These Mechanics Are Experts at Grill Work

Bob Krauss hears a lot of grease jokes, which is understandable inasmuch as he runs a combination automotive shop/barbecue joint.

Krauss is proprietor of Acme Autoworks/Smokin’ Jacks Kansas City Barbecue on Victory Boulevard in Burbank.

“We had one TV food critic come out here and he said, ‘This is weird,’ ” Krauss recalled. “But after awhile, our return customers think it’s normal, though it may still be weird.”

Two of Krauss’ employees work double duty. “They wear white rubber gloves while they work in the kitchen,” he said. “Then when the kitchen closes [2:30 p.m.] they put on their blue rubber gloves and work in the shop.”

Seating for diners is informal.

“We have a few tables outside,” said the easygoing Krauss. “Some eat in the room where they wait for their cars. Or they can eat at my desk -- I don’t care.”

Angel-hair pasta? Actually the marquee snapped by Tom Chandler (see photo) is for separate businesses, a pizza joint and a salon.

Here’s a single business, but is it open? It’s difficult to judge from the sign at the breakfast shop spotted by Dick Barnes (see photo).

Just entering this shop is a challenge: Sally Mathews chanced upon the disorienting door notice in Ireland (see photo).

Big chick: “When last we read about Chicken Boy, I believe he was still looking for a home,” wrote Tim McNamara of Malibu. “Well, I believe he has found one or perhaps has a girlfriend.”

McNamara said the car (see photo) “has been sighted in the trendy northwest section of Santa Monica.”

I’ll have to ask designer Amy Inouye about this mystery character. It was Inouye who rescued Chicken Boy, the 22-foot-tall, former mascot of a fast-food eatery, from demolition.

Alas, I’m afraid it would be difficult for Chicken Boy to prepare for a date. You see, Inouye currently keeps his head at her shop and his body in the backyard of a friend.

miscelLAny: Monica Zech, a driver-safety lecturer for the El Cajon Fire Department, avoided serious injury when her car collided with a vehicle that ran a stop sign. Taken to a hospital, Zech was still a bit taken aback, reported San Diego Union-Tribune columnist Diane Bell, “when the hospital’s attending physician introduced himself, ‘Hello, I’m Dr. Butcher.’ ”

Steve Harvey can be reached at (800) LA-TIMES, Ext. 77083, by fax at (213) 237-4712, and by e-mail at steve.harvey@latimes .com.