Pie 'n Burger

Even the cheese is American! Since 1963.

Popular food: Cheeseburgers dressed with homemade Thousand Island, pickles, and dripping juices; chili size (two beef patties open-face with chili on top); homemade peach, rhubarb, and strawberry pies.

Unique food: Olallieberry pie, in season only six weeks in early summer.

Drinks: Old-fashioned soda fountain with cola mixed from syrup in-house, fresh-squeezed juices; beer and wine.

Seating: Counter with 20 stools, seven tables.

Ambience: Classic coffee shop doesn't appear to have been remodeled since opening day; Caltech students and Little Old Ladies from Pasadena, in pearls, of course.

Extras/Notes: T-shirts for sale. The current owner has been eating at Pie 'N Burger since he was a little kid with his grandma. He developed a hankering for strawberry pie and a sensible burger, and when he grew up, he bought the place.

Parking: Small rear lot.

For more reviews like this, get your own copy of Hungry? Los Angeles.