Cox: Every town needs a place like Cotati’s Hot Spot

What’s not to love about the Hot Spot in Cotati? It pushes all the right buttons.

1. It’s got the nostalgia thing going on. You might have found a place like this near your high school. Chocolate malts and burgers. No poodle skirts, though. It’s not going full Mel’s Drive-In.

2. Simplicity. It’s just a little hole in the wall on Old Redwood Highway right in the middle of town, but it’s clean and sunny and full of good vibes. The menu is small and all-American. This comfort food is so comfy, you might nod off after your cup of farfalle noodles with four-cheese sauce.

3. The prices. That noodle and cheese cup is just $5. A retro PBJ sandwich can be done your way, with bread toasted or not, the peanut butter creamy or crunchy, the jam strawberry or grape, and you can add Nutella or bananas. It’s all for just $2.50. Ditto for an all-beef hot dog.

4. Lagunitas Brewery’s “Lil Sumpin” is on tap. A pint is $5. The wine list is short at four wines, but a Napa Valley cabernet sauvignon labeled “ONE” (one grape, one vineyard, one appellation) is $40 a bottle and only 402 cases were made.

5. The tables and counters. Under the clear Plexiglas that covers each table or counter is one of the following: German and American beer coasters, a Scrabble board, a Monopoly board with fake money, pennies, nickels, and bottle caps. The seats of the stools at the front counter are in the shape of bottle caps. All this is great fun.

6. A phone charging station, for when you’re hanging out and your battery is weak.

7. You may be hanging out at length, because the place is open until 1 a.m. three days a week, and to 11 and 10:30 p.m. on the other two days.

8. The German touches. Owners Sheila (who cooks) and Reggie Slater are Americans, but met in Germany, hence the German beer coasters, the Doppelbock Dunkel on tap and Vollbier Hell by the bottle (dunkel and hell are the German words for dark and light, respectively), and the Brat Cup, consisting of “authentic bratwurst and mashed potatoes” for $5. Sehr Deutsch.

9. The food. It’s really good.

To get right to the heart of the matter, the Small Hamburger ($5 ??½) is four to five ounces of fresh, never frozen, pasture-raised beef never given antibiotics or hormones. The Large Hamburger is six to seven ounces and costs $2 more. For toppings, choose among ketchup, mustard, mayo, pickles, onions, barbecue sauce, Hot Spot hot sauce, and jalapeños. If you want lettuce and tomato on it, just ask. The buns are fresh made with white flour.

If you want a cheeseburger, you can choose blue cheese, cheddar, pepper jack, or American and the burgers are 50 cents more.

Today’s chefs tend to gussy up the hamburger. Case in point: the June 1 issue of New York magazine had photos of 41 different “New York” burgers. I’ll give you a typical one: “El Colmado Butchery’s Hamburguesa with Bacon and Cheese,” a towering stack of beef, pickles, bacon, cheese, and more a good eight inches high for $16. The Hot Spot’s burgers are refreshingly simple and comprehensible. With the hamburger, more can easily be less.

A bowl of Shoestring Fries ($2.50 ???½) approached perfection. No greasy oil on them, perfectly cooked, clean-tasting, lightly salted, and generously overflowing their paper bowl. I like them plain, but if you like loading them up, you can do that for an extra dollar and cover them with chili, cheese, onions, and jalapeños.

Here’s a rarity these days: a Chocolate Malt ($4 ???) that actually tastes like malted milk.

Other highlights include a Grilled Chicken Sandwich ($6 ???), made with local chicken grilled but still juicy, on that good bun, with whatever toppings you like. You’re not left out if you’re vegan or vegetarian, because the Quinoa Vegi Burger ($5 ???) is far better than those impostors in the freezer at the market.

Return to your childhood with the Grilled Cheese Sandwich ($3.75 ??½). White bread, your choice of cheese and toppings, grilled with a smoosh of butter.

To sum up: Every town needs a place just like Cotati’s Hot Spot.

Jeff Cox writes a weekly restaurant review for the Sonoma Living section. He can be reached at jeffcox@sonic.net