Squid Eats: Halvorson's

Over two decades ago, now, my wife and I were at the hospital.  My wife had been hooked up to a pitocin drip all day, intending to induce labor for the birth of our first and only child.  The doctors told us we could keep going with the drip through the night or take a break and get a good night's sleep.  My wife chose sleep.  My job was to run out to get some real food for dinner so we wouldn't have to settle for hospital grub.  I went to Halvorson's, one of the few places on Burlington's Church Street that was still open and taking orders.  I came back with cheeseburgers.

They were the best cheeseburgers we've ever eaten in our lives...

If hunger is the best sauce, exhaustion runs a close second.  That last night of our pre-parenting lives, we had plenty of both.  The story itself is one I still gleefully tell expecting parents, particularly those preparing for a planned inducement.  A return visit to Halvorson's seemed as good a way as anyway to celebrate Father's Day, our first without the kid - they have an internship in Massachusetts for the summer.

My cheeseburger was still damn good - a reasonable medium rare but with a respectable sear on the outside, as if fresh off the grill.  I'm not sure it was worth $17 but that seems to be the going rate at restaurants these days.  My wife was less impressed with her fish tacos, essentially deconstructed for her to put together at the table.  The mud pie for dessert was nice.

We haven't been to Halvorson's much in the intervening years.  That's mostly because of ample preferable alternatives on Church Street.  Apart from sentimental value, I don't know if I'd be inclined to go again.

But the classic cheeseburger really is pretty good.