Best of 2003: Best Place For Hot & Spicy Hamburgers

Crest Café
425 Robinson Avenue, Hillcrest
619-295-2510

The Crest boasts "Hearty Homemade Comfort Food," but there's nothing comforting about the "Butter Burger." This unique, h-h-hot half-pound burger is packed with spices: paprika, cayenne, and cumin, as well as garlic, tarragon, basil, and oozing parsley butter. Owner Luis Moreno and his cousin Ruben were "playing around" and came up with this as a special. It was so popular they put it on the permanent menu. Fiery hamburgers could be the Next Big Thing. But don't ignore their ten other burgers, including the "Fresh Salmon Burger" and the "OuiOui Burger" (aged bleu cheese crumbled under melted jack cheese). The other best thing about the Crest? You can chow down till midnight, seven days a week.