[Photographs: Damon Gambuto]

I like so many things about Miss Peaches Soul Food Eatery in North Hollywood. It's a hole-in-the-wall eatery that's been around in one form or another for over a decade. They serve up a variety of, you guessed it, soul food that tickle your childhood's memory of sugary sweet tea summers. They serve drinks in charming, old Mason jars even if it's Kool-Aid (yes, they make their own).

Their soul food is authentic—which is to say, it's spotty. During my journeys into the small restaurants of the South, I found that while one person's biscuits and white gravy would just about send me South for good, the next dish would make me wonder why I was there in the first place. Although the winners far outweigh the misses at Miss Peaches, when I stopped by for lunch the other day I experienced the latter. Even worse, it was because of their burger.

The Straight Up Burger is a simple quarter-pound affair that is set against a really nice and well-toasted bun. (Let me take a moment to tell all the burger eateries out there that it pays to heat your buns. Whether you griddle them with some butter, toast them, or just pop them in a warmer, I always like buns better when they are warmer than room temperature.) Miss Peaches toppings were all fresh, if not top notch, and added that nice crisp texture that plays against the squish of the bun; it's the balance I look for.

Unfortunately, the patty was far too small for the scale of the bun and toppings. And there goes the balance. It was more than just a poor meat-to-bun ratio; there were cooking issues with the patty. I ordered a couple of burgers medium rare and both came out well done. There wasn't any noticeable juice left to enjoy, and the texture of the meat suffered for it.

This fault is in evidence here in the cross-section. I know a lot of folks can't handle any pink in their patties, and I'll even forgive some overcooking if there is still flavor teased out of the patty, but that wasn't the case here. It's really too bad—the well-chosen commercial bun and toppings seemed like they'd match nicely with a lot of different patty choices just as long as there large enough to match the bun.

The Daddy's BBQ Burger is a special creation by the wonderfully endearing chef/proprietor Connell Moss, an admitted "experimenter" with his food. Unfortunately, this experiment wasn't too successful. He adds caramelized onions and barbecue sauce to the Straight Up Burger that wind up tasting too sweet by half. Moss has come up with some great creations in his time, but this isn't one of them.

The crinkle cut fries are good enough, but why not go down firing by ordering a plate of them smothered in gravy and cheese? That's what one of my lunchmates did, and I suspect he was the happiest of the group. The gooey cheese and gravy was indulgent and surprisingly not just a soupy mess.

Moss stopped by and chatted with us and introduced us to the butter cake he's been playing around with. He's made a version of it for a while, but recently he's been adding some new ingredients. I tried the red velvet and chocolate chip versions. It tasted like a cake in which the icing-to-cake ratio had been flipped. It was a hit with the folks that I was with, but less so for me. That said, Miss Peaches made my birthday cake this past year and it was a rich and delicious traditional red velvet that's worth tracking down if you are a fan of that cake.

I know that Miss Peaches has the potential to make a great burger. So much of Moss's soul food is spot on. He may not have figured out his burger just yet, but given his experimenter's impulse I'm confident that somewhere down the road he will. Until then I'll be ordering the chicken and waffles.

About the author: Damon is one of our roving burger reporters and food writers. When he's not eating more than is warranted or healthful (and then writing about it) he can be found writing and producing for television and film.