Here’s what’s great about Diablo Burger in Flagstaff:
It’s tiny, and ambience is not the point. It’s so casual you order at the counter. There are a few tables inside, but most grab their food and sit on the patio outside the restaurant.
Oh, and it has sublime burgers.
Here’s what’s great about Diablo in downtown Tucson, which opened in May:
It has sublime burgers.
The Tucson restaurant is self-consciously hip. A Vespa is mounted on the wall and serves as a menu holder. There is an “Eat” sign with blinking lights. The four picnic-style tables – there’s table service here — are blond wood and bare. Three of those seat around 10, and the fourth, suspended from the ceiling, holds about a dozen diners. This “community” style of dining pretty much eliminates the possibility of intimate conversation (not that you could have it anyway; sound ricochets between the concrete floor and high ceiling with exposed ductwork). There is also seating on stools along the windows that look out on the increasingly busy East Congress Street, and a bar with the same stools — which are brightly painted steel, look mighty comfy, and are not.
It lacks the charm and the burgers-are-serious-business vibe of its pilot up north.
Still, burgers are serious business here.
• The meat is charbroiled, giving a crisp cover to the patty. The grass-fed beef means less fat — the staff and the menu recommend you order it medium rare in order to chow down on a juicy burger. That’s advice worth taking.
• The buns are hand-made English muffins (preservative free, mind you) branded with “DB.” The 6-ounce patties fit perfectly on the larger-than-store-bought muffins.
• And you can swig it down with Mexican Coke — made with real sugar and served in glass bottles that seemed made for your hands.
Published: Aug. 7, 2013
