If the Dick's Deluxe is Joey Ramone, the Li'l Woody is Keith Moon. If the Deluxe is a one-night stand, the Li'l Woody is love at first sight. If the Deluxe is Aladdin's sidekick monkey Abu, the Li'l Woody is Sasquatch.

Bigger, better and pricier than anything offered at the Seattle fixture Dick's Drive-In, the six-month-old burger shack Li'l Woody's (on Pine Street between Melrose and Minor Avenue) has got flavor and complexity in spades but doesn't sacrifice the good ol'fashioned burger-stand aesthetic. If you melted down every burger from every black-and-white, Buddy Holly burger joint from 1950 and poured them into a Seattle-shaped mold circa 2012, you might get something like this:

A thick, 1/3 lb. Painted Hills patty (well done but not overdone) topped with Tillamook cheddar cheese and onions and lathered in mayo, ketchup and crunchy pickle relish, couched in an unadorned, toasted bun and wrapped in red and white checkered wax paper. This is the signature burger: the Li'l Woody.

Biting in, the impression is worlds away from bland fast-food staples like the Big Mac or Whopper, but at the same time, it isn't anything you could find on a menu between steak and salad. This sandwich is unpretentious. It's meaty, hot and unabashedly salty, but the relish lends it a crunchy texture and sweetness to balance. The patty is juicy and hearty, and the cheese, surprisingly enough, actually tastes like cheese. The bun is, in a word, perfect. It's airy and moist, so you don't feel like you're fighting through a sesame-studded barrier to get at the filling, but it's not Wonderbread, either. All this goes for $4.50.

The fries are thin-cut and crispy, golden brown and piping hot, fresh out of the oil, $3.50 for a basket.

The shakes are made from Molly Moon's ice cream, and they are thick and mighty rich. The chocolate malted shake is divine, but check out more esoteric flavors, like mint, too. Order one and tack on another $5.

The menu includes a combination of fries and a bit of shake to dip ‘em in under the single heading "Crack," and given the crave-inducing goodness of the pair, I might well agree.

Li'l Woody's also serves up a handful of specialty burgers, ranging in price from $8 to $8.50. I sampled the most popular, an unlikely creation the cofounder called the Fig and the Pig. This inspired hamburger is a Painted Hills patty and two strips of crispy bacon topped with mayo and, get ready for this, Boar Street pickled figs and Gorgonzola. The smoky, forceful flavor of the bacon is intense, but it's counterbalanced by the complex and equally assertive Gorgonzola.

And oh, the figs.

Honey-sweet, with a lovely, smooth texture and the seeds popping like stars between your teeth, it takes the edge off the cheese and asserts itself into the fray like a cool breeze in a muggy room. These two, bleu cheese and figs, have a stellar chemistry. I cannot emphasize this enough: go try the Fig and the Pig. It will be $8.50 well spent.

Other specialty (and I mean special) burgers include the Trotter, which rivals the Fig and the Pig for esoteric genius with it's topping of apple and homemade horseradish.

When I come in at four on a Friday, there is rock-‘n-roll on the stereo. The walls are orange and the red leather chairs are mostly unoccupied. In front, patties are hissing on the griddle, and cofounder and menu designer Joram Young is behind the counter.

Young, a California native, explained the philosophy behind the menu.

"Our regular burgers don't come with American cheese," said Young.

Dick's burgers, by the way, do.

"That [cheese] really makes that classic American cheeseburger flavor, which is totally good, when you're in the mood for that. But we kind of wanted to go more with just quality ingredients," Young said.

In keeping with that spirit, Li'l Woody's serves top-quality cheese, beef and bacon, all from the Pacific Northwest.

"We just tried to provide the best stuff that we could, from as close as possible," Young said.

To make things better, Li'l Woody's is open Friday and Saturday until three in the morning.

VERDICT: Like Young says, if you want to order at a window and get a super-quick, cheap, totally passable burger, or in other words, the fast-food experience, go to Dick's. But, if you're willing to pay a little more for a truly outstanding and inventive sandwich, Li'l Woody's is the cat's pajamas. Try it.

Daniel may be reached at dbentson@su-spectator.com