I’m a bit late to trying Kern’s Food Hall on Chapman Highway. When it opened up, they charged for parking, and as much as some of the food shops there sounded interesting, there are too many places to eat in town that don’t charge for parking for me to pay a fee to pull into a parking lot to spend money inside.

Still, last week I was on my own for several days with my wife visiting a friend and our son at camp. After work I asked a coworker for recomendations for dinner on that end of town and one of his suggestions was Kern’s. When I told him I was morally opposed to paying to park to eat, he said that had stopped a while ago. So I drove over to check it out.

While multiple shops looked good, I was in the mood for a burger, so I went to T. Ralph’s Burgers first. I got the Farmhand and, at the recommendation of the employee taking my order, tried the sweet potato fries. The burger was pretty good, with the cheese, pickles, sweet onions and whatever “git down sauce” is making for tasty toppings. The sweet potato fries were excellent, and, as recommended, I ordered a side of Maple Dijon Sriracha. The combination was fantastic.

Before leaving, I tried Irvey’s Ice Cream Co. I order a couple scoops, and I think one of them had cheesecake in the name and the other may have been just chocolate. I’ve never had bad ice cream, and this ice cream didn’t break that rule. It was fine. I have to say, though, the next time I make this particular journey, either on my own or with my family, after eating dinner at Kern’s, I’ll drive a little further down Chapman Highway and get ice cream at Sugar Queen Creamery, as their ice cream is amazing.