meatloaf burger – Page 5

Big Butcher Barbeque

Published on July 6, 2014July 19, 2014 by Michael NusairLeave a comment

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Location: 843 Kipling Avenue, Toronto
Website: https://twitter.com/BigButcherBBQ

I wasn’t even planning on a burger review. I went to the newly opened Big Butcher Barbeque — knowing nothing about it aside from the name — with visions of pulled pork and brisket dancing in my head. A name like that screams southern-style BBQ, but nope — the menu reads like an expanded version of Royal Meats around the corner, with eastern European fare like chevaps and plyeska, along with burgers, breakfast, and sandwiches.

Okay fine: plans change, and I’m obviously always down for a burger, so I rolled with the punches.

It’s in a location formerly occupied by a Gourmet Burger Co., and they didn’t change much. I definitely got some pretty strong deja-vu in there. Like before, it’s laid out so that you order, sit down, and wait for your food.

The burger is the first item on the menu, and it comes topped only with arugula by default. You can choose from a list of complimentary and premium toppings (complimentary being the old standbys, and premium being stuff like tzatziki, guacamole, and bacon); I went with tomato, pickles, and mayo (though the pickles were MIA).

The grilled burger was cooked to well done, though it did retain some juiciness. I don’t know if “juicy” is the first word I’d use to describe this burger, but neither is “dry,” so there you go.

It definitely has some kind of seasoning mixed into the patty, but it’s nothing too strong; at least some beefy flavour is retained, which is always a good thing. However, whatever they’ve mixed into the beef has given the patty a distinctly sausagey texture, which is not such a good thing.

The patty also has some smokiness from the grill, and all in all has a decent, if somewhat muddled flavour.

I do, however, need to mention that about halfway into eating the burger, I crunched down on something rock hard. Shocked, I spit out the offending bit to discover a bone about the size of a small toothpaste cap. In all my years of burger eating, this was a first. Small bits of cartilage and whatnot, sure, but a bone? And one that large? Yikes. I’m a little baffled as to how that thing made its way through the meat grinder. I’m not going to lie: it was a bit horrifying.

The bun wasn’t the best. They boast that they bake it in-house, and I really think they should probably leave it to the pros. It was exceptionally crusty and either a bit overbaked, or a bit stale; it was quite dry. It wasn’t the worst bun that I’ve ever had, but it was definitely misguided.

As for the fries, they were thinly cut and way overcooked. I think every ounce of moisture had been sucked out. They were so crunchy that they struck me as some kind of cross between fries and chips. They weren’t horrible, but I’m pretty sure they no longer qualify as fries when they’re that crunchy.

Wally’s Restaurant

Published on March 23, 2014March 23, 2014 by Michael NusairLeave a comment

Location: 3480 Hurontario Street, Mississauga
Website: https://www.facebook.com/pages/Wallys-Family-Restaurant/223907720231

I recently found myself looking for a burger near my work, and again, I decided to refer to Urbanspoon’s list of the best burgers in Mississauga. This has worked out both well and not-so-well in the past, so I figured I’d give it another shot.

Wally’s is yet another old school diner in the GTA that looks pretty much exactly like every other old school diner in the GTA (I know I’ve mentioned this before, but what’s the deal? Was there just one guy designing every diner in the ’70s and ’80s?).

They’ve got two main burger choices on the menu: the hamburger and the “home made hamburger.” I asked what the difference was and was urged to order the homemade, which seems like the natural choice either way. I’m assuming the regular burger is a standard frozen patty; there’s only a sixty cent difference, so I’m honestly not sure why it’s even a choice. This is completely unfathomable to me, but I guess there must be people out there who prefer frozen? I would love to sit down with these people and tell them why they are completely insane, but I digress.

The combo, with fries and a drink, is less than eight bucks. Expensive it is not. But is it good?

I don’t know. It’s not bad. I have a couple of issues with the grilled, well done patty. There’s definitely stuff mixed into the burger, but whatever it is, it’s fairly subtle. Honestly, aside from the smokiness and the mild bitterness imparted from the grill, there’s not much flavour to the burger at all. Pretty much zero beefy flavour; it could have been made out of ground pork for all the flavour of beef that it had. Who knows — maybe it was.

It also had a soft, vaguely sausagey texture that was a bit off, though nothing I’d get too worked up over.

It’s not terrible. It’s quite juicy, at least, and there’s nothing terribly offensive about it. If you put another one in front of me, I’d probably eat it. But there’s nothing particularly good about it either. The flavour is nonexistent, the texture is slightly off, and the toppings don’t do much to redeem it — the tomatoes were okay, the pickles were fine (but they were wadded in the centre so I got a couple of pickley bites and then nothing for the remainder), and the mayo was actually Miracle Whip. The plain, fresh sesame seed bun was unspectacular and fit right in with the patty.

As for the fries, they were fine, but they tasted like the most generic frozen fries that you’ve ever had.

Master Steaks

Published on December 1, 2013 by Michael NusairLeave a comment

Location: 5895 Dixie Road, Mississauga
Website: http://mastersteaks.com/

The burger at Master Steaks, in theory, should be great. You’d think it would be. The place doubles as a butcher shop, serves mostly steaks, and boasts about their burgers being freshly ground. Promising, right? It all seems like it should add up to an above average burger. Seems, in this case, being the operative word.

Despite its steakhouse leanings, Master Steaks is set up like a fast food joint; the menu’s posted up on the wall, and once you order it’s no more than a few minutes before a tray with your food is in your hands.

I went with the Master Burger — a bacon double cheeseburger — and when it was ready I had it topped with my usual pickles, tomato, and mayo.

It only takes one bite for all that promise to sprout wings and fly right out the door.

For one thing, the grilled hamburger is an especially meatloafy meatloaf burger, with all the stuff they mix into the beef completely overwhelming the burger’s flavour profile. This being mostly a steakhouse, there’s a good chance that they’re using above-average quality beef, but with that slaps-you-in-the-face meatloaf flavour, who can tell? I’ve had meatball sandwiches with a more subtle flavour.

The meat is also a bit too finely ground, which gives the patty a bit of an off texture. And — surprise, surprise — it’s too lean, and the burger is subsequently on the dry side.

Seriously, Master Steaks: way to take my hopes and dreams, pin them to the ground and then beat them senseless. This burger should have been so good! What are you doing?

It’s a bacon cheeseburger; the mild cheddar cheese was fully melted and perfectly acceptable. The bacon, too, was fine. The bun was a tiny bit on the overly-bready side, but was okay. The mayo, however, was actually Miracle Whip (or something very similar), which really shouldn’t be interchangeable with mayonnaise despite looking identical.

As for the fries, they were undercooked. After tempting me with the prospect of a great steakhouse-quality burger and then serving me over-seasoned junk, why not kick me when I’m down, right?

Patty & Frank’s

Published on November 3, 2013November 3, 2013 by Michael Nusair2 Comments

Location: 467 Danforth Avenue, Toronto
Website: http://pattyandfranks.ca/

Every time a new burger place opens in the city, I immediately perk up. Will it be Toronto’s next great burger joint? Who knows! It’s like an unwrapped present. Exciting!

As the name implies, Patty & Frank’s serves both hamburgers and hot dogs, though it should be fairly obvious that I’m much more interested in the former and less in the latter (this isn’t Tasty Hot Dogs, after all).

The restaurant is bright, cheerful, and incredibly spacious. I don’t think you’ll have to worry about finding a place to sit.

I typically try to order a burger joint’s namesake burger, assuming they have one, but in this case the P & F Signature is so comically overstuffed (it comes topped with, among other stuff, cheese, a hot dog, and french fries) that I knew I’d never be able to taste the patty.

So I just ordered a plain burger, waited for my name to be called, then had it topped with pickles, tomato, and mayo.

Their cooking method is a little different than most Toronto burger joints. The uncooked patty is first placed on a griddle, then finished off on the grill. You’d think that this method would result in some browning on the surface of the patty, but nope — aside from the grill marks, it was completely gray. So I can’t say I quite understand the point of the two-step cooking process.

I sat down and took a bite. Sadly, it was clear pretty quickly that this wasn’t quite the present I was hoping it would be. Is there a gift receipt…?

It’s a meatloaf burger, though by the standards of this style of hamburger they’re fairly conservative with the seasonings. There’s definitely something more than salt and pepper in the patty, but it’s subtle. Still, it’s enough to knock out whatever mild beefy flavour this particular meat might have once had, which makes me sad.

The patty is also a bit on the salty side. At first I thought that perhaps this was from the mayo that was very liberally applied on my burger, but my dining companion found his burger to be a little bit salty as well.

The well done burger is somewhat juicy, which I definitely appreciated. But the patty has been really tightly packed, and is a bit more dense than I’d like. It’s odd, because you’d think that the one benefit of their two-step cooking process would be that they could grab a fresh ball of beef, smash it on the griddle and then transfer it over to the grill, which would allow for a much more loosely packed and texturally satisfying patty. But nope, the patties are formed in advance and are quite dense.

The bun tasted fresh and suited the burger well, and the condiments were fine (aside from the fairly obscene amount of mayo).

So no, Patty & Frank’s is not Toronto’s next great burger joint. It’s barely even good. I mean, it’s fine. I’ve certainly had worse. It’s a big fat meh, and honestly, I’m getting a bit sick of big fat mehs.

As for the fries, though they tasted a bit oily, they were pretty good and actually kind of reminded me of chip truck fries.

Super Mack

Published on October 20, 2013November 3, 2013 by Michael Nusair1 Comment

Location: 5960 Dixie Road, Mississauga
Website: None

Last time I referred to Urbanspoon’s list of the best burgers in Mississauga, I wound up at Union Social Eatery, which was actually pretty decent. Since I was looking for a burger to check out during my lunch break at work, I decided to give Urbanspoon’s list another shot.

Super Mack is another old-school burger joint / diner that looks like all the other old-school diners in the city; seriously, did every casual restaurant in the ’70s look exactly the same?

I came at around noon and it was fairly busy, which tends to be a good sign. Like with every other restaurant of this ilk, you order, wait for your burger to be ready, then pick out some toppings from behind the glass.

I ordered the Super Mack burger as a combo, which comes with a generous order of fries and a small drink for under ten bucks, so at the very least it’s a good deal.

The eponymous Super Mack is a double bacon cheeseburger, and it is enormous. They advertise the patties as being a quarter pound each, but I think they’re even bigger than that. It’s a burger with heft, no doubt about it.

The grilled, slightly overdone patties have a very pronounced flame-broiled flavour. It’s a meatloaf burger, though the spicing is more subtle than many that I’ve had. It still doesn’t have much of a beefy flavour, which is a shame; whatever flavour the beef might have had is pretty much wiped out by the smokiness from the grill and the spices mixed into the patty.

It also has a vague sausage-like texture; between that and the spicing, the whole thing could pass for a sausage sandwich (albeit a mild sausage — a breakfast sausage maybe).

The condiments were fine and the fresh sesame seed bun was above average and held up nicely to the very substantial hamburger. I guess by the standards of old-school burger joints like this it could have been much worse, but I can’t say I’ll ever be back.

As for the fries, aside from having a bit of a stale oil flavour, they were above average.