Fat Louie's offers good ol' American fare
Local restaurant harkens back to days of traditional burger joint
By Andrew Saulters / Student Publications
A customer picks up his order at Fat Louie's, a new restaurant located near Tech, that serves classic American fare that might damage your arteries but won't hurt your pocketbook.
Open for roughly four months, Fat Louie's should be a hit at Tech. Specializing in "simple American food done right," as chef and owner Tuan Raphael described, the restaurant is a student-friendly and inexpensive place just north of Engineer's Bookstore within easy walking distance of campus.
With the tag line "beefs, burgers, dogs," they serve what I see as fantasy baseball stadium or old-school burger joint food. Rapheal and co-owner Andy Gaudiano seem focused on fresh quality ingredients, hearkening back to Mom and Pop burger stands of the past, when Mr. McDonald was the one selling the hamburgers.
My favorite sandwich was the Fat Louie burger ($5.99) with angus beef, grated sharp cheddar, applewood bacon and Louie's zingy hickory sauce, which is delicious. It's just the right level of messy and indulgent.
The homemade french fries are perfect-a unique combination of skins still on and super-skinny, well-done with just a little crispiness hot out of the fryer.
The Chicago dog is a good choice for a quick budget lunch-for $2.95 you get fries and a Sabrett beef hot dog on a poppy seed bun with mustard, tomato, bright green
Chicago-style relish, pickles, whole sport peppers, onions and celery salt.
Fat Louie's other specialty is Chicago-style Italian beefs ($5.99), seasoned roast beef sandwiches served dry or au jus.
Be aware that when they say au jus, they really mean au jus. If you are personally opposed to the resulting messily wet fork-and-knife sandwich, you can opt for a dry roast beef. The beef is very thinly sliced and has a slightly spicy flavor.
I regret not also trying the roast beef with mozzarella and marinara sauce, since many customers seem to like it that way as well.
To cap off my gigantic meal (what can I say, food reviewing is a sweet gig), I had the chance to enjoy the potato skins-bacon and cheddar melted on thick wedges of skin with heavy sour cream for dipping.
As the name suggests, Fat Louie's is more about guilty pleasure than health food, although the menu does feature vegetarian items such as a veggie burger and a portobello mushroom sandwich. Mostly the restaurant has escaped yuppification in honor of good old high-fat American food.
The classic blues and jazz playing at the restaurant was dead-on for eat-'til-you-bust music, and the updated Americana décor in a renovated garage makes for a cheery, fun and casual atmosphere.
The place already seems to have loyal regulars; I ran into one man who had driven from outside the perimeter to go back for his second burger that week.
Gaudiano suggested that student groups at Tech may be interested in using Fat Louie's as a place for meetings, since it is generally not crowded during the evening (lunchtime gets the bigger crowd). They can also cater group meeting dinners.
Fat Louie's is starting a delivery service for the Tech campus as well. I suggest walking over and trying it for a relaxed lunch sometime.
