejia]

In my younger days I worked at Bill's on Clement Street. It was a fun place to work. Free burgers! Actually it was hard work, but it was very fun. The burgers were always the best I had ever found. I would always compare them with other places and Bill's always won. There was one place called Hamburger Mary's on Folsom that came pretty close, but the atmosphere of that place was so different than Bill's that I would rather be at work than go to Hamburger Mary's. Taxi's burgers in San Mateo are pretty good too, but for some reason I always found that the grill used at Bill's cooked the best burgers.

If anyone ever goes by there, tell them Eddy says "HI"!

[jack]

I am from London england and i visited bills everyday for breakfast when I was 11 with my mum and sister.When I was on holiday.I have been wondering what the place was so i googled it.Im 20 now.And I still remember how great the burgers and waitresses are!
A genuine great place....A british thumbs up!

[Cindy George]

Dear Muse:
I really enjoy reading your website. This is great for
San Francisco.

I just want to share my favorite downtown lunch
place with everyone. I am not sure I want to let everyone know about this place because I don't want it to get too crowded. The name of the restaurant is Good Earth Cafe. It is located on Kearny Street, near Chinatown.

The cafe is a salad bar and noodle bar. I am a vegetarian so finding a good restaurant is hard
for me. The salad bar is amazing. Fresh vegetables,
salmon, asian salads and some organic vegetables.
Dishes change almost daily. The salad bar reminds
me a lot of the City Bakery in New York City. The only
difference is that City Bakery charges $12 per lb,
and the Good Earth only charges $6 per lb.

The noodle bar also offers spinach noodles, tofu and
fresh shittake mushrooms in addition to traditional
wontons and fresh ramen. They use no MSG.

The noodles are excellent, but the salad bar is better
in my opinion.

Sincerely,
Cindy G

[Michele]

Karletta -

No. I think my grandma used to talk about Blum's, though.

As a kid I usually had hot fudge sundaes at Ghiradelli's or Farrells. Though my favorite ice cream treat was from the Playland snack bar stand after a day playing at the beach - It's Its ice cream sandwiches. I know they're all over the place now - but believe me, they've changed. The ice cream used to be unbelievabley creamy, with a natural vanilla flavor. The chocolate was silky and the oatmeal cookies were moist and chewy. Nothing like they are now.

I remember liking the burgers at Little Joe's in the North Beach area. Is that still around?

[Karletta]

Michele,
Did you go to Blums when you were growing up in SF? I know they didn't make burgers but what amazing hot fudge sundaes!