New York

Manhattan Temple

The roof of my apartment building!!!

It's Monte time!

Mr. Monte Montgomery!

In Brooklyn looking towards Manhattan

A day in the life

Paul McCartney concert

Monte Montgomery concert

Restaurant Review: Eat-a-Burger

Eat-A-Burger or Two

The late 90s marked the fall of Utah’s retro diners. Within two years, statewide chains Eat-a-Burger and Galaxy Diner switched off their grills and unplugged their jukeboxes. Only national chains like Winger’s and Red Robin survived, growing since thanks to the booming population and less competitive 50s diner market.

Nostalgic for my childhood haunt, I went to Hollday to the last remaining Eat-a-Burger, which still serves it up like the glory days. With its 50s tin can style, Eat-a-Burger would look like any old diner if it weren’t for the massive turquoise and hot pink custom sign jutting from the roof. The drive-through ushers through an endless flotilla of hungry burger buyers and inside thrives an endless army of diners and their kids. Walking in I felt like I had wandered into an elementary school field trip.

The attraction of kids to Eat-a-Burger shouldn’t be a surprise to me who, back in the day, was floored that the contents of my meals were served cardboard classic cars. Mr. Burger drove and Ms. Fries rode shotgun! Ecstatic, I even took my retro car containers home to play with later. While the cardboard cars were discontinued years ago, the $1.69 price of a kids meal might still floor parents.

The flagship sandwich, the Eat-a-Burger, comes wrapped in butcher paper and towers at about six inches tall. Run through the garden, the lettuce and onions are piled high. Pickles and the local specialty fry sauce also dress up the nothin’ special beef patty. 

At the sight of the menu board’s boast “UT’s best fries” I was skeptical. But they came so freshly cut that I could taste the starch. The skins are left on and they come with a cup of fry sauce as thick as concrete. If you bring some friends and order a “bucket” size for only $2.49, you can stuff yourselves silly and still laugh all the way to the bank next door. Suffice it to say, the sign don’t lie.

Besides the usual battery of chicken fingers and bacon cheeseburgers, Eat-a-Burger offers pastrami, mushroom, and seasonal burgers like the teriyaki bacon and swiss, the bacon ranch and cheddar cheese, and a raspberry halibut sandwich. Chicken sandwiches include the “Phoenix” with jalepenos, salsa and swiss, the “Avocado & Bacon Chicken,” and the “Teriyaki” that’s topped with cucumbers and sprouts. A fair variety of malts and shakes completes a meal, like Oreo, Butterfinger, raspberry and peanut butter.

The real dessert, though, comes when your cashier brings out your meal to you on a tray complete with complimentary Andes mints.

Rating: 4/4 stars

Eat-a-Burger is open Monday-Thursday 10:30 a.m. to 9:00 p.m. and Friday-Saturday from 10:00 a.m. to 10:00 p.m. It’s located at 4735 Highland Dr. in Holladay, Utah. (801) 272-5249.

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BYU Reading Series: David Nielsen & Javon Tanner

Response to the readings of David Nielsen and Javon Tanner at the BYU English Reading Series

This was one of the best readings I have been to, and certainly the best poetry reading behind only Billy Collins. In the intro I learned that David Nielsen plays basketball so when he got up to read he seemed like your stereotypical basketball player - tall with a slurred California-esque accent. His “City Rec Basketball” was good, no doubt. I mean, wielding a gut around like a medicine ball? Genius.

Next David read a very witty poem about underwear. It was written to Georgia, the quality assurance inspector who inspected his briefs. “Can I trust you, Georgia?” he ended with, causing a burst of laughter. Then he read about the time he thought that someone had shot the windows out of his car. “Give me the bullet next time…I want to plug the wounds with my fists…and when the paramedic asks ‘Is this your blood?’ I’ll say ‘Damn straight.’” Needless to say, it was another excellent, insightful, and funny poem. Nielsen is the Billy Collins of our generation!

When Javon Tanner read he kept apologizing that his poems were all downers unlike Nielsen’s. While it wasn't upbeat or humorous, Tanner's reading was a melancholy delight. First he read about finding a skull in the desert which he  picked up and asked if life is too fast. When I read the poem before it didn’t do much for me, but when Javon read the next line with his acting prowess it just blew me away: "'Shh' you answered as sand fell from your teeth." Oh man, I got goose bumps it was so good.

Then came a poem about a day with his family in Central Park. All the kids were talking about how grave diggers must have vacant looks.  Hmm…sounds like melancholy runs in the family! Anyways, the poem ended freakingly weird with a goat getting hit by a cab and bleeding apples. Ok, Javon. Whatever.

Then he finished with a poem about bleakness and fires that was good, and a poem about miscarriage from the fetus’ point of view. It really was beautiful melancholy. A great reading by both poets.

BYU Reading Series: Natasha Saje

Highlights from my response paper to Natasha Saje's reading in the BYU English Reading Series

"Once she started reading, though, I had no idea what she was talking about. Lines like 'I’m a crazy sailor on the gravy boat' and 'Oh, my mackintosh! My Bilbo!' sounded like the gibberish of a madwoman to me."

"The most interesting part of the reading was when she talked about living in Baltimore. She said that the drugs and crime were so bad that people actually stole her marigolds. Like dug them up out of her yard and stole them. After living there for 7 months, I shouldn’t have been surprised, but I think Saje found a new low for the city's residents."

"The rest of Saje’s stuff was ok. I don’t think she really rang my bell though. Or floated my boat. My gravy boat."

BYU Reading Series: Ed Greary

For my English 321 class I had to write a response to each guest reader. Fortunately I had a cool TA, so I could write some fun responses. Here are highlights from the my response to the reading of author Ed Greary.

"Greary said that in the 1930’s the droughts were so bad that you couldn’t afford to sweat. Ha ha. So his grandpa and his kin took a vacation to California (since you can’t farm without water). They got to the beach at low tide and his brother said 'Lookie there, Ed! It’s drying up!' Ha ha…pretty witty. But pretty sad, actually, if he really meant it, which it sounded like he did."

"Greary loves farm equipment so much that he will purposely wait on the freeway going behind a tractor at 3 miles per hour just to admire the machine. We come from different worlds there, Greary. So, anyways, Greary checks out his hot machine, only to realize when it turned that it was driven by a hot mama! He went off about how much he can’t get enough of rodeo queens and country women in general. Does your wife know about this, Greary? Sounds like somebody has a wondering heart to me..."

"Apparently some lady (once again, country lady means Greary is all over her) back in the 1900s saved everybody in Sanpete Country by cooking dinner for Chief Blackhawk and his entire tribe. After (I can only suppose) much saying of 'How, white man!' and passing the peace pipe, Blackhawk & Co. entered into peace negotiations with the settlers."

"Well, in conclusion, Ed Greary’s reading wasn’t quite 'Yee-haw!' but it wasn’t “There’s a snake in my boot!' either.

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