Once in a while, we like to take a day, and some friends or relatives, and do what we call the "food tour" of northern Utah.
We take the Box Elder County "Fruitway" (otherwise known as Highway 89) for fresh fruit and veggies, then head up to Cache Valley for stops at the Gossner Foods cheese store, the Pepperidge Farm outlet in Richmond and, if we have time, visits to everything from the Casco (Fat Boys!) and Creamies stores to Cox Honeyland and Bluebird chocolates. On a recent Monday, we finished up our food-nibbling binge with a stop at Logan landmark LaBeau's.
LaBeau's is known for its burgers and shakes, and though some of the other food can be a little spotty, those sections of the menu are reliably tasty and satisfying.
Our big group of four adults and seven kids attracted little attention as we stormed into the small dining space at LaBeau's. That's because this spartanly decorated, worn-at-the-edges eatery has seen more than its share of parents carting hungry kids. The menu is extensive, so it took us awhile to get everyone's orders. When we did, we found that the burgers really shone.
My sister had the best of the lot, the mushroom burger. It's a big, well-seasoned patty topped with cheese and plenty of thick-sliced grilled mushrooms that are almost as meaty as the beef. The mushrooms added moisture and earthiness to the burger, which also was topped with such standard fixings as onions, tomatoes, pickles and lettuce.
The rest of the burgers, ordered by the men in our group, were likewise carefully prepared, though not quite as much to my taste. This is due to the men's decision to order the "meat-on-meat" type of burger. My brother-in-law had the LaBeau's special, a patty topped with grilled-brown, chewy ham, while my husband went all out with the "Mammoth" burger, which crams two beef patties, pastrami, ham, bacon and fixings between two buns.
Both were good if you like really, really meaty food. The Mammoth smelled so strong, salty and smoky that you could practically eat the odor, and it's so substantial that my husband couldn't finish the last couple of bites.
I didn't feel like a burger, so I had the BLT. The innards were tasty, with five thick-cut slices of bacon resting on fresh lettuce and sliced tomatoes, but the outside was a bit nasty. The huge pieces of white bread were fried in something that I can't believe was butter, considering the lurid golden tinge it lent the bread, as well as the lack of crispness. Considering the quality of the rest of the sandwich, a little real butter would have gone a long way.
The kids' food was a mixed bag, with chicken nuggets that were the cheap kind McDonald's used to make, and the grilled cheese with more of that yellow oily stuff on the outside. The corn dogs, however, were hot, well-browned and savory. And in fairness to LaBeau's, I saw some grown-ups eating chicken strips that looked to be of much better quality than the nuggets.
Most of our party were way too full for dessert, but my sister and I couldn't pass up the chance to order from LaBeau's big-shake menu. She had the burnt almond fudge, a blend of ice cream, sundae fudge and ground almonds that's good but tastes nothing like the burnt almond fudge ice cream that's so beloved by Utahns. I had my own creation, a chocolate shake with Whoppers and bananas. I like the combination of chocolate, bananas and malt, and though my shake was full of Whoppers pieces, there was barely a breath of banana.
Burgers $3.25-$6.99, sandwiches $1.50-$6.25, salads $2.99-$4.49, combos $4.95-$7.39, kids' meals $2.99-$3.49, sides $1.09-$5.99, shakes and desserts $1.50-$3.25.
LaBeau's
Rating: **
Where: 165 E. 1400 North, Logan
Hours: Monday-Friday, 10:45 a.m.-10 p.m.
Saturday-Sunday, 10:45 a.m.-10:30 p.m.
Payment: Checks, credit cards accepted
Phone: 435-752-2140
Stacey Kratz is a free-lance writer who reviews restaurants for the Deseret Morning News. E-mail: skratz@desnews.com