I believe that I've state before that if a hamburger isn't a messy handful, dripping down your fingers and arms, then it isn't a decent burger. That said, there's a new burger joint in town. Two German partners who had originally migrated from Munich to Florida, then decided that the weather was better here and proceeded to buy a North Park location named Tioli's. About a year ago the editor of this august publication convinced me-based on a good recommendation-that we should try out the Italian food offered at Tioli's. It was a big mistake and lathough I sent my burnt sauce dish back our editor friend was so hungry he scarfed the whole meal. Needless to say we never went back and now with new owners and concept in place no tongue will ever be that abused again.

The new caf?'s name still includes tioli but in small print-something to do with the business licensing, I was told. This is the new name: Tioli's CRAZY BURGER. The d?cor is mostly the same except for the front room wher ethe deli counter has been replaced by an I-shaped bar/order counter that is well constructed and inviting. Most of the tables are the same with the red check table cloths and just recently, an art for sale gallery was added to the far wall in the dining room. When you enter the caf? you will be greeted warmly and offered a menu. Your order will be taken and transferred to the kitchen to begin cooking. At this time the process seems to be designed more for to-go customers than dine in guests so the ordering process is a little bit uneven. Wolfgang is an excellent host, but his other staff needs some more training or practice. This is a very comfortable space to dine in and hte new owners have lightened it up considerably.

The menu consists almost entirely of burgers; 21 to be exact. There is the usual burger/cheese burger choices but after that each new topping offered brings on a different European based name. Ther are also different varieties of animal proteins offered: Lamb, pork, turkey, buffalo, ostrich and even snake and gator, though I doubt those two will sell well in this area. There are several veggie choices as well. Two sides are offered; Texas beans and Crazy fries-also a small section of salads and four pizza by-the-slice combo offerings. There are the usual beverage offerings but also a large selection of beer and wines on tap and by the bottle. This menu is probably the most ambitious burger-centric one I've seen in years and will likely go through some fine tuning as the sales figures are analyzed. In the salad section there is one salad that should only be offered in the latter part of summer when tomatoes are at their best and that is the Caprese. Other than a few spelling errors the menu is interesting and I will go back until I've tried all the interesting choices.

My first meal consisted of #12, the cheeeeeeeeesseeey burger with crazy fries and a drink. The menu warns that no rare burger orders will be accepted and that is fine, given that commercially ground meat is the most potentially hazardous food there is in this country; also the health code in this county mandates an internal cooking temperature of 158? F for hamburger. I ordered mine medium because anything more tends to lead to the hockey puck effect that you receive now at most fast food joints. The burgers here all come with mayo, lettuce, tomato, red onion, pickle slices and a soft Kaiser roll, but I usually opt out of the tomato and pickle slices. The tomatoes are still in the pink cardboard stage this time of year and most operators use those vile fluorescent yellow-green pickle slices because they believe what their grocery salesmen tell them about industry standards.

The burger and fries came cooked as ordered; well garnished, everything crisp and fresh and as messy to eat as I could want. The patty looked hand formed, although you can now order pre-made patties that are processed that way, but if they aren't the illusion is still comforting. I also was offered house-made mustard and ketchup which I jumped at and while the mustard was great the ketchup was merely an average barbecue sauce. The ice tea I ordered was freshly made and I left Crazy's feeling totally satisfied with my dining experience.

On my next visit I decided to enter the European territory and opted for the a la Hamburg, which is half beef and half pork topped with sautéd onions, but this time I tried the Texas style beans as my side. When the burger came everything was as ordered but all the same garnishes came-including the red onion which was a bit superfluous with the saut?ed ones. But everything was still tasty and messy and I was in cholesterol heaven. You barely notice that there are two different meats involved-they meld together so well. A side of mayo for the fries was no problem; not only am I fond of this Belgian style of garnish, but so are the operators and unlike other places, they are willing to provide it. The new owners of this caf? have so far delivered a well executed and professionally run operation right from the start, which is not the norm. Only a few things need to be tweaked and Crazy's will be close to perfect.

There are so many options I want to try here that it will take six months of eating to access them all. On my third visit, I chose that Santorini burger which comes Tsatsiki sauce instead of mayo and the patty is composed equally of lamb and beef. From my childhood I'm very fond of anything that has lamb in it, so I had to have this burger. This time I didn't order a side, just the burger and I had a soda instead of iced tea. Again, everything came as ordered and in excellent time and the only nuisance was I forgot to order my meal without the garnish-a minor distraction. Again, the mess factor exceeded my standards and the combo of beef and lamb will probably be light enough for those who don't go for lamb and just gamey enough for those who do.

The Tsatsiki sauce, onions, lettuce and toasted bun all worked incredibly well together. The sauce had all the right flavors and I believe was freshly made in-house; the tang of the yogurt and freshness of the cucumber perfectly matched the earthiness of the grilled meat misture-this is my favorite burger so far. On my next visit, I will try the Moroccan burger as it is 100 percent lamb.

On my first visit there, I asked the new owner why there weren't more German and Austrian choices on the menu. He said that before they opened they surveyed the other German restaurants in town and noticed that they were only busy on Friday, Saturday and Sunday and he and his partner didn't think that was enough business for them. So because of that belief they also have a catering business called Schatzibrats that offers more traditional European and standard catering options. Eventually, I believe that more German menu choice will appear because the other German operations aren't busier because their food is pretty mediocre and most customers believe that the food is too heavy and filling for this climate.

As I stated before, this caf? is very well run and only needs a few corrections. I would add more combos of burgers, sides and drinks customers have to go only two to seven minutes away from Crazy's to reach five well known burger franchises. Also, the burgers from eight dollars and up are going to be a hard sell in this area and I would advise them to offer a wurst or cold meat combo plates as are common for lunch time in the caf?s in Germany and Austria. On the whole this is a great place and you should definitely support this new burger joint. I give it three and three-quarter toques.