XXX! (perfectly safe for work)

Today being our 24th anniversary, Captain Midnight and I decided to go out to lunch. We visited XXX Root Beer in Issaquah, a local institution since the 1940s, famed for its car-related memorabilia and root beer made on the premises.

I'd been there before. CM had not. In retrospect, I probably should have warned him about the famed size of Triple X's burgers. Buuuuuut I didn't.

So CM ordered the White Wall, their chicken-fried steak burger. This is what he got.

Unretouched photo.

Yes, it's a burger nearly the size of a hubcap, filled with chicken-fried steak and country milk gravy, and featuring a bun studded with jalapeños.

U.S. quarter included for scale.

Undeterred, CM asked a passing waitress for a knife and fork. "We don't do knives and forks here," she replied. "You just have to pick it up and eat it." And to his credit, the doughty CM did just that. It was like eating an entire pie at one go. But since he was neither starving nor a professional eater, he was unable to finish it. This, plus fries, plus a "regular" root beer float that held about a quart of liquid, would finish off all but the most steel-stomached contenders. Also, attempting to eat in one sitting an edible object bigger than the diameter of one's head is an exercise fraught with peril. So we got a doggie bag, because enormously tasty.

A gentle reminder from the XXX bathroom. Nobody wants a heapin' helpin' of your microbes, folks.

How was your day? Got any good local burger joints in your area?