It's a bit of an odd concept to turn a grease pit into a grease joint, but the old Orbit gas station on Alhambra is now the new (old) Suzie Burger. Got that? I wasn't around for the first iteration of Suzie Burger, but they were apparently a favorite of brothers Matt and Fred Haines, who have the Bistro 33 restaurant group. Open just since January 3, the new Suzie Burger is a marvel of Jetson's-style architecture in primary colors. The old mechanic spaces are now seating areas, and the former gas station office serves as the counter and kitchen. There are also glossy black steel tables out front overlooking lovely Business 80. That sort of enhances the fifties-ish car culture thing going on there though. Unfortunately, the parking and traffic flow issues aren't quite as retro hip.

As for the food, we ordered two cheeseburgers ($2.95 each, plus .45 for grilled onions), a large fries ($2.95), and two Lemon Squeezies ($1.95 each). The Squeezies are a proprietary lemonade and very good. They're supposedly squeezed by hand, although we didn't really see that happening in the frenzy to order and pick up. The burgers were fine--much better than regular fast food, but comparable to In-n-Out I thought. Now, this may be a case of my not having grown up with Suzie Burgers and therefore I don't appreciate the flashback flavor. I thought they were a bit thin, but with the fried onions and cheese, pretty good. The fries, on the other hand, were really good for fast food. They're coated fries, which means they're bought precut and coated with potato starch most likely. This helps to make them crisp when they're fried, so they don't have to be fried twice, which is the high-end way to make good fries. They're thicker than most fast-food fries though, and they stayed crisp and hot for a good long time. Plus they were well cooked--not steamed by sitting around for too long. Oh--and the signature accompaniment to the burgers is pickle slices and baby carrots served in a baggie. The carrots, especially, are an unusual thing to get with fast food and the pickles were tasty.

We went on a Sunday, past the normal lunch rush time and it was still packed, so that's good news for Suzie. The parking curbs are painted red to match the decor, although I thought this made it seem like the whole thing was a fire lane. That might be helpful, though, considering the traffic flow disaster that is the inside of the place. There is only one entrance, which leads to the counter. The problem with this is that the counter was packed and you had to fight through the line to find the end. There are several more doors in the place all marked No Exit, which seems like a fire hazard, frankly. We got in a side door as someone else was leaving, which made it easier to get in line. People were parking willy-nilly out front, so they're definitely packing in the customers right now.

I would go back to have the fries again and try some of the other menu items. They've got house-made chili and chicken or beef cheesesteaks, as well as beer-battered onion rings. The toppings menu for burgers is a nice touch, with everything from pickled jalapenos to fried egg and Cheese Wiz as options. Hopefully the parking and customer flow issues will be worked out soon so that it's a more enjoyable experience to get in and out. I'm not a big fast-food eater, but every once in a while some hot, crispy fries are a good thing to get.

Suzie Burger
29th and P Streets
455-3500 (You can call ahead and have your order brought to the car)