Food Review: Hook Burger

Gourmet burgers keep customers at the end of the reel

The dimmed lighting and bar-like atmosphere of Hook Burger allows for the burger experience of a lifetime.

During the evening, the restaurant was very busy, but the staff seemed to work with ease. The welcoming atmosphere serves as a great backdrop for family dinners, first dates, or even a quick meal after class.

Their selections are endless and include pretzel burgers, turkey burgers, barbeque chicken salads, and grilled chicken sandwiches.

If bread is not your forte, you can create a lettuce wrap with any of the burger or sandwich entrées.

Along with the entrées there are choices of sides, such as french fries, sweet potato fries, onion rings and coleslaw. The restaurant is also kid-friendly, as there is a designated kid section on the menu.

To quench your thirst, a variety of beers, wines, and sodas are available.

However, the signature dish of

Hook Burger would have to be the Prime Burger. The Prime Burger is made from 100 percent fresh, lean beef, as well as bread that is baked fresh daily. It is also topped with caramelized bourbon onions, lettuce, tomato, and honey dijon mustard.

In an instant, the flavor of the burger melts in your mouth. There was just the right amount of sauce where there was minimal drippage while biting into the juicy burger. The buns of the Prime Burger had a sweet taste with a soft yet crisp crunch.

The taste of the burger was rich and appetizing. It was paired with sweet potato fries, which were also an excellent treat to pair with the burger.

This restaurant seems to be very keen on getting the word across that their food is all-natural with no antibiotics or growth hormones.

Their slogan asserts that their burgers are a “labor of love,” and the staff lives up to this sentiment by bringing quality food to every customer.

While enjoying the food at Hook Burger, seating options range from booths to umbrella-shaded tables located outside.

Orders are brought to any table of your choosing in under five minutes, and the use of electronic numbers for each order makes the dining experience simple and quick.

Next time a craving for a burger comes along, make sure to check out Hook Burger.

The theater, originally built in 1981 and dedicated to Eugene Francis Dow, now boasts state-ofthe-art technology, sound, lighting and control rooms.

“Not only cosmetically, we also have a brand new sound system, lighting system. Everything is new and state-of-the-art,” Theater Manager Michael Sande said.

One noticeable difference after walking up the stairs to the Art Hill is the park. Benches, lamplights and grass overlook the eastern side of the San Fernando Valley and complement the outside of the theater building.

“For the longest time, since the 80’s, it was just a big pile of dirt. When students come to take classes, it’s now a beautiful part of campus,” Michael Gend, chair of the theater department said.

The park is intended not only for student use, but also use by the public.

“This gives audience members a place to go during intermission or after a show,” Sande said.

There are 340 new red, cushioned seats that encapsulate the main stage, fewer than before it was remodeled, according to Sande.

In order to abide by the American Disability Act, additional empty space for handicap and wheelchair seating had to be made available, lowering the amount of total seats. A ramp that runs down from the newly reconstructed lobby has been added as well to meet with ADA requirements.

“Keeping up to date with the American Disability Act was the reason it [the building] got its updates and in that we included other updates as well,” Gend said.

Bearing in mind the theater department’s main audience consists of senior citizens, new railings run down the steps alongside the seating as a safety precaution.

“A lot of people that come to our plays and dance events are senior citizens from the community and it was very worrisome when they were having to climb those stairs without having something to hold on to. So this is a big improvement for them,” Sande said.

A high-contoured, wood, ribcage-like ceiling adds to the design of the new lobby that has been extended outward by four feet with a new ticket and office box that is shared with a concession stand.

Two television monitors were installed next to the bathroom doors in the lobby so audience members can watch when to enter back into the theater so as not to disrupt a critical moment, Sande noted.

A new elevator replaced the smaller, more archaic elevator that was used before the remodeling. It leads down to the makeup and dressing rooms for students and actors.

“Students can now use it, before it was only if you were handicapped,” Sande said.

All three seats of the men and women’s restrooms have been updated with waterless and automatic shut-off technologies as well.

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