In a word: beef. In two words: seriously, beef.
The Patty Wagon is a brand-spankin’ new burger joint (its previous incarnation was as a food truck) at 3600 N May, which is just south of NW 36th on the east side of May. In fact, it’s so new – it opened last Tuesday – that I found it by spotting the orange-and-white truck outside rather than a big sign out front. It’s so new the “OPEN” signs in the doors are hand-drawn on white paper. It’s so new that while I was waiting for my to-go order one of the staffers handed me a paper cup and said “Hey, try this Lime Freeze; we’re still working on the recipe but I think it’s close.”
Actually, that might be due more to friendliness than newness – they’re a jovial bunch. And that Lime Freeze is going to be gooood when they finish tweaking it.
In the meantime, beef. The place prides itself on using top-quality locally raised cow, and it really shows. I deliberately avoided some of the more flavor-added menu selections and got a straightforward double cheeseburger, so while I can only vouch for the no-frills option, they crushed it: the patties had a little char outside, a light pink center and really good flavor, the bun suffered a bit from traveling but was nice and dense and I could actually taste the horseradish in the mayo (okay, I got one frill). I was leery about the fries because they’re extremely thick-cut, which makes them easy to undercook and end up with a soggy waste of potato – but I shouldn’t have worried, since these turned out to be thoroughly well done. Much like the rest of the meal, aha ha. (Booooo!)
I had the place virtually to myself at 11:30 on a Wednesday, but don’t expect that to last: I have a feeling Patty Wagon is going to get busy in a hurry once enough people become converts and start telling their friends. Maybe we can all get our heads together and iron out that Lime Freeze recipe.
STEVE GILL is unusually tall, has a B.A. in Letters and a minor in Classics from OU, drinks a great deal of coffee and openly delights in writing, editing and catching the occasional typo for Slice – especially since his dream career (millionaire layabout in a P.G. Wodehouse novel) is notoriously difficult to break into. He's probably trying to think of a joke about pirates right now.
