photo by www.flickr.com/photos/suomynona/Bacon Cheeseburger from Lunchbox Laboratory:There is nothing quite so quintessentially

photo by www.flickr.com/photos/suomynona/Bacon Cheeseburger from Lunchbox Laboratory:There is nothing quite so quintessentially American as the cheeseburger. And there is nothing quite so quintessentially quintessential about America in general as excess. This? This is both things at the same time.Lunchbox Laboratory in Ballard doesn’t exactly have the patent on massive, porn-y, over-the-top burgers. There are plenty of places all across our strange republic that stake their daily rep on doing just that. But Lunchbox Laboratory is ours, and we’re lucky to have in our midst a place that feels no shame in mounding seven slices of bacon up on a single, high-quality burger, then topping it with everything else under the sun before calling it a day. Also, not for nothing but I like a place that says right in their mission statement that their food is meant to occasionally offend. I respect that kind of honesty in advertising.And while yes, there were a few rough, dangerous moments for the LL back at the beginning of the year (the sudden vanishment of investors, a question of whether or not they were going to be able to renew their lease), things have now evened out somewhat and the Lab looks to be moving strongly forward into 2010 (with the promise of massive, porn-y, over-the-top hot dogs to come).