Slugburger Cafe

#58
Holy Hell!
How does a café that serves subpar quality food like this stay in business? I ordered a steamed hot dog and my husband ordered fries, a cheeseburger and sweet tea. The tea is so weak you can see the bottom of the cup (a red solid plastic cup that doesn’t let light through). The fries were old and scrap pieces. My hot dog was the absolute cheapest hot dog known to man! It had no texture left, it had been cooked way too long and probably not cooked today, the way it looks. The bun turned pink from the dyes bleeding from the hot dog.
As we sat there shaking our heads in total shock, I noticed a woman scooped precooked fries from an aluminum pan and put them into the fryer, then stood with both hands in her pockets watching a man assemble other sandwiches. That explains why our fries SUCKED on such a massive scale. The fries that she served another customer were whole fries and a bunch of them, much more palatable than what we were served.
I don’t have any closing remarks, like «well, I caught them on an off day and I will try them again». No. No. Hell no. My husband has eaten there before (slugburgers) and it was pretty nasty, today was us ‘trying them again’.
To Each Their Own.

A slugburger is a burger usually made of a mixture of beef and some form of cheaper breading extender which is then deep-​fat fried to a golden brown instead of grilled as is a common hamburger. In earlier days, cornmeal was commonly used as an extender in slugburgers and animal fat (lard) was used for frying. In modern times, soybean meal has become the ingredient of choice which adds some protein value to the creation and vegetable oil is commonly used for frying. The slugburgers here are well done and the cook and owner tries to please any special requests– if you like it crispy and well done, just let him know.
Corinth has a long history of unpretentious small diners specializing in slugburgers. Ask any old timer around town about Mrs. Rich’s Café which was located on Cruise Street in what is now the historic area of downtown. A June 14, 1957, story in the Memphis Press Scimitar told about Mrs. Rosa Lee Rich and her 5 cent hamburgers. The café pictured was tiny but did a booming business. At the time of the article the term «slugburger» had not yet become common parlance for this local hamburger.

Try a slug burger with cheese!