One very recent Friday night, I wanted to go out for burgers. Jake and I made our way Downtown to go to Hodad’s. I thought it wouldn’t be so bad… until we tried to park. And, being people who don’t live around the city, we don’t like to pay for parking. Maybe that makes us spoiled or something but when I see I have to pay $10 for parking, I immediately get distraught. Jake talked me into going someplace else for dinner, and I thought of this little place I saw not too far away, just off of the freeway on the corner of 25th and Market Street.
Sherman’s Shack is a tiny little place just on the corner. There are maybe 5 or 6 tables in the whole place. Very cozy.
When we first arrived, there was a guy doing performance art… though, at first I thought he was just some weird guy running around and jumping out of the window to music. Jake and I stood outside reading the menu until his performance was through since we didn’t want to interrupt anything… and well, we just weren’t quite sure what was happening. Interesting to say the least.
[inside]
They had the windows all open that evening which just gave it a nice, airy, feeling to the little place.
[hot sauce shelves]
In the back of the place, there’s a shelf built that contains all kinds of different hot sauces. A ton of stuff I haven’t seen, along with staples such a Tapatio, Frank’s Red Hot, and Sriracha.
[quirky salt shakers]
Each table also had their own little set of quirky salt shakers. I’m pretty sure these were bought from a garage sale or something… maybe a hand me down? We also saw a set of turtles and tree stumps.
[sherman’s shack menu]
Their menu consists of stuffed burgers and tacos along with a few appetizers, fresh fish, and salads. Fairly small and simple menu.
[pork wings – mini pork shanks with sweet and sour sauce – $7]
The first item Jake and I decided on were these pork “wings”. They’re really mini pork shanks – you can see the little bone sticking out of each one. The pork was quite tender and came off the bones every easily and were covered in a sauce that tasted a lot like Thai sweet chile sauce – you can see the little pepper flakes in the orange sauce there. The pork had a nice glaze and a good outer crust from the cooking. Very delicious – especially the sauce! We actually ended up dipping our tater sauce in it.
[sweet corn hush puppies with buttermilk ranch – $4]
For whatever reason, I love hush puppies. I love the cornbread texture of them but a lot of times I get disappointed when ordering them since they tend to not have a lot of flavor. Jake thought he didn’t like them either, that is until he tried the hush puppies here at Sherman’s Shack!
These were some of the most flavorful hush puppies I’ve ever had. There’s a lot of flavor, herbs and spices infused here, including jalapeno, sweet corn puree, onion, garlic and probably more. They’re served with a homemade buttermilk ranch which was equally yummy – combining the two just made for a really stellar dish.
[tater tots – $3]
We wanted to have one more side with us to go along with the fries we were also sharing and just got a simple bowl of tater tots. We got more ranch for dipping, too, since the ranch was so good! The tots were crispy, crunchy and good – though pretty standard and simple.
[mid west stuffed burger – chopped bacon, cheddar, onion, pulled pork with bbq sauce – $11]
Jake and I opted to share a stuffed burger rather than try the tacos this time around and we both agreed that the Mid West burger sounded the best of the bunch. It came with a fresh bed of greens and red onion – on the bottom of the burger instead of the top. The BBQ sauce was on the very time and came on a nicely toasted bun which managed to stay together and not get soggy while we ate our halves.
[stuffed burger goodness]
In the middle of the burger there you can kind of see how it’s stuffed – there was a good portion of pulled pork and cooked bacon along with cooked onions and melted cheddar cheese. The burger itself was tender, juicy and flavorful and the “stuffing” just added to the complexity of the flavors. Nothing was too overpowering or overdone though – it managed to all meld together wonderfully.
Now that I know this one works, I might have to try their “Surf and Turf” stuffed burger next time – which has a garlic shrimp cream cheese stuffed in the middle!
[churros – $3]
The one kind of weird thing here was that they didn’t have any ice – so, we couldn’t have cold water to drink. Only room temperature water. Jake ordered us a couple of cold bottled sodas and also got us an order of churros as well – they only dessert they offer.
The churros, sadly, were not really up to snuff. They were not very well coated in cinnamon/sugar with some sides completely devoid of seasoning. They were not very hot or even very warm and they had that weird chew that you get from frozen churros. We really are spoiled when it comes to churros these days having discovered freshly made ones. But even for the frozen variety, they just lacked sweetness and flavor. Skip dessert here and get your sweet fix somewhere else.
All in all though, I was quite impressed with the food – from the flavorful dishes to the very tasty homemade sauces – this will definitely be a place we’ll come back in for a revisit. Sherman Shack tacos will be the next thing to try!
Sherman’s Shack
549 25th St.
San Diego, CA 92102
(619) 795-7192
Looks good Mary! Looking forward in trying the place.
I actually had a nice burger experience at the original OB Hodad’s recently (but can’t seem to finish the post). What may have helped was that we visited at night, an hour before closing. No lines, easy parking (not to mention relaxed servers and kitchen staff).
Ohh, thanks for the Hodad’s tip! I can never think of the best time to go, but that sounds like a good plan. I’ll have to try that sometime.
Looks like a great find! I have an obsession with hush puppies, being from the South… I can’t wait to try them out here!
(Also, I agree with Dennis about going to Hodad’s right before they close. The kitchen also tends to give you extra fries or upgrade your burger from small to regular-sized, at least the few times that I’ve gone close to closing time.)
Hi Jinxi – These hush puppies were really flavorful… it made me so happy! Hope you get to try them sometime. Again, thanks for the awesome Hodad’s tip! I haven’t been to Hodad’s in forever so I’ll have to re-try that adventure.
HI Mary, you and Jake have a knack for finding the best spots in the hood! I’d rather eat at some shady place and not deal with metered parking or tourists (i’m talkin’ about the downtown area). those pork “wings” look so good! everthing (except the churros) looked really tasty! bert, tc and i will have to try this place out!
Hi CC! I kind of like eating in the hood. Parking is so much easier and less stressful and there are usually some really great gems to find! I still need to go back and try the tacos here… the “drunk chicken” was really catching my eye 🙂 I think you guys would like it!
Me again…those “quirky” salt shakers look like a thrift store find! they remind me of those big-eyed kid knick knacks that my mom has at her house! totally 70’s!
Oh yeah, all of their salt shakers had that really kind of cheesy, 70’s kind of feel to them. They were all “well loved”, too, haha.