Tarpon Bend in Fort Lauderdale

I never had much interest in checking out Tarpon Bend in the Gables; whenever I drive by there at night it's always overflowing to the sidewalk with yuppies.  Not my scene.  I'm not crazy about bars that I need to *dress up* to or fight my way through crowds to get a drink, and I hate Miracle Mile anyway; no parking, ever, and you have to pay for it.  I'm willing to drive much farther for free parking.  And the ability to wear flip flops when I'm drinking a beer.

I went to the Tarpon Bend in Fort Lauderdale for lunch with GS.  All I can say is, thank the baby Jesus for dropping people into my life who are: A. not vegetarians and B. pick-up truck owners and C. willing to do chick shit to make me happy.  He really deserved that burger after taking me across two counties, looking for an elusive thrift store dresser that I've realized I won't find (though I did get my *landing strip* table, so the day wasn't a total loss).

I like hanging around in Ft. Lauderdale anyway, it's full of exotic whites with their quaint customs and charming accents and such.  I want to make like an aborigine and run my fingers through their pale hair and over their fair skin.  We both had burgers in the company of those poor, Godforsaken souls on their *lunch breaks*; me, not being on any kind of break at all and not even driving, had a couple of beers with my burger.  I glory in those moments.  In your face!

The burger was tall (I like them with everything you got, please, and thank you) and I had to employ the lady-like trick of cutting my burger into pieces to eat it.  I'm not much of a lady, myself, but luckily have spent years observing them in their native environments.  I don't know what they season their burgers with, but it's absolutely perfect.  Whatever they use, I wish upon a partial lunar eclipse that every burger I eat for the rest of my life is seasoned just that way.  Cooked perfectly medium rare, which is great because most times you get as much result for your request for a medium rare anything as you get for lighting a candle to Saint Anthony (still haven't found those sunglasses, my sanity, or my common sense).  The fries were ok, but I didn't have much space for them.  I'm not a fan of shoe string fries, anyway, there is a proper ratio of crunchy outsides to mealy insides that they don't meet.

A thoroughly excellent burger experience, and yes, I was wearing flip flops.