The Apple Pan Lives On!
Drive down Pico Boulevard in West Los Angeles and you see this distinctive sign – a classic restaurant that’s been serving burgers and pies up for more than 70 years!
The Apple Pan has been a fixture on Pico Boulevard near Westwood Boulevard since 1947 – 76 years. And a new Owner ensures it will continue to serve burgers and pies to a whole new generation!
The Apple Pan’s unique wrapper shows off your burger as it’s set down in front of you, and has for decades.
As LAist reported:
Former owner Sunny Sherman, the granddaughter of the original founders, confirmed to LAist that the burger parlor has been sold to Irving Azoff and his wife Shelli.
Azoff has an incredible career in entertainment, including managing The Eagles for 40 years. In recent years, many classic LA eateries have shuttered, and this is great news for anyone who wants to keep a bit of the local history alive.
With that said:
Let’s Eat!
Here I am killing time, waiting for the doors to open at exactly 11a. Then, I head in, grab a comfortable leather seat, and gaze lovingly at the pies:
As you can see, it doesn’t take long to decide what to order: the menu consists of a few burgers, a couple of sandwiches, french fries and of course, pie!
For the purpose of this review, I ate at The Apple Pan twice in one week – on my first visit, I had the “Hickoryburger” – which is served with its own special sauce, mayo, pickles, and lettuce – and as you can see, there’s no mistaking the hickory sauce…
Time To Bite Into The Hickoryburger!
The burger shows up wrapped tightly around the bottom…a classic presentation, and important given the sauciness of the sauce that is slathered on the bun – but how did it taste?
Well, the first bite was EXACTLY what you want in a burger – a prefect mix of hot meat and cheese, a spicy sauce, and ice cold lettuce and pickle as a great counterbalance.
As you can see, I got my burger with Tillamook Cheddar because of course you do! These dill pickles are very tart, and there is a lot of iceberg lettuce on the burger as well – but, paired with the flavorful meat and zesty hickory sauce, they were perfect!
I ordered a side of french fries, and they showed up looking crispy and hot!
The fries were perfectly cooked – a nice bite to the outside, soft and creamy inside. The entire meal took less than ten minutes to make, and about that long to eat – this is a nice sized burger but not massive at all – which is a good thing for me, because I’m tired of the massive half pound of meat that routinely gets put on a burger these days…
Time For The Steakburger!
On my second visit, I got the Steakburger, which has a slightly different sauce that is reminiscent of a Thousand Island dressing, along with mayo, pickle and another big stack of lettuce!
I also got Tillamook on this one as well – and to be honest, I enjoyed this one even more – the sauce is less powerful, giving the other ingredients room to shine a bit more.
That said, both were very good burgers.
On this trip, I avoided the fries to leave room to end my meal with a slice of Fresh Apple Pie with a scoop of Vanilla ice cream…
LA’s Best Burger? Probably Not…Best Pie? YES!
Well, there is no the way to say it: this slice of Apple Pie blew me away. The richness of flavor is matched by the tartness of the apple slices, which have NOT been suffocated with sugar, but allowed to shine one their own…and the ice cream is rich and smooth – this is a phenomenal piece of pie!
You can also order whole pies to go, and since this is the best tasting Apple Pie I can remember having, I plan to drop in one day and take one home to share!
What I loved most about The Apple Pan is that it feels like a clubby, hole-in-the-wall that you drop into for a quick bite of food – and catch up with the workers.
My Waiter revealed that he’s been working at The Apple Pan for over forty years! As you can see, they still ring your bill up the old fashioned way:
This is the second bit of good news related to iconic LA establishments:
The iconic “Tail O’ The Pup” is back as well, and I ate there too…click here for the history of this unique hot dog stand and a look at their menu:
The legendary Hollywood hangout Musso & Frank just celebrated its 104th birthday this year – more great news!
See some of the stars who popped in for one of their iconic Martinis by clicking here:
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Categories: Alcohol And Bars, Bite Eat Swallow, Bite! Eat! Repeat!, Burgers, Cheeseburgers, Eat This!, Fast Food, Food, Food Pictures, Recipes, Restaurants, Wacky Food, World's Wildest Food
Bite! Eat! Repeat! 
Does it get any better than burgers and pies?!
HA! No its doesn’t especially when done well! Thanks for commenting!
If I had accompanied you, I would also have chosen the Hickory Burger. But I would have had Pecan Pie, as that is quite hard to find here in England, whereas Apple Pie is very common.
Best wishes, Pete.
Pecan pie is terrific as well, and what makes this stand out is that they do two things, but they do them very well…the pie is delicious! Thanks for the comment and share Pete!