Restaurant Review: The Swingin Door (San Mateo, CA)

106 E 25th Ave
San Mateo, CA 94497
(650) 522-9800

Category: Bars, Burgers

Since moving to the bay area, I've kept a mental list of places I really need to try because of something uniquely gimmicky and intriguing about the place.

I read an article in SF Gate, watched a program on KRON, and heard from multiple friends about some pub in San Mateo where masochists and sadists alike come to suffer/celebrate or torture others via the consumption of habanero burgers. Of course, I immediately forgot the name of the place and my mind went wild contemplating the thrill and challenge of eating one of those famed fire patties.

My boyfriend and I found ourselves in San Mateo, and we happened upon a place he recognized as The Prince of Wales Pub. He told me tales of how he frequented it with his co-workers to haze newbies with the habanero burgers, and my imaginary antennae readjusted as the memory of wanting a habanero burger from the Peninsula rushed into my head.

I had never been to The Prince of Wales, so I can't compare The Swingin Door to its predecessor in terms of decor, service, clientele, etc. Didn't know about the history of the PoW or the drama that accompanied the change of ownership. I only had two things on my mind: Pleasure and Pain.

I could barely contain my rising excitement over finally challenging my tastebuds with the very burger that seared humility into hundreds of blubbering, temporarily reformed, tough guys. At the same time I was overwhelmed with anxiety over the inevitable delayed bowel damage that would result due to my self-imposed punishing.

My boyfriend told me that ice cream is sold at the bar to ease the hot, but remembering my curse of lactose intolerance, I stuck to the tall cool glass of Stella Artois instead. HAAAAAAAAA!!! ... as if there wouldn't already by enough damage done to my insides by the rectum-scorching hot sauce!!!

I overheard a friend of the bartender complaining about how someone's Yelp review claimed that fried pickles were no longer served at the bar and ... yada yada yada ... my brain was already daydreaming about fried pickles so I didn't hear the rest of his diatribe. I wiped the anticipatory drool off my chin, walked over to the bar and ordered myself a basket of English Wallys. Crispy batter + pickle spears, hot and slick with oil = crazy delicious... screw Mr. Pibb and Red Vines!

The moment of truth came, and I was a little disappointed by the lack of fanfare. The sauce-topped burger sat very unthreateningly on an ordinary bun. There were no flames dancing menacingly atop the patty. A cartoon version of the devil with a pitchfork didn't magically appear on the table to talk smack while I conjured the courage to take my first bite.

Like prior reviewers noted, the hot takes a minute to hit you before augmenting, it's best to just plow through and keep eating until you're finished, and it doesn't feel as painful as you would have thought once the sweating and swelling go down. :P

On a pain scale of 10, the burger tastes like a 5 or 6 going in ... but the sucker feels like an 8 or 9 coming out. Ouchie for your poopie.

P.S. It's worth noting that my non-foodloving boyfriend said that the seasoning for their cajun fries was really good and he devoured almost everything in his basket. http://www.yelp.com/user...

May as well jump in!

At long last, I've created a blog. Just like everyone else. Yay me.

Now, I have to update my Myspace profile, my Friendster profile, my Yahoo 360 profile, my LinkedIn profile, my Yelp profile, my Tribe profile and ... tada... my blog. What was I thinking?

I've been on the down-low for the last year and haven't posted much about my day to day existence to share with the world. This has been an exciting(?) year, but it's raced by so quickly. I never really felt that I had time to capture in words all that has been going on in my world.

Long story short, I left my job at UCSF last July and decided to bite the bullet and start preparing for the California Bar Exam. I was pretty sure that I was going to fail the February exam and freaked out about it enough to postpone my attempt until the July exam which falls next week.

I know. What was I thinking, right? Anyhoo, it's one week from exam time, and I'm dealing with anxiety, insomnia, GI problems and all sorts of stuff that I'll spare you the gory details of.
During a study break yesterday, I found this fabulous website where you can create unique South Park versions of people: http://www.sp-studio.de

Naturally, I couldn't get back to studying or sleep until I had created images of my lovely family and boyfriend!! What follows are cartoon representations of each person which are frighteningly realistic. Everyone in my family is adorable ... what can I say? Don't hate.


This is me. I'm a reader. I'm a studier. I'm a scared. Normally, my eyes aren't this large and round, but I'm so glazed over from the reading that I may have permanently altered my looks from staring at my computer too long.

This is my boyfriend, Javier. Isn't he adorable? To answer your question, yes, he really looks this cute in person. As you can see, he enjoys soccer, playing guitar and listening to his iPod. What you do not know, however, is that he also enjoys ACDC (he's wearing an ACDC t-shirt, but it's hidden by his rad blue guitar).

This is my mom. She, too, really does look this adorable in person (I have to say that her South Park recreation is quite uncanny ... I think that is even her correct lipstick color!). Mom loves Jesus, music and her iPod ... I'm guessing in that order. :) I'm hoping in that order, otherwise my dad will turn in his grave. Dad was a pastor among many other things (he lived many lifetimes in his brief 60 years...I'm sure I'll get into that later on).

This is my brother, Hyung. I think that if I could have found a regular button down shirt, that would have been a more appropriate outfit for him. Because of the suit jacket, this is kind of a stuffy version of my bro. As is the theme of this entry, my brother also loves his iPod. He also always is attached to his phone because he's a bigwig at work and needs to be able to access his email, vm, etc. at all times. He also likes golf and music, but I couldn't find a golf club for this pic. He also likes poker, but the cards looked silly on this pic.


This is Joyce, my sister in law. She loves coffee, hence the coffee cup ... there was no Starbucks or travel mug option. She is also a fan of her cell phone, especially since she is always on the go taking care of the kids (more to come on them, too). In real life, Joyce has much nicer hair than in this picture. Unfortunately, there wasn't a hair option that actually had body without resembling a 'fro. Each of the pieces of clothing she has on in this picture seems similar to something I've seen her wearing in real life. She's never looked this dowdy before, though. Strange what cartoons can do to a person.


This is Sandra, my sister. Sandra lives in a desert, so she gets to wear light and summery clothing year round and has a perma-tan. She also contends with many children, so I gave her a cell phone. For whatever reason, Sandra's hair has always been sort of light ... not exactly black. Kind of dark brown with hints of red. Can you tell from the pic?


This is Brian, my brother in law. He used to be a huge South Park fan until one year when every guest at his birthday party gave him a gift related to South Park. Since he's a doctor, I think that he (and/or my sister) decided it was time for him to leave South Park behind and "mature", whatever that means. Brian used to play soccer and the drums, but (as most people with children) he says that he doesn't have the time now that he's got kids. He still plays poker once in a while, though, I hear. Really, though, that's not shocking since it seems like almost everyone in my family loves gambling or some sort.

So, that's my immediate family in a tiny nutshell. These blurbs are not by any means inclusive of all the characteristics, hobbies and quirks of everyone. I just sort of included a brief description that explains the items in each picture. Let's face it. This entire blog is all about the pictures ... they are so freakin' cute!

This is it for my first post. That was a long enough study break for me. Wish me luck, and I'll try to write once in a while.

Feel free to comment if you have something nice to say. If you don't, then keep it to yourself or tell it to someone who cares about your opinion. :P