Last Sunday I drove up to Le Tub restaurant in Hollywood. This bar and restaurant was made famous a couple of years ago when GQ magazine food writer Alan Richman declared that the burger here was the best that he had ever had, if I recall correctly. I was eager to try one for myself.
It has a typical Florida rustic waterside restaurant look, with lots of driftwood-looking woodwork:
Looking the other way is a view of the Intracoastal Waterway, with a little pleasure boat maneuvering to dock next door:
What makes this place
unusual, though is another decor theme -
toilets! 
They were everywhere. I don't think that I have ever been in a
toilet-themed restaurant: 
Looking for a place to sit, I spotted these two fellows lurking in the shadows.
The Travelin Man & Buffetbuster: 
(The cameras were a clue.)
We ordered some seafood gumbo, the Sirloin Steak Burger, with American cheese, and a large order of steak fries.
Of course, being a group of
Roadfooders, when the food arrived, out came the cameras!
Seafood Gumbo: 
The waitress tried to warn us off by saying that it was very spicy, but I found it to be almost mild, with a good flavor. I managed to distinguish clams and shrimp in it. I like it, and recommend it.
The fries arrived before the burgers; hot from the fryer. They were good - well seasoned, crispy on the outside and creamy on the inside. Probably from frozen, but I enjoyed them.
Steak Fries: 
Finally, the stars of the show arrived - our cheeseburgers. These are
thirteen ounces, and arrived oozing juices on poppy-seed buns, and smelled just great. Romaine, onions and a fat slice of tomato accompanied them.
13 Ounce Sirloin Steakburger: 
This was a
very good cheeseburger, oozing beefiness (is that a word?), with a bit of a crust from some sort of flame grill, and not cooked to death. We all ordered
medium, but I would judge mine to have been medium rare in the middle, which is how I like it. It comes unseasoned, so I flipped mine and added some table salt. I am not positive that this is the best large burger that I have ever had, but it was awesome. The Brickyard burger I had in Daytona Beach a year-and-a-half ago might have been better, but it had bacon and sauteed onions, so that might have been the real difference.
Here is a shot of Buffetbuster's burger cut in half (he did a better job than I did with the puny plastic knife!):
I could not finish mine, but
Travelin Man went for the gold.
Look at that face. That is one
FULL Roadfooder!
Satiated Travelin Man: 
Of course,
someone in the group had room for pie. Buffetbuster ordered a slice of key lime, and the waitress added extra forks, unbidden.
Key Lime Pie: 
The pie is advertised as being made in-house from fresh limes, and it was a good example of key lime pie with whipped cream on top, as opposed to the traditional meringue topping. It had a nice smooth texture, and was appropriately tart, with a nice graham-cracker crust. I just had a bite; Buffetbuster might want to comment further.
A good time was had by all, and the people-, boat- and bird-watching were an added attraction. It might be a little warm in the summer, but the weather was near perfect when we were there.
The Travelin Man &
Buffetbuster were great company, I might add. They were snapping away with their cameras, so I imagine that they will have some photos to post here or elsewhere.
Le Tub Saloon 1100 North Ocean Drive Hollywood, FL 33019 954-921-9425 http://www.theletub.com/
<message edited by MiamiDon on Tue, 01/26/10 1:28 PM>