The exterior had been fried to just the right amount of crisp while the interior still had a nice bite and wasn’t dried out. The onion rings and tater tots were really good, both homemade versions of pub classics. The foie gravy didn’t have a lot of flavor and had an unfortunate grainy texture. The poutine order, however, was disappointing. The french fries themselves are still great, very reminiscent of what you’d find at Blue Monk. The first time I tried the food was with a group of friends and we shared almost every side order and a couple burgers. On any given night ABV will have 24 different beers on tap and if you’re lucky, you’ll be able to grab a pint of Community Beer Work’s ABV IPA (brewed exclusively for ABV). Like every other Mike Shatzel establishment, the draft beer selection is top notch. Our Meal: We’ve visited ABV several times since they opened their doors to the public in March, mostly for late night drinks. On top of having wine on tap and a TV hidden behind the beer tap list, the bar also has elaborate copper tubing that runs through out the liquor selection that feeds a water facet (used when customers order a liquor ‘neat’ and need a drop or two of water). The restaurant has a unique look and feel the walls are covered in classic vinyl covers, there’s plenty of exposed lightbulbs and the beer tap handles are old metal tools. After a lengthy construction process, the restaurant and bar opened in March 2015 in the former Quaker Bonnet Eatery. The restaurant is owned and operated by Mike Shatzel who also owns The Moor Pat, Blue Monk, Liberty Hound and Coles (you may have heard of them). Longtime Bill’s Burgers fans certainly hope so.Quick Info: Allen Burger Venture (or ABV) is small, casual craft beer bar and restaurant that serves a variety of gourmet burgers in Allentown. “I think he’ll live to 100,” says the cashier yesterday. After a similar scare last year, Elwell told fans who flocked to the restaurant that he simply didn’t have anything else going on, and that he’d like to cook as long as he could. Still, Elwell won’t go on flipping burgers forever. No one answered when trying the number yesterday. “The signs go up, the signs come down.” For now they’re up, with a handwritten phone number all the detail provided. So is Elwell really selling? “Who knows,” says the cashier. He’s been running it for nearly 55 years. In 2013, Elwell told Eater he had purchased the building in 1965 but only held a ground lease on the property. Fans are still coming, queuing up in the newly redone parking area behind the building as they wait for burgers. More recently the roadside stand’s stools have been removed and all but one of the windows is actually open at Bill’s Burgers, an attempt at social distancing and safety during the pandemic. Long conversations have never been a strong suit for Elwell, the sometimes ornery nonagenarian with a reputation for grousing at customers and cracking jokes with longtime diners. The cashier taking orders at the stand refused to explain the signs, or say whether any sale was really forthcoming, adding only that “Bill will do what he wants.” Behind the cashier stood Elwell, flipping patties slowly while donning a coronavirus-mandated black mask he certainly didn’t have anything to say himself about the For Sale signs. More recently a Reddit thread popped up asking questions about the newly-installed signs, and up until today, Yelp had been listing the business as closed.īut the place is still very much open as of yesterday. Is Los Angeles burger legend Bill Elwell finally packing it in? The 90-something Van Nuys cook and restaurant owner of Bill’s Burgers is still working hard, flipping every patty himself on his one-of-a-kind griddle from 1965 - but he isn’t saying much of anything about the future of the business, or about the pair of For Sale signs that have gone up at his eponymous Valley restaurant.įans of the decades-old Bill’s Burgers have become increasingly nervous about the future of the roadside stand, in part because of Elwell’s advanced age and the uncertain circumstances of the moment.
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