Lunch Report: Bobby J's in Helotes...

You know this guy's face from the billboards up and down Bandera Road and you've probably read about his restaurant being a Critic's Choice for years, but for whatever reason, you haven't taken the short drive north of 16o4 on Highway 16 to Bobby J's.I know, there are any number of valid reasons including the crappy traffic in the Bandera Pointe area, or maybe you think that Bobby J looks as creepy in person as his billboard makes him out to be. Actually, we have been before but hadn't been back for several years. Our reason had nothing to do with the food, but rather the atmosphere. On our one and only visit prior to today, we found the place to be extremely cramped. As I recall, we had a hard time finding a table in the small cramped dining room, then felt rushed by other people waiting for a place to sit as we finished up.So a few things you should know: Bobby J does not look creepy in person, in fact, he looks nothing like Captain Kangaroo. More importantly, the place has expanded and even though there was already a brisk business during our visit, we had no problem sitting in the new dining room. In case you need it, they also have ample outdoor seating, especially nice on a beautiful day like today.

There are loads of Internet reviews of Bobby J's and most all are accurate as far as I'm concerned, calling the burgers excellent, mouth watering, must have and such. We only have one minor dissent, so I have to give you the bad right along with the good.My wife ordered the 1/3 lb Chili Burger. According to the official web page, they say that Bobby makes his chili with his own secret recipe. I told my wife this and she said his only secret is that he takes the labels off the cans of Hormel.I think she was more put off on the appearance. On our last visit to Red Robin, she had seen some people at the table next to our order a chili burger and it came open-faced with obvious beans and beef, whereas her burger seemed to have more of a chili sauce, not unlike what you might squirt onto a hot dog when you stop into an Exxon for a quick lunch. Okay, so my wife won't race back for the chili burger, but don't let her misfortune stop you from giving it a try.Instead of ordering fries or rings with our burgers, we got a family order of onion rings and fries together. You need to know two things. The fries were okay, the onion rings were outstanding. And it was a pretty good idea to offer an order of the two together.My son was with us and he ordered up the 1/3 lb Fiesta Burger which is a regular burger but with refried beans on top of it. He loved it but opined that it would have been really good with a slice of cheddar cheese to top it off. He also wished he had ordered the 1/2 lb.I have heard several people recommend the Jalapeño Cheddar burger, and I went for the 1/2 pounder. No complaints at all. If you recall the report on our visit to Armadillo's over off of McCullough downtown, I would be willing to bet that the folks there have been to Bobby J's. There is a good similarity to the buns that I like - grilled and smashed. Some people have described Bobby's burgers as greasy in a good way and I have to agree completely.People, I dig me some vittles and I gotta tell you that I made serious work of that 1/2 pound Jalapeño Cheddar burger. The ingredients are fresh, there is no skimping on the fixin's and we really didn't wait that long for our order. My wife's disappointment with the appearance of her chili notwithstanding, Bobby J's gets the Tasty Treat in my book.

Lunch Report: Armadillo's on McCullough...

If you have lived in San Antonio for a while, you have been to or at least heard of the old Little Hipps burger place that went out of business a while back. Though not affiliated with the previous restaurant, a burger place called Armadillo's has taken over the building at the corner of McCullough and Evergreen near downtown, and that is where my wife and I found ourselves, just in time for lunch today.The first thing you will notice about the place (aside from the orange color of the metal fabricated building) is that there is little to no parking in front. Not to worry; just across the street you can park.Inside the place is pretty small, but for our Saturday afternoon visit, there wasn't much of a crowd, so no waiting for a table or anything. My wife liked the fact that the booth we were in had access to the juke box. As some guys seated in the back watched college basketball on the nice flat panel TV, she cranked up a few tunes to add to the atmosphere.She ordered the regular 1/3lb cheeseburger with everything but onions. We definitely love the way they do the buns - heated and smashed (or maybe mashed is the correct terminology) but I don't know why, that particular style says, "Diner" and we like that.I ordered the 1/2lb mushroom burger with swiss. They definitely don't skimp on the mushrooms and the lettuce, tomatoes and such all were fresh.I ordered a medium onion ring for us to share, but they put them all on my plate - I guess that is a basket saving feature. Either way, the onion rings are certainly forgettable. There ought to be some sort of international onion ring texture naming convention so you know what you are getting when you order rings. I am totally opposed to hard, crispy onion rings coatings. Even if there is no discernible taste or seasoning to the batter you use (like these), I can live with it if the coating is not breaking my teeth to get to the onion inside.

The onion rings at Clear Springs are good. The onion rings at Armadillo's seem like something you get in the lunch room at school. If the main en tree, in this case the burger, isn't spectacular (it wasn't bad - just not GREAT), then the onion rings have to make the difference. Great service though.Look, if you are downtown and would like a neat place to have a burger (I hear from others they have awesome hot dogs), give them a try. The atmosphere is nice and I could see meeting friends for a few beers after shopping or something. But having said that, unless it is convenient, I know a Whataburger that will make it any way you want it, and the onion rings are a lot better.