One of the greatest regrets of my life is failing to capture a better picture at lunch at Little Daddy’s. You see, Little Daddy’s is a Greek-style diner in Southfield, Michigan, with locations in Taylor and Bloomfield Hills as well. It’s kind of like a Coney Island, but more Greek, which means they serve up saganaki. Saganaki is not a misspelling of the Japanese city of Nagasaki. No, it is a flaming cheese.
And so when I looked at the menu and found something called the Flaming Opa Cheeseburger, I was excited as a little kid. That’s because “opa!” is what the staff yell out when the cheese gets lit on fire. So as they brought out the dish to flame up my cheese, I was too excited to get my camera out and snag a picture of my flaming cheeseburger.
But it’s not the process that matters as much as the burger itself. And as you can tell by the picture up above, this was one sexy burger that I had to put together myself the way it was served. It may not look like a lot, but the combination of these flavors worked in a delicious way. Due to the flaming, the cheese has a bit of a crispy crust to it, adding a texture element, and is also melty without melting quite to the level of your typical sliced cheeses. Plus, to put the flame out they use lemons, so there is a tart/sour kick to the cheese as well. Finally, there were the juices left behind in the dish that made for a great sandwich dipping sauce on occasion.
Was the burger patty itself anything special? No, not really. It wasn’t anything to complain about either – along the lines of what you would expect from a burger at a diner. But what really matters is the fact that Little Daddy’s made the bold, yet amazingly simple move to add saganaki to a burger and the world is a better place for it.
