Sorry for the hiatus. As I mentioned in my previous post, I have been (unsuccessfully) dieting. The diet was supposed to continue but this place was too darn enticing to pass up.
Mel’s Drive-In sits on Sunset Boulevard in West Hollywood, California (not to be confused with West Hollywood, Denmark). I was led to believe this very Mel’s Diner was the location for many of the scenes in American Graffiti. A quick internet search engine investigation shows I had been duped; Mel’s was the location of those scenes, but it was at their location near San Francisco, which no longer exists.
Regardless, this place achieves what many diners try for: an authentic 1950s style diner. By the way, why do all these diners try to look like the 50s? Was that the golden age of diners? Was that the peak of diner technology? Are we to assume a modern-style diner would not succeed in today’s economy? What I’m saying is I believe the diner industry is missing a huge opportunity, and I’ve put in the research to make it work.
Anyway, Mel’s sure knows how to make it look like the 1950s. All the workers were wearing pink shirts promoting the Marvelous Mrs. Maisel. As I looked at the menu I suddenly remembered this blog existed and went straight to the back of the menu. Front and center it read, “Mel’s Deluxe Sundaes.” I order it a la hot fudge.
I know what you’re thinking, “that’s just a tiny spoon and a tiny plate.” Don’t be fooled by poor photography skills, this thing was huge. As our server brought it out to me, he called it the “diet sundae.” This undoubtedly was not the first time he used that joke, and it definitely wouldn’t be the last.
This thing is pure art. Just look at it. I didn’t want to touch it, but I had to.
Quality of Toppings:
I was genuinely intimidated by the sheer amount of whipped cream on top of this, but it’s actually quite deceiving. Rather than just a tower of cream, it was more of a protective shell around the top scoop of ice cream. The nuts were as good as nuts can be.
Quality of Fudge:
There was so much fudge. I feel like all the times I complained about there not being enough fudge on a sundae was made up for by this one alone. If you look at the picture, you can see there is essentially an oil well of hot fudge underneath the ice cream. This did lead to a “problem,” if you want to call it that, where I didn’t ration out my vanilla ice cream enough and I had a pool of leftover fudge. I could’ve drunk the rest of it like the slob I truly am, but I have standards.
Level of Comfort Ordering a Hot Fudge Sundae:
Our server seemed excited when I said I wanted the sundae as if I was being celebrated for it or something. It took a little longer to come out, but there was obviously a lot of material to work with.
Would I Rather Get a McDonald’s Sundae?
This sundae was almost $9 after I looked at the receipt (which is better than I remember it being), but 9 bucks are 9 bucks. But sure, I’d choose this over McDonald’s.
Final Score: 8.3/10
Hot for Fudge 