Louis' List: Le Tub

WSVN -- Louis: "Hey, what's up, we're in Hollywood, and we're hunting down the best burger in America, and I think we found it."

Sometimes you're just not feeling French, you're not craving crabs nor have a hankering for jalapeno hamachi.

Yes, there comes a time when only a big juicy burger will calm the savage beast inside your belly, and Le Tub in Hollywood has got one of the best I've ever tasted.

Steve Sidle: "Hey Louis, welcome."

Louis: "I'm so excited to come back."

That's Steve Sidle, Le Tub's owner.

There's absolutely nothing fancy about this place at all. What you see is what you get, a wooden shack built in the mid-70s on the Hollywood Intercoastal, on top of what used to be an old Sunoco gas station. Now it's littered with old toilets and bathtubs, acting as makeshift planters, left over from when the joint's original owner was remodeling his house and building what was then just a beer and oyster bar.

Steve Sidle: "He started piling all his junk out there, and the city came in and told him he has to clean his garbage up, so with his garbage he built Le Tub, and that's how we started with the bathtubs."

Louis: "So this is basically a garbage dump?"

Steve Sidle: "You got it, Louis, just a garbage dump. Thank you."

Louis: "That is so classic."

Steve Sidle: "So when people come, remember that. It's a garbage dump."

A garbage dump with a million-dollar view and a-million dollar tasting burger. Locals always knew the burgers were legendary.

It was one of Hollywood's best kept secrets. I didn't even know about it, then, in 2005, "GQ Magazine" declared the Le Tub sirloin burger as the number one burger you've got to eat before you die.

And all bets were off.

Steve Sidle: "One morning we came in, and I had a line of 75 people waiting for a burger."

Steve Sidle: "Man, people come from California, Upstate Washington, Texas, New York. I can't believe people would travel those kinds of miles just to try a burger, and they did."

The locals, by the way, were not happy.

Local Resident: "I wasn't surprised. I was upset because I couldn't get a table. We came back for the burgers."

I'll admit, that's what first drew me here three years ago, and I've been coming back again and again ever since. Yes, my friends, their burgers are that good.

Louis: "I'm a purist, I don't like any cheese on mine. I want to taste the sirloin on that. This is the biggest burger ever. This is huge man."

Thirteen to 14 ounces of ground sirloin, a little chuck mixed in for flavor, perfectly seasoned with Le Tub's secret spices, then slowly seared for half an hour, locking in all the juices. Yeah, this is one messy, delicious burger."

Louis: "Cheers, brother, cheers to a good burger."

Steve Sidle: "To a good burger, yeah."

Louis: "If I was a condemned man, which I hope I never am, this would be my last meal right here. This is one good burger, unbelievable."

And even if you're not a meat eater, you've got to check this place out. It's cool, it's quirky, it's old school, what South Florida used to be like before the glitz and the glamour invaded, so hang with the locals, have a beer, watch the boats, and if you're going to die, have the burger.

FOR MORE INFORMATION:

Le Tub
1100 N. Ocean Drive
Hollywood, FL 33019
954-921-9425
www.theletub.com