Norm's Famous Charbroiled Hamburgers, Whittier

 Norm's Famous Charbroiled Hamburgers

14244 East Whittier Blvd

Whittier, CA 90605

562.693.8616

As I've mentioned more than a few times, I do enjoy a good burger, and when I was back in Pasadena, their seemed like a ton of great places-The Hat, of course, but Lucky Boy, Jim's (but there are a ton of Jim's burgers, all with similar signage, but really widely varying quality), Hi-Life, and a few others that are starting to fade into the mists of time.

These stands all seem to share certain attributes, first and foremost, grease is not a bad thing. They all seem to date from the 50's and a time before chains like McDonald's and Jack in the Box, and the burgers are big and sloppy. Places like this exist in older areas of the county, Pasadena, Long Beach, South Gate, and Whittier. They are clean, with an aging charm, and the cleanliness and charm reflect a pride in what they do. 

So in Whittier recently, I drove by Norm's, which from the drive by seemed to fit the bill of a quality independent hamburger stand. With my always adventurous daughter, it was lunch and time to have a burger.

The menu had a wide variety of items including a wide selection of breakfast options. Most of the breakfast items seemed to fall in the $5-6 range, and included eggs, bacon, omelletes and breakfast burritos, and when we walked in, a few people were finishing the breakfast items. They looked good.

But my little girl wanted a burger, so that's what we had. She went with the cheeseburger, while I opted for the pastrami burger. We split some fries, and both had small shakes, which came to just under $20. Norm also had sandwiches, salads and Mexican food, with most everything between $4-6.

We sat in the small, clean dining room (though the trashcans were overflowing), and glanced around the walls, filled with pictures of many years supporting various local endeavors, and some interesting pictures and signatures from Bill Clinton (though I could find nothing on the internet to show that he'd actually eaten there. Clinton did like his burgers, though). The food came up quick.

Good size (it says 1/4 pound on the menu), with lots of fresh lettuce, tomatoes and sauce. Mine had the pastrami. Fries were crispy on the outside, and soft in the middle, lightly salted, and tasty. But the treat was the actual hamburger patty.

Hard to write a food review without having adequate adjectives to describe what I'm eating, but the best thing I can say is that the meat tasted meaty, moist and juicy, and the word that came to mind while chewing was that it was a bit stringy, but in a good way. It just seemed like the beef tasted more like beef than I was used to in a hamburger, similar to the way they taste when I make them at home. 

On top of that, the shakes were super thick, to the point where sucking the shake through the straw caused the straw to fold in on itself. They were really good.

I'd eat at Norm's again.