fast food – Page 4 – Tasty Burgers

Magoo’s

Published on July 15, 2012 by Michael NusairLeave a comment

Location: 4242 Dundas Street West, Etobicoke
Website: http://www.magoosburgers.com/

Magoo’s is another one of those neighbourhood joints that really packs them in; pretty much any time you go, the place will be filled with families, couples, and other locals looking for their burger fix. It’s been around since 1987, which makes it relatively new compared to old-school places like Apache or Johnny’s, but it’s still been around for more than long enough to develop a loyal following.

And, I’m sorry to say, like most old-school burger joints, it trades more on nostalgia than taste; it’s just not that good.

I ordered the Magourmet hamburger (which is their six ounce burger; there’s also a four ounce option on the menu) as a combo with fries and a soda, and it came up to about ten bucks.

The layout was much like most old-school burger joints; you order, then when the burger’s ready, you pick your toppings from behind the glass. I went with pickles, tomato, and Magoo Sauce, which the menu describes as “Mayo/Garlic.”

The grilled burger is meatloaf-style, with other stuff mixed in with the beef. It has a generic meatloaf burger taste; it essentially tastes like whatever spices they’ve mixed in, without much meaty flavour (if any). The lack of any beefy flavour is odd, because it’s not one of the stronger meatloaf burgers that I’ve had, which makes me think that the quality of the beef isn’t all that great.

It’s also surprisingly dry. They boast that they use “100% lean ground beef,” which I’m pretty sure isn’t even possible — and even if it were, it certainly isn’t something to be proud of in the context of a hamburger. Either way, it’s clear that the beef is too lean, resulting in an unpleasantly dry burger. It also had a somewhat unusual texture; I suspect that perhaps the beef has been ground too finely.

The toppings were fine. The Magoo Sauce was as advertised, and was a decent roasted garlic mayo. The dense, chewy bun, however, was far too substantial for the burger at hand, and completely threw off the bun-to-beef ratio.

As for the fries, they were fine. They were perfectly tasty, though there was nothing special or memorable about them.

C & Dubbs

Published on June 16, 2012June 17, 2012 by Michael Nusair9 Comments

Location: 1706 Dundas Street East, Mississauga
Website: None

I knew it was a bad sign when, while taking my order, the rotund man behind the register grabbed a handful of his apron, brought it to his mouth and let loose a hacky cough. To be fair, I do not believe that this man was handling any food (though he did pour the soft drinks). Still, that’s not something that you want to see.

It was another bad sign when my dining companion asked for mayonnaise on the side and was informed that this would cost him fifty cents. Really? You’re going to charge fifty cents to pour mayonnaise into a tiny cup instead of onto a burger?

Neither of these points have much to do with the quality of the food, but they do illustrate a certain attitude that I think is reflected in the lack of care that C & Dubbs puts into their menu.

The restaurant offers a hamburger and an eight ounce homeburger. I ordered the latter item, thinking that this might just be the better of the two. I sat down, waited about five minutes for the burgers to be ready, then picked out my toppings from behind the glass. As usual, I went with pickles, tomato and mayo.

Though the burger, labeled a “homeburger,” is presumably homemade (or at least they’d like you to think that it is by sticking the word “home” in the name), it sure doesn’t taste that way. If this is a homemade burger, then they have done an absolutely superb job at mimicking the taste and texture of a frozen patty.

I strongly suspect that it is frozen.

It’s not even a particularly good frozen burger, even by the dubious standards of an industrially-produced patty. The taste is devoid of anything even remotely resembling beefiness, with a nebulous, vaguely unpleasant flavour that I’m honestly having a hard time describing. It’s not very strongly spiced, which is normally a good thing, but here it just means that there’s not much else to hide the off-putting mystery-meat flavour.

It also has that spongy, sausagey texture that you associate with frozen burgers — but worse than usual, if you can believe it. The texture is strongly analogous to that of a hot dog; in fact, the whole thing bore more than a passing resemblance to a less salty version of a hot dog, which is just as unappealing as it sounds.

Based solely on the taste and texture, this could have been emu meat and I don’t think it would have made much of a difference. Any taste or texture that this beef once had has long since been pulverized out of it.

The bun was fresh and complimented the burger well, and the toppings were fine. But even the best bun and the highest-quality toppings cannot overcome such a horrible patty.

The fries, though unsalted and a bit on the soggy side, were reasonably crispy, with a really creamy interior and a nice flavour. They were quite greasy, but not overwhelmingly so. I think it goes without saying that they were the highlight of the meal.

UPDATE: To satisfy my curiosity, I decided to call up the restaurant and find out if they actually make any of their burgers in-house. “We don’t do that,” the man replied. “They’re frozen.” Can’t say I’m surprised.

Golden Star

Published on June 4, 2012 by Michael Nusair1 Comment

Location: 7123 Yonge Street, Thornhill
Website: None

Before writing this review I had been to Golden Star once, several years ago, and my hazy recollection of the burger was that it was fine, but nothing special. I was in no rush to go back, even to review it for this blog. However, after its tenth-place finish on Toronto Life’s list of the top 25 burgers in the city (and its status as one of only four dedicated burger joints to make the list), my interest was piqued.

There’s no mistaking Golden Star for anything but an old-school burger place; it’s clean and not run-down at all, but it has the general layout and decor of an establishment that was built years before many of its customers were born.

I came around lunchtime and there was a fairly sizable line-up to order, including a guy placing a takeout order for at least a couple of dozen people. The place is popular, that’s for sure.

The menu features a hamburger and a “homemade all star burger.” When asked what the difference was, I was told that the regular burger is just a plain old frozen burger, and the homemade burger features a six ounce patty that’s made in-house. Homemade it is.

I got the homemade burger as a combo with fries and a drink, and it came out to just over eleven bucks, so it’s neither particularly cheap or overly expensive.

After a wait of several minutes (I think my wait was a bit longer than average because of the man with the enormous take-out order) my burger was ready. Toppings are laid out behind the glass; I went with pickles, tomato and mayo.

My memory, from my many-years-ago visit, was that the burger was meatloaf style. I’m not sure if I was lucky enough to get a batch where they forgot to mix the other stuff in, or if they’re just no longer making meatloaf burgers, but if there was anything beyond salt and pepper in my patty, I couldn’t taste it.

The meat had a very clean flavour; it wasn’t the beefiest tasting burger that I’ve had, but there were no off flavours either, so it was obviously not low-quality beef. The well done burger was fantastically juicy, which is a rarity in Toronto, and which I definitely appreciated.

It’s grilled, a cooking method which sometimes has the tendency to overwhelm the beef with the smokiness of the grill. However, the grilling here imparted only a mild flavour which complemented — but did not overpower — the beef.

With the current ubiquity of griddle-cooked burgers, it’s nice to know that a great grilled burger is an option, even if it is a bit out of the way.

The fresh sesame seed bun complimented the burger quite well, and the standard toppings were good. All in all it was a very pleasant surprise, and easily the best old school burger joint in Toronto that I’ve visited.

As for the fries, they were solid, albeit a bit undersalted and unmemorable. They were perfectly tasty, but nothing I’d swoon over.

BBQ Express

Published on August 1, 2011April 21, 2012 by Michael Nusair2 Comments

Location: 1240 Bay Street, Toronto
Website: None

I’ve seen things done to burgers. Bad things: frozen burgers, overly-spiced burgers, too-lean burgers, burgers ground too finely, burgers with filler, burgers with bad quality meat… I thought I had seen it all. I was wrong.

BBQ Express is one of those places I’ve walked by many times, though it took the prospect of reviewing it for this blog to actually walk in. It’s a tiny place; there’s basically just enough room to stand there and order.

They advertise a homemade burger, so I ordered it thinking “how bad could this be?”

Then something happened I don’t think I’ll ever forget. The woman who took my order moseyed on over to the grill, opened a foil bag with a stack of pre-cooked hamburgers, and slapped one on the grill.

I stood there in shock. Did I really just see that? Is that really a pre-cooked hamburger, cooked who-knows-when? Is she actually going to reheat that and serve it to me?

My pulse quickened. Fight or flight kicked in. A voice in my head screamed “Run! Run now and never look back!” And if it hadn’t been for this blog, there’s no way I would have eaten that hamburger. I would have politely given the grill lady some excuse, and I would have high-tailed it out of there.

The things I do for you.

I got my hamburger topped with pickles, tomato and mayo, and I walked across the street to sit outside and eat my meal.

I took my pictures of the uncut burger, then, as I am wont to do when I’m reviewing a burger for this blog, I cut it in half so I could take a picture of the burger’s innards. Cutting into the burger, it was immediately clear that something was wrong. The hamburger was suspiciously difficult to cut in half. The meat was tough, almost like trying to cut through a steak.

Hesitantly, I took a bite. The burger was — surprise, surprise — unusually dry. It was also tough and leathery with an almost jerky-like texture around the edges.

This was also a meatloaf-style burger. It wasn’t too strongly-spiced, though this was one instance where I actually would have preferred for the beef to be disguised by other flavours; the beef had a funky, vaguely unpleasant flavour.

The only reason I’m not going to give this burger zero stars is that I actually managed to finish the whole thing, so I guess it wasn’t completely inedible. But then that probably speaks more to my gluttony than to the general quality of this burger. Seriously: this was a terrible, terrible hamburger. I’m pretty sure I’ve had worse in my lifetime, though I’m having a hard time thinking of any right now.

Billy’s Place

Published on July 25, 2011April 21, 2012 by Michael NusairLeave a comment

Location: 5945 Dixie Road, Mississauga
Website: None

Whenever I go to a little hole-in-the-wall place that I’ve never heard of, I get a little bit excited; could this be a great new discovery? A hidden gem? A place I’ll excitedly recommend to everyone I know?

Spoiler alert: this was not one of those places.

Walking in didn’t exactly fill me with confidence; the place looks like it hasn’t changed much since it opened (probably in the ’70s or ’80s, judging by the decor). It was also completely deserted at around 12:30 on a weekday, which was a bit worrisome — this seems like the type of restaurant that should have a bustling lunch crowd.

There was a fairly large rear-projection TV (the type they stopped making something like fifteen years ago) in the corner of the restaurant playing the Bruce Willis flop Hostage, which was a bit of a head-scratcher. This wouldn’t have been so strange had the TV just been tuned to TBS or something, but nope — it was a DVD. Someone (the owner, presumably) had actually gone to the trouble of buying Hostage on DVD, which is pretty bizarre.

I looked at the menu, which is posted fast-food style on the wall behind the counter; if nothing else, this place definitely wasn’t overpriced. The hamburger combo comes with a six ounce burger, a generous serving of fries, and a can of soda. The price? $6.15. It’s almost suspiciously cheap.

I ordered the combo, and within a few minutes it was ready. I asked for the burger topped with pickles, tomato, lettuce, and mayo, and I was good to go.

The first thing I noticed about the burger was the aroma. This is a meatloaf-style hamburger, which was quite apparent from the garlicky smell wafting from the patty.

I took a bite. Even by the standards of a meatloaf-style burger, this was aggressively spiced, with a strong garlicky taste that pretty much slaps you in the face.

It also had a sausage-like texture, with the beefy flavour thoroughly eliminated by the strong seasoning. The taste and texture were so far removed from what you’d associate with beef, that I’m pretty sure that this could have been made out of ground pork without the taste or texture being particularly affected.

It wasn’t bad, I guess. It was juicy and reasonably tasty for what it was, though it was pretty much a complete failure as a hamburger. I mean, proponents of the meatloaf-style burger will argue that the additional ingredients should serve to compliment the beefiness of the burger, which certainly wasn’t the case here. Whatever beefiness this (probably low-quality) beef had was completely annihilated by the other ingredients, which makes it kind of hard to argue that it was any kind of success as a hamburger.

As for the fries, they were kind of bad despite being fresh out of the frier. They were obviously frozen, and they were completely unsalted, resulting in some seriously bland fries.