Le Scoop About Le Tub; Burgers Recommended By Oprah Are Magnifique! A Bucket List Item Kicks The Bucket

The kitchen at Le Tub. 
Photo courtesy of Vicki F. from Portland, Maine.

If you ever watched the movie "The Bucket List" starring Jack Nicholson and Morgan Freeman you might have been inspired to compose your own.  A 'bucket list' for the uninitiated, is a list of things to do before you die. Depressing? I suppose, but not if you carry out your list's goals as you meander through life not expecting to kick the bucket anytime soon.

A couple of years ago on 'Oprah', Gail King (Oprah's best friend if you didn't already know) raved about her favorite hamburger joint in America.  Le Tub, located in Hollywood, Florida, is a beachy-styled hut situated along the Intracoastal Waterway at 1100 North Ocean Drive. This week found us in Florida, not too far away.

So last evening, armed with a GPS, four hungry northerners spending their last warm day in Southern climes before heading back to the arctic circle (seriously, not exaggerating!!), decided to pay Le Tub a visit and check off an item that was on the lower end of my personal bucket list.

Le Tub is indeed a shack (a shack with a tub or two), reminding me of a flat Swiss Family Robinson Tree House or a structure the Gilligan's Island castaways might have constructed had more driftwood washed ashore during their stay on the deserted island.

Water at Le Tub is 

self-serve in coolers like this.

Founded around 1975, the restaurant with its acclaimed bountiful burgers appears on many 'best hamburger joint' lists and the honor is well deserved. The fries were some of the best I've ever had and an order of succulent jumbo shrimp bathed in Old Bay was a delightful appetizer. We also liked the self-service, self-effacing water coolers located in several nooks throughout the meandering restaurant. Handmade picnic tables for dining, with toilet bowls, bathtubs and hand painted signs spotted throughout, are an indication that dressing up for dinner would be a fashion faux pas despite the establishment's fancy french name. Multi-colored Christmas lights and a pool table complete the decor. You get the picture?

The decor at Le Tub.

In addition to the burgers, our waitress recommended the barbecued pork sandwich and there are a variety of other dishes available. Key lime pie is the lone dessert and though it's a favorite of mine, I was way too full to consider it.

Hollywood, a planned 'dream town' and one of the most populous cities in the state, is probably most famous for it's beautiful oceanside hotel and condominium facilities and numerous shopping centers but I do believe that this one-of-a-kind burger shanty has put Hollywood on the map for the epicurean set.