Home Plates: Secret to Linda's Parisian burger eludes devotees

John Berwald wrote:

Hi all - Cubberley HS, class of 66'- spent just about every lunch and many dinners eating Parisian Burgers and Super Fries at Linda's all thru high school. Founded Armadillo Willy's in 1983 but have been toying with the recipe for Parisian Burgers for years and finally got Le Boulanger to custom make a sourdough bun for us - we think we are pretty darn close to the original. You want more sauce - just ask. Love reading all the memories and comments about Linda's. Happy New Year!

Do you take reservations? We've emailed this to all our friends who remember Linda's, and some are coming from out of state for this!

The first group arrives this weekend.

imho_in my humble opinion wrote:

<quoted text>
Do you take reservations? We've emailed this to all our friends who remember Linda's, and some are coming from out of state for this!
The first group arrives this weekend.

No reservations needed at AW. There are several locations, I prefer the location on San Antonio Road at El Camino. Feels like "headquarters" is an odd way

imho_in my humble opinion wrote:

<quoted text>
Do you take reservations? We've emailed this to all our friends who remember Linda's, and some are coming from out of state for this!
The first group arrives this weekend.

Hi - No, we don't take reservations at Armadillo Willy's - we have a self-service format which means you don't have to hunt down a server to get a refill on your Iced Tea and you don't have to leave a tip. Most of our locations are large enough to accomodate big groups and we have lots of flat panel tv showing sports. Our Parisian Burger promotion has had a fantastic repsonse - we have sold almost 10,000 Parisian Burgers and Super Fries in just over a month! THANK YOU ALL FOR YOUR SUPPORT.

John Berwald, founder

Oh, I forget to say - ALL BURGERS ARE 1/2 PRICE ON SATURDAYS BETWEEN 11-4 (including the Parisian Burger).

Enjoy -

John

AW's tops Pezzella's...easily. I can honestly say I've eaten around 15 of these things since the beginning of January! My only complaint is that there seems to be a lack of consistency between various Willy's locations. For example, Sunnyvale is skimpy on the tots while Camden piles them on the plate. Blossom Hill gives you a smaller size side of slaw while at Camden and Sunnyvale it seems like they're even using bigger bowls. The inconsistency is pretty annoying and if the burger ends up only being for a limited time, I'll more than likely stop going to Willy's...unfortunately, the Parisian burger is the only thing keeping me from going elsewhere.

I had a parisian burger at the San Antonio location with my aunt and grandmother. My aunt actually worked at Lindas through out high school. I thought the burger was ok, sauce was a little bitter. My grandmother enjoyed it but my aunt was the real test. She said the sauce was too bitter, the burger did "shoot out of the back", she did say it was a good attempt. We will be trying the ones at the store closer to our houses in Sunnyvale. Great idea.

I was a kid when I last enjoyed a Parisian at the original Linda's and the obvious difference wasn't the sauce...it was Willey's lack of two meat patties. ...I'd think that difference would've been obvious before even tasting the burger to someone who once worked there...

At the Parisian burger at A'Willys a week ago. I didn't go in with the expectation of getting an exact replica. Instead I went in with the thought that I'd be having a little walk back memory lane. It did the trick. The sauce was good enough for me to have a great time eating.

I'm from the Cubberley HS Class of '67 and we will be holding our 60th Birthday at Armadillo Willys because of John's attempt to bring us all back home a little bit.

Rick wrote:

I didn't go in with the expectation of getting an exact replica. Instead I went in with the thought that I'd be having a little walk back memory lane.

Well said.

pat pezzella wrote:

went to Mt. View high class 61 been doing linda burger at Pezzellas restaurant in Sunnyvale for last five months and the bun is very very close to originial sauce is perfect also don't forget double patty....come try it

This is Dougie Christensen!, Yes, stuck in Texas, I have a day dream about Lindas, and there you are! Boy, what I do to come back to good ole Mt View and The Villa Napoli. Mom,(Betty C) is doing well, living in Phoenix. Looking forward to coming by one day soon, God Bless. Dougie. PS, I'm going to try some for my self soon, but Sourdough ain't so much happen'in around these parts, if you know what I mean....and for everybody else out dare I have to say "from what I said, you don't understand!/?"
Best to all

Very good