Nessy Burgers

I 15 and Highway 76
Fallbrook, CA 92028

(000) 000-0000

Make no mistake, my Mom makes a mean hamburger. But sorry, Mom, but this one tastes more homemade than homemade. In fact, a Nessy Burger rivals the best of the best! For all you backyard grillers who think you’ve got it goin’ on, take a trip to Nessy Burgers to see how it’s really done.

Piled high and dripping with juice, the irregular, hand-shaped, half-pound patty is properly spiced and doctored with diced onions before it is grilled to perfection. And to your specifications. Ask for medium rare, and that’s truly what you’ll get. None of this silliness about having to cook it to death to make the health department happy. The roughly formed burger arrives on a toasted sesame seed bun, complete with American cheese, iceberg lettuce, and slices of onion and fresh tomato. If that’s not enough, the sideboard hosts squirt bottles of ketchup, mustard, mayo, and thousand island dressing along with large bins of sliced jalapeños and radioactive-green Chicago-style relish.

This tiny shack of a trailer has been parked on the west side of I-15, just north of San Diego near Fallbrook, for as long as I can remember. Early on, it was the only thing there except a truck stop. Over the years, the truck stop went by the wayside, so now Nessy Burgers sits tucked between a Mobil station and a Park-N-Ride. Funny thing is, the truckers don’t seem to know that the truck stop is missing. They still pull over and belly up to the window for a burger and a Coke. Regulars won’t pass by without stopping in for a fix. Between stops, truckers across the country burn up the CB channels with talk of Nessy Burgers. Any 18-wheeler who hits the west coast is bound to end up here. But don’t try calling ahead, ’cuz there’s no phone on the premises.

Nessy Burgers is named for—you guessed it—the Loch Ness Monster. Owner Alistair McBain keeps both his sense of humor and his tie to a Scottish heritage alive with this whimisical link to legendary lore.

On this 100-degree day, Nessy Burgers was packed with a long line of lone truckers, dozens of pairs of hungry construction workers in matching shirts, and one techie with a Bluetooth. A faded green awning covers a handful of picnic tables; huge logs wrapped in canvas seat the overflow. Juice ran down my arms as I savored my messy good fortune and watched the crowd in wonderment. The line never let up. And the only thing I heard anybody order was a Nessy Burger. Or two. One guy went all-out and ordered a double. That’s an entire pound of indulgence in one shot: two half-pound burgers stacked to the moon. How he got his mouth around it, I’ll never know. He took it to go.

Aside from the famed Nessy Burger, which runs $4.95, the trailer serves up a mess of sandwiches including top sirloin steak, chicken breast, ham and egg, turkey burger, Polish sausage, jumbo dog, and egg and cheese. Sides include crinkle-cut fries, and ball-park style nachos, both available with or without chili. Chili fan that I am, I passed since the chili is not homemade. This turned out to be a good thing. I didn’t have room for another bite.

Nessy Burgers opens as early as 7 a.m. At that hour, almost all items on the menu are available� topped with a fried egg to remind you that it is still morning. The Beef Trucker just blows me away: the famous half-pound Nessy Burger topped with not one but two fried eggs and all the fixin’s. Or how about a Polish sausage topped with a fried egg. If you want to show a little restraint, go for the grilled egg and cheese with sliced tomato.

But really, it’s all about the Messy Nessy. Buy you a burger, Mom?

Hours

Mon-Fri: 7:00 a.m. - 6:30 p.m.
Sat: 8:00 a.m. � 4:00 p.m.
Sun: Gone Fishing

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