Restaurants come and restaurants go. But I’m not sure I’ve ever seen a restaurant come and go as fast as TLT in Pasadena’s Playhouse District. Fortunately, there was almost no delay in replacing it with The Stand, a burger concept that already had a few locations around LA and Orange County. The burger options were pretty unique and at a reasonable price, so I had a hard time choosing.

But I ended up getting the French Onion Soup Burger. This comes topped with gruyere cheese, fried onions and red wine onions in a parmesan crusted bun with some onion soup au jus for dipping. I ordered mine medium rare and without the red wine onions because they sounded terrible. I also had a side of fire fries (loaded with their wing spice and a side of blue cheese dressing) because clearly a stack of fried onions on my burger would not be enough.

Everything about the food was delicious. From the amount of crispiness in the onions to the meltiness in the cheese to the fieriness in the fries. And as I ate, I couldn’t help but feel like I was getting a gourmet burger experience at a fast-casual price. Sure, the patty may not have been as thick as some of the gourmet spots, but I’ve also had my fair share of annoying un-filling gourmet burgers out there. Most importantly, interesting toppings that seem to be well-balanced at The Stand are not just limited to the French Onion Soup, but to a variety of options, including a rotation of specials.

As you can tell, I was a fan of The Stand and wouldn’t be surprised at all if it continued to expand its mini Southern Californian empire.

Oh the park at Echo Park. While it is unquestionably a Mecca for local Hispanic family picnics, it is also unquestionably working hard to attract the local hipsters. Hence, Square One at the Boathouse exists literally in the boathouse where people can rent paddle boats and serves up some good-looking if not exciting-looking food.

I chose the Organic Hot Dog on a Wheat Bun, which is clearly not a cluster of words that I enjoy uttering, but I do like hot dogs so whatevs. Plus I ordered the chorizo chili and cheddar cheese on top so there’s that. Oh and the Hand Cut Fries.

The hot dog began in disappointment, as apparently the chili and cheese included onions. They were diced so it was extra hard to take them out, but that I did. Then, the whole wheat bun completely failed to hold together so I was left with a very difficult eating situation, but eat I did. And it turned out the flavors were all there. The hot dog was nicely grilled with a solid snap, while the chili had a good kick and the cheddar was white.

The big winner, though, was the fries. I don’t know if these were fried in crack but they were potentially some of the greatest straight up fries I’ve ever had. I wish I could explain why, but really can’t say besides the fact that they were perfectly fried, perfectly salted and apparently being hand cut had something to do with them as well.

For a meal in the park, Square One at the Boathouse is not bad, but not especially great either. However, for a place to grab some fries as a snack, holy crap this place is amazing.

Last week, I brought you an interview with Frysmith, the newest food truck to roll out in LA. Although they were opening Friday, I didn’t think there was any chance I could make it, due to a previous commitment. At the end of a long Friday night, I decided to check Twitter to see if there were any taco trucks to be found. I was pretty sure that Frysmith had already wrapped up, but I was still in need of some mobile foodery. As I checked Twitter, though, I found that Frysmith was still at the Brig in Abbot Kinney, so I rushed over to see if I could make it in time.

When I arrived, the shutters were up and it seemed as though I was out of luck. I went to the door and asked them if they were closed, and when they did, I just decided to say “hi” from the Unvegan. Erik, one of the owners, remembered me from the interview and said he had just one order of fries left and I could have it if I wanted. How lucky I was. I asked him for the chili cheese fries, no onions of course. He remembered my dietary needs and laughed as he went inside the truck to whip me up some fries.

In the meantime, I hung out outside the truck and was told that the night had been a big success and they were lucky to be given extra time because Kogi BBQ was running late. I figure any night you can completely sell out is pretty good night. In a few minutes my fries were ready and as I pulled out my wallet to pay, Erik told me it was on the house. I guess there are some good perks to running a blog.

The fries looked pretty awesome, covered completely with chili and cheese. Eating required a fork and some digging just to make sure you got a fry in each bite. They ended up tasting pretty good, too. They were spicier than I expected, which was nice, and the fries maintained their crunchiness at least for the first few bites. It’s always difficult to keep fries from getting soggy when they are covered with chili and although Frysmith wasn’t able to keep their fries crunchy, the soggy-ish fries still tasted quite good. These chili cheese fries were a great way to go, now I’m looking forward to the unvegan potential this food truck has.