Biggest Loser Contest Over! My Food Map

After 12 weeks of eating oatmeal, wheat bread+turkey meat, boiled broccoli and grilled chicken breasts, the "biggest loser" contest that I was competing in finally came to an end today. For those of you who haven't heard already, I've been competing with 10 of my coworkers to see who can lose the most percentage weight over a 12 week period. All humility aside, I smoked the competition with a 14.58% weight loss. I weighed in at 182.4 lbs on May 15 and weighed in today (July 31) at 155.8 lbs. My reward was an envelope with 11 hundred dollar bills in it with "Haol = Big LOSER" written in red ink across the front. I've been planning this whole time to finally invest in an HDTV and move into the hi-def world. It's always been kind of sad that I work at a company that deals with high-end audio and video equipment and still go home to a 32 inch hand-me-down CRT. Now that I've actually got the money though, I'm not too sure what I'm going to do. The 32 inch works fine and I really have no complaints with it. Getting a new TV just means that I have to invest in an HD cable plan and such. What to do.. what to do...

So in the last couple weeks of this contest, the lack of flavorful food was starting to wear on me. I have to say that I did break down a couple times and indulged myself toward the end. I had an amazing meal prepared by my friend Joe's girlfriend Duc in San Francisco a couple weeks ago. On that same weekend, we ate dim sum and my willpower left me. I also started to spend a lot of time researching highly recommended eateries around LA. This led to a project to document all of the restaurants that I want to try out in LA and all of my favorite places to eat in LA, Houston and Austin. You can see the Google Map that resulted from this project below.


View Larger Map

I'm also in the process of transferring all of these picks to my Tom Tom GPS so that I can always find a place to eat no matter where I am in the city.

B&R's Old Fashion Burgers - Hawthorne

One of the finds that resulted from my Food Map was B&R's Old Fashion Burgers in Hawthorne. When I read about their signature burger, the Monster Royal burger, I knew that I had to visit this place. The Monster Royal burger has 2 8-ounce beef patties, a fried egg, chili, cheese, bacon or pastrami, lettuce, tomato, etc. etc. This monstrosity costs a total of $7.65. I said $7.65!!! That is obscenely low for Los Angeles. So when the Biggest Loser was all finished and I had the cash in my pocket, I invited all the participants to lunch at B&R's since it's only about 15min from our office.

As we ventured deep into Hawthorne, jokes about gang violence and getting shot started. Let's just say that this is not the most luxurious city in LA. The place was fine though.. with a several friendly looking people hanging out along the street on a Thursday afternoon.


One interesting thing I noticed about the place right away was that there were plenty of tables, but only about half the chairs that you'd need for all those tables. The place seemed to be designed more for lounging and waiting for your food than actually sitting down and eating there. Maybe most of their business is takeout. Also, almost no AC. I guess when your prices are this low, you have to try and keep the energy bill down as much as possible.

There were maybe a dozen other diners in the place when we got there. It was a mix of folks who were probably local regulars and people like us who had obviously come from an office building somewhere. I'm sure there aren't too many office buildings nearby, so they probably drove a bit to get there like us. The nine of us got in line and ordered and I paid. The bill was about $63 for 9 people. Again, for LA this is unbelievably cheap.

The FOOD

After waiting about 30 min, my coworkers started getting restless and I got a little nervous about bringing all my coworkers out so far to wait over 30min for a burger. The food had better be good! It took almost 45 minutes for our food to finally come out, but the complaints stopped as soon as the food hit the table.

I mean, just look at this thing! The beef patty is like an inch and a half tall. This is the Chili Cheese King Burger. Cost: $5.50 plus a couple more bucks for the fries and a very good lemonade. Not homemade lemonade, but still very refreshing.. like the kind you get at Sonic. Also, they use that kind of crushed ice that I just love. It almost makes your drink like a chewy slushie if you take the top off and drink it without a lid or straw. I like chewing ice with my drinks. Sue me.

B&R serves a no-frills, delicious burger; probably the best burger for the money that I've ever had anywhere. No fancy toppings or sauces. No bleu cheese or caramelized onions. No arugula. Just lettuce, tomato, cheese, great buns toasted just right and a huge, juicy well-cooked beef patty. No fancy seasonings to distract you from the pure beef taste that explodes into your mouth on the way to your stomach, and eventually your arteries.

After 12 weeks of dieting, this single meal probably had about the same number of calories that I was eating daily. It was worth it though. My stomach was comfortably satisfied for the rest of the day. Even by dinner time, I still wasn't really very hungry. I had a bowl of Fiber One cereal and called it a night.

Someday when I'm feeling extra brave, I'll take on the Monster Royal Burger.

B&R's Old Fashion Burgers

3512 WEST ROSECRANS AVE. HAWTHORNE, CALIFORNIA 90250

PHONE: 310.679.4774 FAX: 310.679.2464