Second Helping

No local discourse on comfort food would be complete without a few words regarding the humble breakfast burrito. And while there are many, many places in town that serve up great breakfast burritos at all hours of the day and night, this week I'm stumping for one that may be overlooked in the rush to find the hottest, the sloppiest, the fattest, the best -- the breakfast burrito at Crown Burger. This joint on South Colorado Boulevard is better known for its oddly Greek-American, hamburger-stand menu that consists mostly of hamburgers, cheeseburgers, fries and gyros; if it's famous for anything, it's that monster ham-and-pastrami hand grenade called the Royal Burger, all wrapped with waxed paper and dripping with grease. But Crown Burger also does a breakfast burrito that has seen me through a few difficult mornings and many more lazy afternoons. When you order it -- whether at the counter or from the slow and ramshackle drive-thru staffed by some of the friendliest headset help in the city -- you're given one choice: bacon or sausage. (I believe there's also a gyro variety, but I've never been offered the option.) No matter which you pick, you get a loosely foil-wrapped torpedo, heavy as a softball, overstuffed with ingredients taken straight from the long line of flat grills in the galley, and oozing with grease. Hands down, this is my favorite burrito for curing a hangover, and it's right up there on my list of one-handed entrees to be eaten while driving. But the best thing about Crown Burger is that one of those burritos, a Royal with cheese and a Cherry Coke -- my perfect American Grafitti-goes-Southwestern lunch menu -- clocks in at well under ten bucks, leaving me plenty of cash to get those grease stains steamed out of my upholstery.