Photos: J. Michael Short | 210SA contributor

Mark Velasquez needs some big guns to carry out a couple of orders of burgers at Candy's Old Fashion Burgers downtown. The burgers and chips are a bargain at $3.59.

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Jumping over the courtroom rail, the desperate man just HAD to get out of the Bexar County Courthouse and across South Flores Street — not to escape justice, but for a mouthwatering and amazingly low-priced burger at Candy's Old Fashion. OK, so I'm prevaricating about the desperado. But about the burger: If I'm lying, I'm dying.

WHAT: Candy's Old Fashion Burgers

WHERE: 117 S. Flores St., between Nueva and Dolorosa, across from the Justice Center

HOURS: 10 a.m.-8 p.m. Monday-Friday. And they deliver!

TASTE SENSATION: The joint reeks of nostalgia and kitsch — from the vintage Life magazines to the funky old-time beverage signs decorating the walls.

Ignore the buxom waitress cartoon on the menu that could be the Candy the place is named for. It is the smell that is the draw here.

In addition to the seven different burgers — they are big, juicy, come on a lightly toasted bun with lettuce, tomato and onion so fresh you practically have to knock the garden dirt off them — you can order seven platters ranging from fried shrimp to pork chop to grilled or fried catfish.

Also available are eight sandwiches, ranging from the BLT that has so much bacon on it you wonder if there are any pigs left on the farm to a hefty club as well as chicken, fried, grilled or blackened. You can also get the bird your way in a Caesar salad.

TUMS-WORTHY: It's a tiny place, and during lunchtime, the 12 or so tables are jammed with people who have business across the street at the Cadena-Reeves Justice Center. But assuming you are not on the lamb, which is about the only item not on the ambitious sandwich-heavy menu, and don't mind literally rubbing elbows with a gun-totin' deputy, this downtown spot is great for lunch.

THE 210 TAKE: The generous-patty burgers, specifically the Old Fashion, are what draw me back to the place. At the whopping price of $3.59, it is a bargain and one-half in these troubled economic times. It also comes with a handful of chips, but you can sub in fries for an extra 89 cents or onion rings for 99 cents.

Guillermo X. Garcia | 210SA contributor