Good to Go

For the last 30 years, through the small window of his little shack, Antuan Klijian has sold thousands of grilled beef or lamb patties seasoned with a secret garlic sauce.

When the orders were ready, Klijian hit a desk bell and bellowed a trademark “Theeenk you!” A customer’s thank you always got an operatic “Any time” from Klijian. But the bell at Andy’s Burger will ring for the last time Saturday, when Klijian retires and closes his restaurant.

Klijian, 62, said he wants to quit while he still feels young.

“Before I got the cane in my hand,” he said Tuesday.

Customers will miss the cofta (lamb) burgers, the enormous “Unbelievable Submarines,” the outdoor tables and, perhaps most of all, Klijian himself, a constant and cheerful presence at his burger joint on Lankershim Boulevard. Klijian said he never took a vacation or got sick during his tenure.

“He’s never sick. He’s literally there every day,” said Jason Mracky, 31, who has been going to Andy’s since he was a child. “I’ll miss him. The place is part of my memories. I grew up eating there and talking to him. It’s an important place.”

“It’s like the end of an era, a landmark that’s always there and now [will be], no more,” said Mayleen Hiesl, who has been an Andy’s Burger devotee for 25 years.

On the menu are the expected hot dogs and burgers, but it includes surprises, such as lahmajoon--a rolled, meat-filled pizza--and baklava.

The most famous offering may be the “Unbelievable Submarine,” so named when a customer saw Klijian preparing one. It’s an enormous meal packed with beef, fried eggs, bacon, lettuce, tomato and chiles.

Klijian describes his food as “American style, Armenian taste.”

“From cooking from the heart comes taste,” said Klijian, wearing a green apron as he filled several orders at once in a cramped space containing a grill, a refrigerator and a sink. The aroma of grilled onions drifted through the air as Virginia, Andy’s wife of 35 years, handed change to customers. The couple make do without a cash register; Klijian adds totals by hand in a notebook.

Klijian asks, “Golden brown or soggy?” when a customer orders French fries. As Klijian hands over a freshly made sandwich and rips a paper towel from a roll, he says, “Close your eyes, open your mouth, bite,” and “Yummy, yummy.”

Klijian, who speaks Spanish, Armenian, Greek and Turkish, likes chatting with customers in their language. He reminded a Latino customer that it was important to eat, sleep and dance in Spanish.

“He’s an incredible gentleman,” said Dennis Fitch, 57, of Sherman Oaks. “He’s a good reason to come. His personality is hard to resist.”

“I keep healthy that way. With a smile, God loves you,” said Klijian, who lives in Granada Hills.

Klijian said he has been chopping vegetables and cooking meat since he was a 9-year-old in his native Istanbul, Turkey. He came to the U.S. in 1964 and lived a few years in Massachusetts, where he worked in a metal factory. After a short stint as a cooking assistant in a Van Nuys fast food restaurant, he opened his own place in 1970. He and Virginia have two sons.

Through the years, famous and ordinary people have come and gone. Once, Frank Sinatra came in with three bodyguards, Klijian recalled. They ordered six spicy chili dogs with cheese. John Belushi, who Klijian said also liked the chili cheese dogs, was a frequent customer, along with Kenny Rogers and Tony Curtis. Scenes from 1970s TV shows, such as “The Rockford Files” and “Police Woman,” were filmed on location at the burger stand, Klijian said.

After this weekend, the property Klijian rented for his restaurant will make way for a parking lot. Klijian plans to take the 35-year-old Pepsi-Cola icebox with him.

“It’s an antique, like me,” he said.