San Diego, CA (The Joy of Food) — Freddy’s is a mid-western burger chain that arrived to town and planted its flag right across the street from National City’s branch of In-N-Out, a place that hasn’t seen a lapse in its drive-thru ever.
San Diego may be better known for backyard-style burgers and every kind of vegan and veggie burger under the sun, but the steakburger has been a thing for over a century, first popularized in the midwest by Steak ’n Shake. The differences between this and a traditional burger are nuanced, but important. A hamburger consists of ground beef using various meats from a cow. Although steak comes from the same animal, you get a better grade of meat with a steak patty. It’s pressed onto the grill during the cooking process, and you end up with thin, crispy edges and a thicker middle as a result.
The steakburger at Freddy’s is decidedly above-average for a fast-food burger, nicely charred and smashed to tasty perfection. Despite being more on the well-done side, the meat is still juicy and full of flavor. If you like your steakburger with cheese, it gets pressed and melded into the patty on the grill, leaving little separation between the two things in the end. The top and bottom buns are both crisped, slightly crunchy at the ends like the patty, working toward a pure soft cushion in the middle. There are exactly four sliced pickles placed on every steakburger, always neatly and strategically aligned and flopping past the perimeter of the bun, each vaguely resembling the Rolling Stones’ tongue logo.
The fries are the shoestring kind and the volume is never stingy, the heaping pile serving as a bed for your entree. They are ultra-thin, hot, and generously salted, probably a little too much actually. This is where the self-described famous fry sauce comes in handy, a combo of ketchup and mayo mixed together with some secret ingredients.
If you have been to Milwaukee, then you know that the prime reason for visiting is to crawl your way around to every custard spot in the city. Sometimes I think the velvety smooth stuff from Kopp’s or Leon’s flows through my veins. If, for you, that is the custard by which all other custard is judged, then the stuff at Freddy’s will fall short. For everyone else, it is a decent dessert.
This is food meant to take you back in time and inside, the place is neat, clean, and clearly a nod to an era gone by. It is rich in the kind of details that make you appreciate a simpler time and serves as nostalgia for a new generation that never knew the original. Between the food and the atmosphere, it’s a total time warp here.
Written by Joy
Thanks for reading. The Joy of Food blog celebrates eating well, traveling often, and living la dolce vita. San Diego, California is home base, but thoughts are from all over. Reviews and photos help to highlight wonderful (or not) food experiences from around the world.
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I love their frozen custard: https://www.hungryones.com/2022/01/freddys-frozen-custard/
For midwestern-style frozen custard Freddy’s is definitely the closest in San Diego. And thanks for the reminder about your review I’ve linked over to you!
Thanks for the link!
Freddy’s are all over Texas. I keep meaning to go for a burger; so far all I’ve had is their frozen custard. But there’s an In-n-Out nearby, and a couple of mom-and-pop places, so I never get around to them for burgers.
For San Diego I find the burgers decidedly above average, and if I don’t want to stand in line at Salt and Straw for an hour, this is gonna be the best custard (i.e. egg-based stuff) in the area. If I lived in the midwest I would drag around an IV pole that pumps custard directly into my blood flow.