This entry belongs in the hamburger helper department. I like hamburger without a roll, without accompaniments or condiments of any kind, just plain stark naked. This means that there are more places where I won’t eat a burger than there are places where I will, which of course makes for a very short tally on the “will” side. Today I added Zax to that list.

In my enthusiasm for my own repast, I forgot to ask much about other orders brought to the table. All I can answer for is my wonderful hamburger plate. Partnered with pleasing thin “frites,” also known as French fries, was excellent beef, generous in size, ground to the perfect consistency and formed that way as well, flat, brown on the outside and done on the inside, crisscrossed with marks of the grill. A bad burger has no place to hide and no way to be disguised when it’s served in sole simplicity.

The brunch menu has a lot of non-brunch real food on it, along with a special or two. The non-dampened acoustics make this a good place to bring boisterous small children; they can’t be heard at all. We saw multi-generational tables, large parties of a dozen and more, and people imbibing everything from Red Bull to beer to tea to Pepsi to mimosas uncounted.

Zax is the establishment with longest tenure since the awning place departed all those years ago. In addition to the bright and airy space indoors, there’s a pleasant outdoor dining grotto, part of which is captured in the picture here. Today was my first visit to Zax; it will certainly not be my last.