Frank Schulz, a San Diego native and owner of Duke’s Old Fashioned Onion Burgers in La Mesa, spent the bulk of his career in the food industry, both in Oklahoma and Southern California. After returning from Oklahoma, the Patrick Henry High School graduate brought with him the onion burger.
“I didn’t invent onion burgers, I just brought them to San Diego. I always enjoyed going to the town of El Reno, Oklahoma, where I’d eat the famous original onion burger at Sid’s Diner. I also loved eating at Tucker’s Onion Burgers in Oklahoma City,” Schulz said.
What is the onion burger?
“It’s a relic from the Dust Bowl days of the 1930s. Plagued with severe drought, dust storms, and food shortages, people would make onion burgers to make them look bigger. Basically, it’s onions cooked on a grill with a burger on top. The onions add a level of depth to the flavor,” Schulz remarked.
He started doing some pop-up restaurants to see if there was a market for a burger joint and found that people were suddenly having a new love of burgers. “I wanted to have a burger restaurant, casual, yet not fast food.
“We use Angus beef, which makes all the difference. It’s never frozen. We make everything fresh, in-house except for our buns and ice cream. We make our dressings, chili, sauces, and over a hundred pounds of pickles every week. And the pickles really make our burgers. They add a great zing to every bite,” Schulz said.
Burgers come in single, double, or triple patties and are cooked to order, allowing guests to customize toppings including cheese, tomatoes, lettuce, and house-made pickles. For the gluten-sensitive crowd Duke’s offers lettuce wraps instead of a bun.
Duke’s fries are made from fresh-cut potatoes that are double-fried. It makes the fries crispy on the outside and soft on the inside. On the menu are a variety of specialty fries such as steak and blue cheese or bacon cheese fries.
For a limited time only they’re offering “The Bartlesville” which has a base of French fries, topped by a burger, and smothered in brown gravy. Coming soon is the “Okie Burger”, which is the same as The Bartlesville except with a creamy gravy. Another great special is the Hot Honey Butter Chicken Sandwich, a hand-breaded chicken breast topped with hot honey butter and pickles.
“We got voted 2nd best burger, which still irritates me,” Schulz said. “We had been open for 2 months and didn’t even know they were judging us. We want to be #1.” This calls for a rematch.
Duke’s Old Fashioned Onion Burgers is located at 5020 Baltimore Drive.
Call ahead to (619) 439-6177 or go online to: dukesoldfashionedonionburgers.com/.
