Discover Walla Walla

In Chicago, red hots (hot dogs, to the rest of us) are taken so seriously that some of the finer hot dog establishments charge ten cents extra for that little bit of flaky charring the tube steaks get from spending a minute longer on an open grill. But we digress.

What brought this factoid to mind was our trip to Pendleton recently to sample the wares at the Char-Burger, which has, right on its mansard roof, the words "PENDLETONS FINEST." One assumes that there used to be an apostrophe, and either a strong wind or some Roundup revelers removed it, but you never know.

The Char-Burger is approximately 75 percent kitchen and 25 percent dining room, a healthy ratio in our book. (Of course, the Ice-Burg in Walla Walla is 100 percent kitchen, but that's another story.) The dining area has two four-person booths and a short window-facing counter with four stools. The dutch door into the kitchen serves as the order-taking area and cashier's stand, and offers a prime view of the leaping flames on the grill.

Our only disappointment during our visit was that the milkshake machine was out of service. It was one of those days when a milkshake seemed almost mandatory alongside a burger; but it was not to be.

Our bacon cheeseburger and crinkle-cut fries were tasty, positively nostalgia-inducing treats, despite the slightly anemic burger. A little thin, a little overdone, it was helped enormously by the crisp sheaf of lettuce with special sauce underneath, and tomato, cheese and bacon on top. Delivered on a sesame-seed bun and wrapped in wax paper, with a red-and-white wicker-patterned paper basket for the fries, it definitely added up to more than the sum of its parts. Once again, the alchemical mystery of the right combination of flavors and textures transcends the ordinary and becomes a work of imagination and delight.

We plan to return to the Char-Burger soon, in anticipation of having a milkshake next time, and happily recommend this stop, especially with a van full of hungry kids. The Char-Burger is located at 1410 S.W. Dorion, very close to the Roundup.