Bullseye is more than just a burger bar

The appetizer sampler platter is a meal in itself at Bullseye Burgers & Brew. Photo by Peter Kluch

Who’s your daddy? Well, for $9.99 you can find out at Bullseye Burgers & Brew, 860 Broadway in Chula Vista.

The Big Daddy, one of 14 rather amazing burgers cooked up at the laid-back west side cafÈ, features a one-pound USDA steerburger with cheese, lettuce and tomato on a toasted bun. It’s a mouthful — both in the figurative and literal sense.

Bullseye, however, isn’t just your ordinary burger bar. The restaurant features a surprising array of non-burger items on its menu. Diners have a choice of salads, sides, desserts and both chicken (six item selections) and seafood (three item selections).

We stopped by recently and found both the atmosphere and food to our liking.

The restaurant is owned by Fran Muncey, who also owns the more expansive Galley at the Marina restaurant located along the Chula Vista bayfront.

Bullseye is known for its burgers, so we gave into temptation and chose the Juicy Lucy, a half-pound steerburger oozing with melted cheese on the inside, topped with lettuce and tomato on a warm sesame bun. We added a side order of grilled onions. It was messy but delicious.

In fact, the burger and combo fries were so large, we had to take half of it home.

We also sampled the mushroom chicken breast sandwich and are definitely going back for more of the same. Diners can order the sandwich in one-quarter ($6.99) or one-half ($7.99) pound servings. The quarter-pound sandwich is a hearty meal by itself and goes well with the eatery’s scrumptious onion rings.

What caught our attention were the mushrooms sauteed to perfection in white wine that gave the sandwich a gourmet appeal. The melted Swiss cheese, lettuce and tomato were perfect complements.

(Bullseye’s kitchen uses zero trans fat cooking oils.)

Burgers can be ordered in one-third or half-pound servings and come with a condiment tray that includes all you will need to dress up your order.

Burger selections include cheese- burgers, bacon cheeseburgers, mushroom burgers, chili size, the inside-out Juicy Lucy, Ortega burger, guacamole burger, black & blue burger (topped with crumbled bleu cheese), a three-cheese burger (American, Jack and Swiss), A-One burger (three cheeses, A-1 sauce, Ortega chiles and sour cream) and vegetarian garden burger.

All are mouth-watering choices and range from $5.99 to $8.99.

French fries, onion rings or seasoned fries can be added to any burger or sandwich for $2.
Seafood picks include the shrimp in a basket ($9.99), super fish sandwich (two pieces of flaky cod) and fish and chips (two pieces of flaky cod served with fries), both of the latter going for $7.99.

Having problems deciding what to order? The appetizer sampler platter ($10.99) doubles as a meal in itself. We found the mozzarella sticks, hot wings, chicken fritters and jalapeÒo poppers much to our liking.

The restaurant is also known for its jumbo hot dogs — a foot-long stick of pure beef with or without chili and cheese.

Besides the regular menu, a $4.99 kids menu (under 12) includes mini corn dogs, cheese- burgers, chicken sticks, hot dogs and grilled cheese sandwiches, all served with fries.

For entertainment, there are five flat screen television monitors (one which replays off-road racing tapes), a small game arcade and a pool table.

The bar features a diverse selection of draught and bottled beers, wines and soft drinks.
The restaurant is open daily from 11 a.m. to 9 p.m. Call 426-1654.