., _ _ _ __ 16B - TIichigan Daily Weekei*Magazine - Thursday, Nc nber 7, 1996 ___________ ____1 t* About Town 1 MILLION WAYS TO DRESS YOUR BURGER AT BLIMPY'S By Patricia Duque For the Daily Krazy Jim's Bumpy Burger is the place to go for all the meat-eating and, more important, meat-enjoying inhabi- tants of Ann Arbor. Sti'f in its origi- Krazy u n nal location at the corner of South Division and V Where: 551 S. I Packard, Blimpy When 11 a.m. Burger claims to through Saturday. be Ann Arbor's ~ Phone: 663-459+ oldest hamburger stand. When original owner James Shafer opened Blimpy Burger in 1953, the menu consisted of three items - hamburgers, cheeseburgers and potato chips. Now Blimpy's boasts more than 15 toppings for burgers, sandwiches, fried, vegetables, desserts and more. There are options for vegetarians, including a deep-fried veggie burger for those who ask for it. But "Blimpy's is actually one of the only burgers that a lot of vegetarians break their vows for," said Rich Magner, proprietor of Blimpy Dig 90. Burger. The possibilities for a burger are endless - there are more than 1,245,760 possible Blimpy's combina- tions! "There are no two Blimpy Burgers that are the same - ever," Magner said. Magner began s Blimpy working at Blimpy Burger in 1969 and 9 .: continued until vision St. 1974. In 1971, 1.0 p.m. Monday Magner designed Blimpy's signature . T-shirt with the teddy bear mascot. Magner does most of the artwork for Blimpy's and his brainchild was the Blimpy bear. The owner, Jim Shafer, commissioned Magner to draw a T-shirt with some sort of cow mascot. "I don't do cows, so I did the bear,' Magner said. He is promoting the bear image by including the bears in ads and by sculpting the families of snow bears that have been perched under Blimpy's awning in the winter time since 1992. The bear figures, made with just fresh- ly fallen snow, can last from a couple days to a month if it stays consistently snowy and cold. After other endeavors in the restaurant business, Rich came back to Blimpy's, reopening it in March 1992 as the pro- prietor, taking over for Shafer. Shafer molded Blimpy's into what it is today, and Magner continues the tradition. Blimpy Burger is unique in its own right. "We grind the beef ourselves, so it's never more than a day old," Magner said. The beef is never frozen, and all the products are made in the establish- ment, except for the fries and the buns. Blimpy's cooks its burgers in a partic- ular way - the hamburger meat, which yields 10 patties to the pound, is rolled up into small balls when raw, placed on the grill and smashed flat. All the patties are the same size, so they take the same amount of time to cook. "Ten patties takes the same amount of time to cook as two patties," Magner said. So no matter how big the burger, the wait for an order will never be very long. The burgers range in size from a double to a quint, which equals a half- pound of beef on one bun. The menu DAMIAN PETRESCU/Daily Krazy Jim's Buimpy Burger offers a lot more than just burgers. stops at the quint burger, "but people can get as many patties as they want," Magner said. So far, the biggest burger anyone has eaten included 37 patties. Roderic Collins, 27, of Ann Arbor, broke his own record of 32 patties in 70 minutes this past July. Collins came into Blimpy's and ordered a 40-pattie burg- er, with cheese on all of them and a few sides, and managed to eat 37 of the pat- I Y' New Location i .1 1 --- Michigan League! 1 1 I '* W C I Breakfast served 7am - 10:30am I I Limit 1 offer per coupon * Limit I coupon per customer 1 --- man Valid at Michigan League only" Expires 11/16/96 - - .. .... e ...® . ....-- - - - -. .... - -..- - AN ARBR &2 2108. Fifth Ave. at Liberty 761-9700 BARGAIN MATINEES DAILY BEFORE 6PM Student Rates Daily after 6pm with valid student ID Real Buttered Popcom I c-' EXPIRES: DEC 14, 19; Popped in Peanut Oil COUPON - - COUPON gri eat scores... Law School Business School Denta lchool Graduate School Medical School ties. He ate almost four pounds of beef in about an hour and a half. Magner rewarded Collins with a custom- designed T-shirt. "But I don't like to encourage that kind of eating all the time;" Magner said. Blimpy's attracts students and town- ies alike. Magner said the ratio during the school year is about 60 percent to 70 percent students, to 30 percent to 40 percent townies. It switches in the sum- mer, so Blimpy's doesn't experience a total lull in the summer when students are gone. The parking is cramped around Blimpy's, but "the people that want a Blimpy's somehow find a way to park and get here,' Magner said. The busiest days are definitely foot- ball Saturdays, attracting avid Michigan football fans of all ages. Since Blimpy's is small, the lines go out the door. "I've seen cooks put 75 people through the line inside an hour;' said cook and long- time worker Paul Hoplin. "That's like an order being put through every 45 seconds!" There is a particular way to place an order at Blimpy's, enough that if a cus- tomer comes in for the first time, it is clearly obvious to the cooks. "There is See BLIMPY'S, Page 10B YELLOW. CAB 2050 Commerce Ann Arbor, MI 48103 663-3355 Largest and newest fleet ® 4 can share the fare 0 Service to metro airport Night Ride service * 663-3888 24 Hour Taxi Service M WMaaannaa Sound and IIR Fury Columnist Dean Bako oulos deconstructs Replican myths The Blind Pig Club features bands making it big for nearly 20 years X-Fi les' 13 X--HM13B actor visits Comedian Dean Haglund performs at Mainstreet tonight great teachers... Kaplan helps you focus your test prep study where you need it most. Our teachers will show you the proven skills and test-taking techniques to help you get a higher score. 1-800-KAP-TEST rft r s ' I 'je ,o ' ' 's rshlp on , Buimpy 6 Burger fvrt 6 Ann Arbor's favorite hamburger institution since 1953