When the Balon family first arrived in Austin in the early 80's, there was this burger joint that we used to go to on South Lamar called Dan's. It was almost a once-a-week experience for us and justifiably so: the burgers were enormous, tasty, and fairly-priced. The perfect venue for a young family.

Years and many Dan's locations later, even though our daughters have flown the proverbial coop, we still find ourselves reassembling the troops at one of the new locations: either at Manchaca and Ben White (the South Lamar store is no more) or out in Buda at the sparkling new store for either breakfast, burgers or shakes. And while I've never shared my girls' somewhat curious enthusiasm for Dan's good, homemade Ranch dressing (for dipping in fries, onion rings, and perhaps on a reasonable day, a salad) they swear by it.

Back in the day, the large Cheeseburger with everything on it was the standard order of the day for us. And for me, it still is. The bun, always the key, was fresh and the meat was tender. Now, on occasion, I drift to the Jalapeno Cheeseburger with Bacon. The taste on this one is a bit more ramped up but no less enjoyable. And even with the heat, it still has that mellow backbite. And speaking of retro treats, the Grilled Cheese is still alive and well at Dan's. This will take you back to your childhood. And at only $2.29, it's a hell of lot cheaper than going to therapy. And perhaps at the end of the comfort food spectrum, you might want to take a shot at the Chicken-Fried Steak Dinner. The CFS is classic, like you'd see in a good Texas roadhouse. And an admirable complement to the CFS is the Chicken Basket: nicely seasoned and abundantly battered strips of chicken breasts.

And you must finish up with a Strawberry or Chocolate Milkshake. The consistency of the shakes is the key and the flavors are strong: not weak or watery.

Breakfast is another matter and an extremely important one at Dan's. Don't believe me? Try getting into one of the stores on a Sunday morning! You can create your own omelet like I do: three eggs, sausage, onions, American cheese and bacon. Or, you can try the Biscuits and Sausage with Gravy, made in true Southern style. This dish has wonderfully comforting flavors. Or the Tex Mex side of desayuno is certainly not ignored at Dan's. The Huevos Rancheros with bacon or sausage has a nice piquant ranchero sauce. Get the eggs over-easy to optimize the flavor. The Breakfast Tacos are interesting and lots of fun. Even more fun is the Bacon and Egg Sandwich which is tasty as all heck and reminiscent of that great scene in Moonstruck where Olympia Dukakis makes one for Cher.

So head out to Dan's, an Austin icon if there ever was one. They open at 5 in the morning for breakfast and you can grab lunch or dinner there until ten on weeknights or 11 on weekends. This is family dining the old-fashioned way.

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