Pie 'n Burger

Day two started off with the wonderful news that "Jamzilla" was in full swing that weekend...

As "blissfully-unaware-of-L.A.-traffic-problems-San Diegans", we had no clue that was to be a major traffic snarl on the northbound-405 (near Sepulveda Pass), but luckily, nowhere near where we were going...

In addition to Jamzilla, we also learned via the morning news that there was also going to be the "World's Largest Concrete Pour" in L.A. that same morning. At this point, I sighed and inwardly grumbled, "just our $%#@ luck" because it would "kind of" be near where we were going later that day.

Although our hotel offered free breakfast which we partook in  a few crispy pieces of what appeared to be bacon, preternaturally round scrambled eggs, some sausage patties,and a few pieces of fruit (seen in the photo above), we saved our appetites for Pie 'n Burger, a Pasadena institution, located just a stone's throw away from Cal Tech.

Love the clock with the pie in the middle...

According to articles I've read, this place has been around for quite a while and even the chef and some of the servers as well! Now that's longevity and employee loyalty!

We managed to get the last three seats at the front end of their counter...

giving us a perfect view of the menu (which has gone up in price if you compare the other bloggers' posts, linked at the end)...

and the "old-fashioned" cash register...

It was cool to see the register "in action". None of this electronic crap, ha ha.

Like Hobbits, we had a "second breakfast"...


A replica of the restaurant in birdhouse form, made by a customer...

At the farther end of the restaurant are their pie display cases (you can kind of see it)...

Many "regulars" seemed to be there that day. All of the workers were really nice, friendly, and patient...

Breakfast 2.0:

Bert's Roast Beef Sandwich...

which he ordered with a side of chili, which wasn't as warm as it should have been. Ugh, lukewarm chili = disappointment.

Bert was also bummed that his sandwich was so pedestrian and skimpy. The bread was toasted so hard and the roast beef was so thin. The sandwich was also lacking in sauce so this was a bit unpleasant to eat.

TC and I shared a burger, which our server split for us.

We fared better with our burger than Bert did with his sandwich. The patty was handformed and juicy, grilled to medium. There was a ton of sauce in it as well as pickles and crisp iceberg lettuce. The bread wasn't that great but for a half burger, it was a good snack, I mean, second breakfast to have. The hash brown was also decent and crisp but mainly enjoyed by TC.

Of course, we also had to get a slice of pie here. In this case, we got the waitress's recommendation and her favorite, the boysenberry.

It was fresh out of the oven and still warm.

If you know me and my wierd food quirks, you'll know that I enjoyed the crust more than the filling (which was good but a bit like fruity goop). It was still a great piece of pie!

Oh, and in the bathroom (at least the women's), there are no "faucets".

Instead, there are these pedal things that you lean your knee (or thigh) against, which gets the water flowing.

I've never seen these before, so that was interesting!  Burger and pie was pretty good but the roast beef sandwich was an overpriced dud.

Who else went to Pie 'n Burger?

Cathy from Mmm-Yoso went during one of her road trips to Pasadena in 2012 because it  was recommended by Dennis of A Radiused Corner as one of his favorite spots to eat while he was a student...Also included is an older post by LA blogger The Gastronomer from 2009.

Pie 'n Burger
915 E. California St.
Pasadena, CA 91106
(626) 795-1123

pienburger.com and their FB page

Our next destination would be a certain museum near the concrete pouring event, but we first took a slight detour in Highland Park...