By Joe Sheeran

For a while now, I’m been telling everyone and anyone I know that if they want a burger, the best place in town is Yesterday’s Ice Cream Shoppe.  Not the Feve.  Not Black River.  If you’re actually interested in the meat between those buns and under all those toppings, you have to go to Yesterday’s.  I think I ate there at least once a day during Senior Week last year and I have every intention of doing it again this year.  $4.50 for a double cheeseburger (a 1/2 lb. of beef) with everything on it?  Easy decision.

But then I started to hear that Yesterday’s was closing.  When I first heard the news, I felt a rush of emotion: Anger. Sadness. Hunger.  Disbelief.  But then I heard it again: Yesterday’s is closing!  How could they do this?  How could they take this burger bliss from me?

And so I went down to Yesterday’s, located on South Main Street, next to Fresh Start Diner, and investigated.  And by investigated, I mean broke down in tears at the counter begging the cashier not to let the bad man take away the cheeseburgers.  I am happy to announce that reports of the death of Yesterday’s Ice Cream Shoppe are greatly exaggerated.  Naturally, I celebrated by ordering the very burger I had intended to elegize.  At the time I wasn’t feeling hungry and so ordered the single, but writing this now, I realize that was a mistake.  It’s always a good time for a double.  I’m not fat, I swear.

After a little wait, the burger arrived with minimal show; sitting in a simple red basket with wax paper nestled next to a bag of Lay’s chips (if you don’t order a side).  It looks like a perfectly ordinary burger, certainly nothing compared to the presentation you find at Black River or the Feve.  But the first bite tells you all you need to know: this is a real burger, hand formed from fresh beef, with cheese perfectly melted onto the patty.  This isn’t a burger that needs to hide behind gourmet sauces.  While the house special sauce is excellent, I would be perfectly happy to eat this plain with nothing but the bun.

I meant to take my time over this burger and really reflect on it, but I wasn’t able to suppress the cartoonish urge to devour it as quickly as possible.  But living in Oberlin this summer, I look forward to being able to enjoy it all Commencement week and summer long.