A Bass Lake Tradition: Forks Burger
By Dave ChildersIt happens around 500 times a day between late March and the first week of October.
On the southwest side of Bass Lake, a sea of flip-flops, beach towels and fisherman hats populate a modest building, all enjoying more than just the picturesque view together. They are enjoying a tradition that has become known simply as the “Forks Burger.”
Its status as a Bass Lake staple is cemented by the T-shirts, bumper stickers, coasters and license plate frames that bear its name all around the Forks Resort.
“It’s a local legend,” says Debbie Miller, from nearby Oakhurst. “Everybody knows about the Forks Burger.”
Leslie Cox is the third generation in her family to serve as caretaker of the Forks Burger, and she grew up with the same mantra that lives on today — 60 years after the first Forks Burger was served.
“It’s our quest to be the best burger around,” Cox says plainly. “We try to evolve, but we try to evolve without changing much of anything.”
Consistency is certainly a hallmark of the Forks Burger. The original butcher/cook was with the resort for 39 years. Many other staff members have similar tenures, and Cox credits that continuity with bringing in — and bringing back — all of the customers that have elevated the Forks Burger to its iconoclastic status.
“We see a lot of the same people year in and year out; it’s like a community almost,” Cox says. “We get to see who came back, who didn’t, who got married, who has a new job.”
And the patrons get to see the same Forks Burger that they cherish — no matter how long ago they first visited the resort. It starts with the freshest condiments, and it revolves around the patty that once was ground right on site, up until the point that the original butcher retired.
“After that it took us two years to find a butcher shop that could grind the meat to our specifications,” Cox says. “And they are still doing it for us. That consistency and that freshness — I think that’s what we have been doing so well for so long.”
The Forks does feature a full menu by the way, as hard as that is to remember for some.