Not your ordinary burger and a bun

Summertime means hamburgers and hot dogs. If you are not in the mood to strike up your own grill, head over to Superburger in Penngrove for truly outstanding charbroiled hamburgers, weiners, or chicken, fries, and a shake.

Superburger has been in operation on Main Street in Penngrove for seven years and is owned by Bill Cordell, who also runs the Superburger in Santa Rosa, which has a history dating back to just after World War II. Originally located at 1501 Fourth St. in Santa Rosa, it was started by the Oates family as the Dog-E-Diner. Two blocks away from it was the original Superburger burger shack at College and McDonald avenues. The Superburger owners, Gayle and Doug Dowling, purchased the Dog-E-Diner and changed its signs to Gayle’s Superburger in 1978. It thrived until the owners’ retirement in 2007. Now the Santa Rosa location and newer Penngrove site are owned by Cordell.

Located in an unassuming bank of shops near the railroad crossing, the Penngrove location is a small place with counter seating and a few tables. It’s decorated old-style with yellow and black paneling, a tongue-in-groove ceiling and a collection of photos of old Penngrove. The most prominent feature is the buffalo head mounted on the wall, affectionately called “Buffalo Bill” by the staff. But despite its size and out of the way location, it does a steady, bustling business, relying mostly on return customers and word of mouth. It has won several “Best of the North Bay” and “Best of Sonoma County” awards in the past three years.

Superburger’s burgers are not only classic beef, but also lamb. And they feature a “hot off the ranch” menu with revolving daily specials of grass- fed beef, elk, venison, boar and buffalo, depending on the “whims of faulty distribution.”

Classic seven-ounce burgers come with “fixings” of lettuce, tomato, onion and Superburger’s own specialty barbecue sauce. King sized patties of 10 ounces are also available. For an extra $4.25 you can add a second patty to your sandwich. An extra $6 will get you an extra king sized patty.

In addition to traditional burgers, there are “fancy burgers.” The signature St. Helena burger comes topped with onion rings, bacon, cheddar cheese and barbecue sauce. The Montecito Avenue is topped with bacon, jack cheese, guacamole and barbecue sauce. The McDonald Avenue is topped with savory garlic mushrooms, blue cheese, and “gartichoke” (garlic artichoke aioli) sauce. The Lahaina burger features jack cheese, teriyaki glaze, pineapple and ham. The Spring Street burger comes topped with pesto, jack cheese and bacon. Fancy burgers can also be “kinged” for an additional $2. And since all burgers are hand pressed and made to order, you can come up with your own variations, if so inclined.

Weiners offered are beef hot dogs with a side of onion and pickles, and you can add a heap of the barbecue burger and bean chili for an additional $3. Hotlinks are served with barbecue sauce and a side of pickles and onions.

For poultry lovers, there are four chicken sandwiches: Chicken and Cheese; Malibu Charbroiled Chicken, served with swiss cheese, bacon, grilled pineapple and secret sauce; Spicy Buffalo Chicken served with topping of bacon, buffalo sauce, blue cheese, ranch dressing and coleslaw; and Sonoma Chicken, served with bacon, jack cheese and guacamole. There is a kids menu as well.

And sides are a variety of fries: chili cheese, shoestrings, garlic, and sweet potato, plus onion rings, tatertots and coleslaw. For those diners that just can’t decide, you can order a giant half-and-half side of your choice of fries and onion rings.

Daily specials greet you on the chalkboard as you enter. Look there to see what is “hot off the ranch” and what the day’s special side dish might be. They also have a variety of local craft beer on tap, plus local wine, Italian sodas and bottomless fountain drinks and iced teas. All that being said, according to the restaurant’s supervisor, Michelle Taylor, the biggest feature on the menu (and the most popular on the last day of school) is the assortment of milk shakes - 27 different flavors, available as shakes or malts.

After reviewing all these choices, I settled on the McDonald Avenue burger, opting for the grass-fed beef patty ($9.50 plus $2 for the specialty meat). It comes with an appropriate warning that it “could get messy.” The “gartichoke” sauce, and the heaping helping of mushrooms and melted blue cheese, made this burger delicious but slippery. Good thing there is a roll of paper towels on each table, because I certainly needed them. Ultimately I gave up and used a knife and fork to polish it off.

My lunch partner, Cathy, had the King Burger ($9), a 10-ounce patty, served with “fixings” and barbecue sauce. The sauce is a tangy smoky style sauce, which she asked for on the side and used as a dip for the burger. Although her burger didn’t come with a warning, it was equally juicy and cooked medium rare to perfection. She also ordered the coleslaw ($3), which includes pineapple and is on the sweet side. And we shared the small basket of sweet potato fries ($4) which arrived piping hot and crispy, and was more than large enough to complement the rest of the meal.

If you are out and about and looking for a great burger and fries, I highly recommend you head to Superburger for a fix of real Americana.

(Contact Lynn Haggerty King at argus@arguscouri er.com)