Numerous people have told me time and again that I “need” to review the burgers at Pops down in Arcadia, and while I appreciate the recommendation, that still means I have to go to Arcadia. Now that a second store has opened up in Nichols Hills, I can finally give the famed diner a chance because, for real, how different can they be from each other?
While many people love to get out on that open road and feel the wind in their hair, the adventure of cruising Route 66 is reason enough to log in those miles; as for me, however, being a Latino in Nichols Hills that isn’t working with a landscaping crew is all the adventure I need, especially when I couldn’t find the place at 6447 Avondale Dr. and made so many wrong turns and flipped bitches in an effort to just make it across a shopping center parking lot, I’m surprised I wasn’t pulled over on suspicious behavior.
With a cold glass interior that reminds me of the repressed retro-futuristic monstrosities of numerous sci-fi flicks made brutally horrorshow, one halfway expects Alex DeLarge and his droogs to saunter in to Pops and order a Round House Root Beer with extra knives in prep for a night of the ol’ ultradiabetes. And I can mostly relate, o my brothers, because before my lunch order had even arrived I slugged down two frosty mugs of ice-cold Dr. Pops:
Speaking of ordering, it wasn’t hard for me to go immediately for the Nichols Hills burger with a side of cheese fries—I mean, c’mon, how could I not? Conversely, my dining compatriot went O.G. and decided to take on the Arcadia burger with onion rings. The best—or something comparable to—of both worlds, I suppose. You can’t say I never tried.