NASA Should Do So Well

     Have I got a place for you un-health conscious, frugal foodies out there!  Rocket Burger and Subs serves up huge sandwiches and fried delights for astonishingly low prices, and much of the food is home-made. There’s also an enormous section of unusual soft drinks; for instance, there’s over two dozen brands of root beer to choose from. Dennis, one of the owners worked for A&W for 8 years, so he probably has root beer running through his veins by now. 

     I saw Rocket Burger in a listing of new valley eateries, then did a little research. The reviews I saw were all stellar, so I knew we had to give it a try. It doesn’t look like much, inside or out - it’s in a little strip mall tucked behind Churches Chicken at 35th Ave. and Cactus. But it’s clean, and everybody is helpful and pleasant. Ken gave a happy whoop when he saw Cheese Curds ($2.49/$4.49) on the menu. We decided to get an order while waiting for our friends Randy and Marty to join us. The curds came quickly out of the kitchen, piping hot, served with some tasty homemade marinara. They were a touch greasy, as they should be, and the oil was fresh. Marty and Randy arrived in time to save us from ourselves by helping to finish off the curds. Then we took a while trying to make our selections from the extensive menu. Eventually Randy and I both went for the New Yorker: pastrami with homemade slaw and thousand island dressing ($2.99, $3.99 or $4.99). Ken had a homemade-meatball  sub, with more of that good marinara and some provolone. It was the same price structure as our New Yorkers and all the rest of the entries under Classic Subs and Sandwiches. Marty went with a double burger ($3.89, the singles are $1 less). He could have opted for a Rocket Burger - !0 inch sub with three burgers and the fixings in either plain, cheese, bacon, teriyaki, or chili style ($4.99 to $5.99). Of course we had to try the fries and onion rings.

     Again our food arrived quickly, served in plastic baskets. It became very quiet, except for the occasional growl of pleasure. The onion rings ($1.99) had been dipped in a thin cornmeal batter which made them nice and crunchy.  The handcut fries ($1.49) were skinny, the way I like them. Randy thought they were undersalted, but I thought they were fine - our usual disagreement. At any rate, they disappeared quickly. Unlike the sandwiches. They were so big that we all ended up taking half of each sub home. The slaw on the New Yorkers was delicious, as was my whole wheat sub roll. The meat balls were nice and tender, and there was plenty of cheese on top. Randy had found a bottle of ginger beer imported from Australia that had a wonderfully refreshing true ginger taste. There seemed to be actual pieces of ginger in it - instructions on the label said to invert the bottle before opening. It never did tell you to turn it right side up again - the Aussies give us more credit than we deserve. 

     Other food items available: Hebrew National hot dogs in several styles ($2.49), Pizza  

Bread with various toppings, Gyros ($3.69), salads ($1.99 - $3.99), a fish sandwich ($2.49) served with homemade tartar sauce. And lots more. I don’t know how Dennis and Steve manage to turn out food of this quality for so little money, but I surely do hope they continue and prosper!

Rocket Burger & Subs

35th Ave. and Cactus    602-993-0834

therocketburger.com