Frisco Charcoal Grill, Shimo-Kitazawa 下北沢

Frisco Charcoal Grill was a wonderful little hole in the wall burger joint in Shimo-Kitazawa. A friend introduced me to the Frisco Grill, enticing me with tales of freshly made, lovingly crafted burgers and an interesting chef. His description was spot on.

Almost impossible to locate unless you were in the know, the Frisco Grill was hidden away at the end of a narrow alley loomed over by dilapidated buildings, its entrance unassuming. The tiny interior too – white walls, black stools and a basic kitchen dominated by a large grill – was unassuming too. The only real decoration were a few framed photos of San Francisco scenes, and newspaper cuttings and reviews about the shop, such was its fame.

The story behind the place was simple yet charming, very much like the menu. The owner-chef, “Mike” had spent around 40 years in the U.S. working in sales. Finally, once his kids had been put through college, he decided to return to Japan and fulfil his dream – to open a burger bar serving good to honest “real” American burgers. I don’t know if they were exactly like “real” American burgers, but they were very good. Apparently, “Mike” scoured the land for a bakery that could make bread rolls (buns, baps, cobs, whatever you choose to call them…) to his liking, and had fresh Australian beef delivered from which he made the burgers. He made a set amount each day, and when all sold, he shut up shop.

The Frisco Grill was tiny; probably no more than seven or eight diners could be accommodated at any one time. The menu was very simple, a few options of toppings – lettuce, cheese, gherkins, tomato, onion, mustard etc, etc. – and stacks of pates, and some lunch sets providing variations on the basic burger together with crinkle cut fries and a soft drink. Draft beer was available too. Certainly the choice on offer was severely limited when compared to the plethora of exciting, even outlandish, variations on the burger between bread that places such as Giggle provide. But that was the point, or so I like to believe.

The bread tasted fresh and bready. Not dry, and robust enough so as not to become floppy once encasing a perfectly grilled, meaty burger. Neither too thin nor too thick the meat itself was free of gristle or otherwise unidentifiable chewy bits, and tasted like real food. Not processed, frozen or warmed up from the day before. The lettuce, tomato and cheese were standard, but again fresh. Nothing more or less than they should be. The fries, crisp, not oily and actually surprisingly potatoey were rather good too. I’ll say it again; really simple, really fresh, really well made and really, really tasty.

So it was that when I headed there for lunch today I was dismayed to find the Frisco Grill is no more. At first I though I’d got the wrong street, maybe the wrong alley. A walked around a little, checked, asked a gypsy woman. Eventually plucking up courage, I headed down the alley, and sure enough could see the shop sign peeping from behind the plywood nailed over the entrance. Just as friends, lovers, even spouses, come and go, so too do great eateries. The Frisco Charcoal Grill is no more. Just like dear Masako, another Shimo-Kita gem is lost.

A little glum, I had no choice but to lunch elsewhere and so ended up sucking cold noodles at Mitsuya-Douseimen, before returning home. Once safely plugged back into my Mac, the Google pixies provided me with news, from this gentleman here, that the Frisco Grill closed just last month, as the building in which it was concealed is to be demolished, but will (happily) arise phoenix like once again. Certainly hope so.

Tel: 03-3468-5744