U.S.A.! U.S.A.!

Each bite at Last Great American Burger tastes like freedom. No melting pot here, just an all-American combination of processed, deep-fried favorites and homemade classics, with a décor decked strictly in red, white and blue. This strip-mall joint feels like any number of neighborhood restaurants catering to local folk looking for quick, inexpensive grub on the go. That's Great's charm and, possibly, it's saving grace.

Booths -- this is a booth kind of place -- are homemade, constructed out of bolts, screws and knotty 2-by-6 boards lightly lacquered to allow American butts to slide in and out. They're comfy and just ingenious enough so that if you notice the "rustic" nature of the seating, you'll likely be impressed by the simplicity of these bootstrap furnishings. Who knew you could outfit a restaurant with a good drill and a trip to Home Depot?

Sit near the window and you can watch people wheeling carts full of third-tier brand groceries purchased from discounter Sav-A-Lot next door, while a young girl wearing tiny shorts sits down at the booth to take your order. You know you're in the U.S. of A., especially after tasting the food.

Great's eponymous burgers ($3.99-6.79) are "hand-pattied" into thin discs and given a serious workout on the grill. I won't grouse about the fact that everything is cooked well or medium-well -- an offense that would normally instigate a critic smack-down -- because it's almost impossible to cook burgers this thin any other way. Still, that doesn't excuse the scorched crust or dry interior that is commonplace here. A little less flame on the grill and a little more fat in the beef would make this a burger to be reckoned with, especially when paired with the gooey American cheese, crisp lettuce and thick-cut tomatoes that Great piles on each über-fresh classic white bun.

Ribs ($8.99) are Midwest style, wet-cooked until the bone pulls away from the meat the instant you pick it up. Great is smart, though, giving their babybacks a touch of high heat at the end to caramelize the sugars and diminish the "stewed" character that so often comes along with braised ribs. These are all about texture: crisp and chewy combined with tender and juicy, without the smoky meatiness of southern barbecue. It's the tastiest item on the menu.

Other styles of slow-cooked meat are best left to the serious barbecue professionals. Great's pulled pork ($7.99) has a fine texture, but is doused in a sauce so sweet each bite seems candy-coated with gritty, caramelized sugar. Brisket ($7.99) is better, with the same luscious character as the ribs, but that sauce is still a problem.

Both the cole slaw and potato salad are more soupy than creamy, watery mayo making each less than appetizing. But who cares when fried potatoes abound? Freshly cut ribbon chips are the house specialty and have that beautiful range where some are snapping crisp while others maintain a little potato chew. The kitchen comes up short on the prodigious amount of salt necessary to make this simple snack as tasty as it should be, but you can remedy that by shaking your own sodium onto the gigantic pile of chips that comes with each order.

In almost every other aspect, Great epitomizes that regrettable trait of American dining -- much of the menu is frozen and factory-made. Doesn't mean the food's bad -- my wife could eat an order of the super-sweet deep-fried corn nuggets ($3.99) every day for a year -- it's just nothing special. Jalapeno poppers ($4.99), French fries ($1.99), mozzarella sticks ($4.99), wings doused in Red Hot ($3.79) and fried zucchini ($3.99) coated in the same Italian breading as the fried cheese fill out the menu, all no worse and no better than what you can find at any suburban chain.

Don't think of this as a destination restaurant, because that's not what this place is aiming for. But as far as local joints go, Great American Burger serves, well, adequate American burgers and a whole lot of inexpensive modern comfort food in a no-nonsense setting. I'd stop there again if I were in the neighborhood.

LEFTOVERS

Savor Sarasota: Now that the tourists have fled the heat, it's time to reap the rewards of your year-round Suncoast citizenship, thanks to the Second Annual Savor Sarasota Restaurant Week. Many of Sarasota's finest chefs will be dishing out multicourse, fixed-price lunches and dinners for only $15 and $25, respectively. My recommendations? Derek's, Bijou, Canvas Cafe, Vernona and Selva Grill, but hey, all of the restaurants on the list are worth a visit at this price. Let's all get together and kick start an amazing summer session of supporting Sarasota's stellar dining scene through the sleepy doldrums of our steamier season. Say that five times fast. sarasotafl.org/spirit.

Southern Migration: Ceviche of Tampa and St. Petersburg (my pick for Best New Restaurant in the Tampa Bay area last year) is coming to Sarasota. Known for a huge selection of authentic Spanish tapas, Ceviche will be taking over the long-derelict historic Sarasota Times building on First Street downtown, after an extensive restoration by building owner Don Murphy of DE Murphy Constructors. Ceviche will open in September with a private dining room, a giant flamenco bar and a rooftop deck in the 3-story, 11,000-square-feet building. ceviche.com.

Tip your Critic: I've given you some tips, now it's time for you to ante up. I need cold, hard facts and raw, undiluted rumormongering. Openings, closings, staff changes, menu changes, which chef is in bed with which GM, brawls, catfights and name-calling, new partnerships beginning, old partnerships dissolving -- I want to know it all. More importantly, Sarasota wants to know every last bit of wild gossip and harsh truth about our delicious restaurant scene. You tell me, I'll tell the world.

Brian Ries is a former restaurant general manager with an advanced diploma from the Court of Master Sommeliers. Creative Loafing food critics dine anonymously, and the paper pays for the meals. Restaurants chosen for review are not related to advertsing.