Come take a trip down nostalgia lane and simultaneously leap into the future of our community. Old fashioned malts, homemade burgers and delicious dogs are only the beginning when you step through the doors of Fast Eddie’s Burgers and Malts found in Top Town Crestline. Visionary owners, Eddie Urban and Tami Lynn Griff (soon to be Urban) have poured their heart and souls into bringing the mountain a new venue for the entire community.
While explaining where the inspiration for the theme of the establishment was borne from, Tami excitedly noted “I have loved Marilyn Monroe, Elvis Presley, all the 50’s style stuff since I was about ten years old. My great grandmother introduced me to all that. A lot of these pictures in this restaurant are from me growing up, my personal collection.” When looking at what to bring to Crestline, Eddie said “We had to come up with something that will fit for Crestline, that would work, that could be to go, and how could we help with our community. We are really community focused and you will see that in the next few months.” The menu features items such as “The Bombshell” named after Ms. Monroe herself and “The King” in honor of none other than Elvis. This whole menu was created on a cross country family trip from New Orleans to California.
Fast Eddie’s has also been able to hire and retain the chef who worked at the previous two establishments in this location. Edgar came in and introduced himself when Eddie and Tami began remodeling. Eddie explained, “We were not even close yet, so for the past year and a half he has been working with my electric company, because I didn’t want to lose him.” It wasn’t just having an experienced chef that they knew would make the difference “we put fresh, better ingredients, flavor and customers over profits.”
The burgers are all handmade. “Everything is fresh, the seasoning and spread is all family made here on site.” When they say family made they mean it, Tami’s brother created the spread. Tami expanded by saying, “We wanted it to be what we would want in a burger. Like what we would make for dinner for our family.” However, the food is only the beginning of what the community will be experiencing when Fast Eddie’s opens its doors for good on October 5th.
Plans to bring lively entertainment and expansion are already in the works. “The owner of the property has agreed to extend the deck out about 40 feet. We plan on having a stage where we can have local bands play, and we’ve purchased a 12 foot by 12 foot projector and screen to go outside for a date night, movie night, maybe every other week.” The involvement with, and most importantly for the community doesn’t stop there. The next step is giving back to the people that have supported them on this long, arduous journey. “We are going to install one more screen, right in the center, where each month we will highlight someone in need, maybe their dryer broke down, or they need a new refrigerator. The need isn’t the point. We want to put a ‘Community Burger’ on the menu. It will be the same burger, but maybe $3 more. That extra money will go towards fulfilling whatever the need is that month. If by chance someone says, ‘Hey, I have an extra dryer’ then the money collected to that point, would be donated to a reputable mountain charity.” Giving back, building up, and branching out. Fast Eddie’s is here to stay. Come see what they have to offer at the Grand Opening, or any day after, or call and they’ll deliver fresh to your door.
The burgers and malts are fantastic and the staff is made up of kind people. They care about the food they serve to the customers! And you can taste it in every bite!