As for a Bay Area equivalent to Tommy's, I haven't found anything even close. There are good burgers to be had here, but not the Tommy's-style chiliburger.
still looking for a chiliburger in the nashville area that competes with Tommy's in L.A.. any suggestions??
Love it or not, you have to agree that the chiliburger is to L.A. what the Cheesesteak is to Philadelphia, The Pizza is to Chicago, etc. and that Tommy's is a local institution akin to Geno's Steaks in Philly.
The Tommy's burger is wonderful creation (it's irreducibly complex and could not have come about without intelligent design)
When they would not let Nikita into Disneyland he and Nixon went to Tommy's for a chili burger.....
There is a large and very popular burger chain in the L.A. area known as Tommy's. They serve the absolute best damn chili burgers you will ever eat in your life.
For those who don't know, Tommy's Burgers makes the best chili burgers. They are the messy and greasy and sloppy but boy are they good. They first thing I learned about eating a Tommy's burger is that you have to pick up a LOT of napkins! Absolutely fabulous! Makes my mouth water already!