Ready to know more about San Diego?

Subscribe

We Talk The Dirty Flat Top Cheeseburger with The Friendly Tavern’s Brandon Zanavich

Happy Half Hour Podcast 166
The Dirty Flat Top Burger at The Friendly

By Jenna Miller

This week’s special guest is Brandon Zanavich, owner of The Friendly in North Park. The Friendly is known for its New York-style pizza and “dirty flat top cheeseburgers.” Customers aren’t allowed to modify anything on the burgers, so what you order is what you get: butter-braised onions, American cheese, and garlic aioli all piled on top of a grilled burger patty.

Brandon recently teamed up with Hanis Cavin of the Porchetta Shack to open a second location, The Friendly Tavern, in the Shack’s former walk-up space on University Avenue. The stand has only been open for a few weeks, and so far, business has been good, Brandon says. For Two People, $50, Brandon chose Dumpling Inn on Convoy Street. Lauren’s pick this week was Zinqué, a new French restaurant where Troy had the First Look when it opened in September. And Troy’s pick this week was Born and Raised, where he thoroughly enjoyed the bone marrow escargot.

In Hot Plates, we talked about the owner of Pokirrito closing both the Little Italy and Convoy locations, and converting them into Japanese vegan restaurants. A crew of retired woodworkers opened up a new coffee shop in the industrial part of Morena, Claro Coffee. There will be a special winemakers dinner at Rancho Valencia, “The Soul of Baja,” featuring wineries and chefs from the Valle de Guadalupe, like David Castro Hussong of Fauna and Viviana Martinez of Mixtura, who will be cooking a family-style dinner. There will be wines available from five different vineyards, and you can meet the winemakers, too.

This week’s Hot Topic is celebrity-owned liquor brands. It’s not a new concept, but several new celebrity-backed liquors have been launched recently. A recent story in Business Insider said that ever since George Clooney sold Casamigos Tequila for $1 billion, more celebrities seem to be jumping on this train—even Ryan Reynolds bought a gin company, Aviation Gin, in 2018.

Thanks for listening, and we’d love to hear from you! Call us at 619-744-0535 and leave a message. Or if you’re too shy to call, you can email [email protected]. You can give us your recommendations for Two People, $50, tell us about any news happening in San Diego’s culinary world, or let us know who you’d like to hear featured as a guest on the podcast.

Subscribe to the Happy Half Hour on SpotifyiTunes or Google Play, or listen below.

Recent Episodes

For all previous episodes, click here.

Would you like to sponsor a podcast episode at your restaurant or bar? Email David, our producer and digital media director.

We talk The Dirty Flat Top Cheeseburger with The Friendly Tavern’s Brandon Zanavich

The Dirty Flat Top Cheeseburger | Photo by Troy Johnson

Share this post

LATEST EPISODES

Podcast

Kitchens for Good Tackles Food Waste & Empowers Student ...

Kitchens for Good Tackles Food Waste & Empowers Student Chefs

Listen now

Podcast

How The Mental Bar Became Encanto’s Third Place

Listen now

Podcast

The Story Behind San Diego’s Most Legendary Cocktail

Listen now

Podcast

Hidden Foods Co. is Cracking the Code for Picky Eaters

Listen now

Podcast

The San Diego Nonprofit Saving the World with Stoves

Listen now

Podcast

How Sam The Cooking Guy Won the Internet

Listen now

Podcast

Stella Jean's Secret Sauce Is Its Milk

Listen now

Podcast

Jimbo’s Naturally Celebrates 40 Years of Supporting Local ...

Jimbo’s Naturally Celebrates 40 Years of Supporting Local Farms & Businesses

Listen now

Podcast

Lia's Lumpia Fuses Filipino Cooking with Black Soul Food

Listen now

Podcast

Little Lion’s Chef Learned Everything from Her Grandparent...

Little Lion’s Chef Learned Everything from Her Grandparents

Listen now

Podcast

Actor Martin Short Becomes Mayor of a Food-Obsessed Town

Listen now

Podcast

San Diego’s Best Beer Isn't an IPA

Listen now

Podcast

Javier Plascencia Talks Michelin Stars & Caesar Salad's ...

Javier Plascencia Talks Michelin Stars & Caesar Salad's 100th

Listen now

Podcast

All the Best Eats at the San Diego County Fair

Listen now

Podcast

Cardellino Owner Brad Wise on Truffles, Caviar & Butcher...

Cardellino Owner Brad Wise on Truffles, Caviar & Butchering

Listen now

Podcast

San Diego's King of Produce

Listen now

Podcast

Is this San Diego's Most Picturesque Rooftop Restaurant?

Listen now

Podcast

Trying Petco Park's Best Food with Don and Mud

Listen now

Podcast

SD’s Secret Sommelier Weapon is at North Park’s Black Ra...

SD’s Secret Sommelier Weapon is at North Park’s Black Radish

Listen now

Podcast

Radio Host Chris Cantore & Chef Tyler Mars Launch New Po...

Radio Host Chris Cantore & Chef Tyler Mars Launch New Pop-Up

Listen now

Podcast

Fast Food Secrets With Jordan Howlett

Listen now

Podcast

Feeding San Diego Rescues 1.2M Pounds of Food a Month 

Listen now

Podcast

Making Wishes Come True With Chef William Eick

Listen now

Podcast

The Beach Boys’ Mike Love Puts Us in a Kokomo State of Min...

The Beach Boys’ Mike Love Puts Us in a Kokomo State of Mind

Listen now

Contact Us

1230 Columbia Street, Suite 800,

San Diego, CA