Part 13 Of The Continuing Series, St. Louis’s Perfect Slinger: Courtesy Diner Hampton

So, as we set out on what was to become the The 13th Slinger Review for the 13 Blog, I reflected a little bit as to where this silly blog has gone. I’m really proud of where we’re headed here and I want to thank all of my loyal readers, who seem to be growing. I wanted this day to be special. So, we headed towards the Goody Goody Diner in North St. Louis City…but as you can plainly see…that wasn’t to be the case.  They closed at 2pm, which is when we arrived….

So, after a nice self guided tour of North St. Louis, we ended up at the Courtesy Diner on Hampton Ave.

So, we sat down at our table and took a look around.  If you look closely at this picture, you can see my oft mentioned BlackBerry, and you can also see that I’ve got a Curve, so I’m nowhere near any new BlackBerry technology.

As we sat down and placed our orders, I could tell that this location for the Courtesy was very different than the one on Kingshighway. It was a much larger building with what seemed to be a better staff than the other one.

You will not hear me complain at about this in anyway whatsoever.  Our waitstaff and cooks were courteous and quick.  Whereas the Kingshighway location  has an ironic name, this one lives up to the billing.

It was a pretty nice day out and there was still a pretty good crowd for the afternoon.  We both ordered our normal offerings and omelette and a slinger.  Of course I already knew that they had one, but still took a good look at it.  Normal stuff.

I ordered it and our waitress asked if I wanted cheese or onions, and I said both.  Now at the other location they also offered up jalapenos on the slinger.  Only two places thusfar have even made this available, and being a man who loves spicy food, I always want them and they work really well, but this time, it’s a no go.  (Besides, jalapeno tastes great in chili.)  So, we waited for our meal to arrive.

Here it is…the reason I keep going out and doing these:

Oh great googly moogly!! Look at this thing of beauty. Beauty, yes indeed. This slinger has it all. It’s got a hamburger patty. It’s got plenty of cheese. It’s has the always coveted and rarely received, proper helping of onions. They’re also raw and not sauteed. I really prefer them to be raw. Good and crisp. On top of all of that, this thing is huge. I don’t know if the picture does it justice, I think in the future, I’m going to use my BlackBerry as a guide as to how big these things are.

I am also pleased to say, as my buddy Phil would put it, that I totally dominated that slinger.  He recently had a Courtesy Hampton slinger and I saw the photo, and well damn it, I wanted one too!  I mean, how can I be the slinger guy if my friends have had slingers that I have not?  So, even though this place was our last choice for the day, I’m really happy we ended up there.  It was the best slinger I have had in a long time.

It’s not perfect, though it looks to be, the chili wasn’t totally up to snuff.  I asked them what chili they used and they told, but I forgot.  I really should start writing these things down.  I can tell you it was not home made and it really really tasted like Chili Man brand chili.

As you can see here, we also learned that the hashbrowns were frozen.  However, I don’t think I really care about this.  I mean, I don’t know of any place for sure that has home made hashbrowns, if I’m wrong, please let me know and I’ll make sure I get out to that place!

The burger was well seasoned and cooked just right for a slinger.

They gave me shredded cheddar cheese.  I’ve said before that it matters more that the cheese arrives than the cheese be of high quality, but I think I was quite wrong indeed about that.  Cheddar cheese works so more more wonderfully than a slice of American cheese.  Not that there’s really anything wrong with either way, but that’s just a preference.

I’m not even going to mention the eggs.  I’ve yet to have a problem with my eggs when I’ve had a slinger.  I guess since little eight year old me could cook them, anybody can.

Courtesy has a great advantage here.  Aside from having one of the best slingers in the City, they’re open 24 hours a day.  This makes it perfect for hangovers, sobering food, lunch, dinner, or breakfast any time of the day or night.

Give this one a try.

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