Tag: Mississauga

Oklahoma Burgers

Published on by Michael Nusair1 Comment

Oklahoma Burgers
Location: 10 Kingsbridge Garden Circle, Mississauga
Website: https://www.oklahomaburgers.ca/

I wasn’t even sure that I was going to write about this place for this blog.  Tasty Burgers has been on hiatus since the beginning of the pandemic, and I still hadn’t decided if/when I wanted to bring it back.

But you know what?  Oklahoma Burgers serves a four star burger, and it needs to be recognized as such.  I had no choice.  Tasty Burgers must come back.

Oklahoma Burgers

Because yes, spoiler alert: the burger at Oklahoma Burgers is amazing, and you need to eat it immediately.  If you’re a regular reader of this blog?  Eat it immediately.  If you’re not a regular reader of this blog?  Eat it immediately.

Stop doing whatever you’re doing and eat it immediately, is what I’m saying.

Oklahoma Burgers

As soon as I saw the glorious photos and videos on the restaurant’s Instagram page, I knew I’d have to check the place out.  I mean, look at this.  And this.  And this.  Come on.

The place itself is a bit odd.  They share a large, semi-fancy-looking space with a few other restaurants.  It’s waiter service, and when you sit down you get a handful of menus and you can order whatever you want from the various restaurants (including a tasty-looking BBQ joint that I might have to come back to check out).

Oklahoma Burgers

They serve Oklahoma-style onion burgers, which is a variation on the smashed burgers that are so popular throughout the GTA, but with the addition of a whole bunch of thinly-sliced onions smashed right into the patty.

Those onions complement the patty perfectly.  Most of them get sweet and tender — not fully caramelized, but close enough to be super tasty — and some get dark, brown, and crispy.  It’s an absolutely delightful combination.

Oklahoma Burgers

The burgers are cooked like a slider, with the fresh, squishy buns being placed on the patties as they cook, which allows them to get perfumed with beefy goodness, further emphasizing the burger’s tastiness.

You can get it as a single or a double; I got the double, and it was a perfect ratio of meat, onions, cheese, and bun.  You can’t really tell from the photos, but the patties were cooked to a perfect medium, and were abundantly, profoundly juicy.  This might be one of the juiciest, greasiest burgers that I’ve ever had, and it is glorious.  The amalgam of melty American cheese, flavourful beef, and sweet/crispy onions is the stuff dreams are made of.

Oklahoma Burgers

It’s topped with “burger sauce,” but aside from a mild mustardy flavour, all I could taste was the beef, cheese, and onions.  Please note: I’m not complaining.  This feels like the type of burger where I’d normally be looking for pickles or something acidic to cut through the richness — but here, it totally works.  The burger’s rich decadence is almost overwhelming, and I couldn’t get enough of it.

As for the fries, they’re fairly standard battered fries.  They’re crispy and tasty, but honestly?  Just order another burger on the side.  Don’t waste your time.

1.5 out of 4

The Wilcox Gastropub

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The Wilcox GastropubLocation: 30 Eglinton Avenue West, Mississauga
Website: https://www.thewilcox.ca/

I’ve certainly had worse burgers than the one they serve at The Wilcox, but it’s rare that I eat one that feels so thoroughly misguided on every level.

The Wilcox Burger: “wilcox chuck, brioche, goat cheese, roast red pepper, crispy onions, tomato, arugula.”

The Wilcox Gastropub

I should start with the patty itself, which has been griddled all the way to well done and then some.  It has a nice crust on its exterior, but the meat is gray and dry and punishing.  It’s the type of burger where you have to be careful not to take big bites, because it’s like trying to eat a pile of saltines — your mouth just can’t produce enough moisture to deal with it.

The Wilcox Gastropub

The flavour is an upgrade over the texture, but it’s not great.  This is a kitchen sink burger where the taste of the beef is basically moot, but in the few bites I got of the patty alone, it wasn’t much to write home about.  The beef is bland but inoffensive.

The Wilcox Gastropub

Then there’s the goat cheese.  I mentioned this in my review of the burger at The Daughter, but you almost never see goat cheese on a cheeseburger, and there’s a reason why.  The intense salty flavour and crumbly texture completely overpower the beef.

All of the other toppings are fine, in theory, but the configuration in which they’re applied here just doesn’t work.  The mix of flavours is discordant and vaguely unpleasant.  They clash.  The whole thing feels wrong in a way that’s hard to put your finger on.  It’s off.

The Wilcox Gastropub

I came at brunch, so instead of fries, the burger comes with potato hash.  The cubes are deep fried, so they basically taste like crispy fries in a slightly different shape.  They’re quite tasty.

1.5 out of 4

Turtle Jack’s

Published on by Michael Nusair5 Comments

Turtle Jack'sLocation: 108 Courtneypark Drive East, Toronto
Website: https://turtlejacks.com/

Nope.

Seriously: no.  I’m so sick of the no-effort pucks of despair that they serve at basically every Canadian chain restaurant like Turtle Jack’s.

Turtle Jack's

How?  How does this happen?  How can a restaurant serve a hamburger that’s so unambiguously bad that anyone with a mouth and functional tastebuds will immediately identify it as the off-putting garbage that it is?

That’s a legitimate question and I’d like someone at Turtle Jack’s to answer it.  Also, Turtle Jack’s?  While you’re here?  Get out of here with that horrific slop.  Get all the way out and never come back.

Turtle Jack's

The burger at Turtle Jack’s is incredibly dry and dense, and it’s an absolute bummer to eat.  It made me sadder and sadder with each mouthful.  The beefy flavour was almost nonexistent, with a vaguely leftovery funk that makes me think they might be precooking the patties and reheating them to order.  It’s bad.  Bad bad bad bad bad.

I feel no need to discuss it further, because it’s a piece of garbage that’s clearly made by people with the cynical belief that they can serve whatever the hell garbage they want and people will eat it.  If you order it, you’re proving them right.  Please don’t do that.  I ate it so you don’t have to.

Turtle Jack's

The fries were slightly better (because there’s really nowhere to go but up from that burger), but they were the boringest of boring frozen fries.

1 out of 4

Burger Maker

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Burger MakerLocation: 4870 Tomken Road, Mississauga
Website: https://www.facebook.com/Burger-Maker-108408953847438/

Burger Maker is a bit of an odd concept.  Apparently it started out as a place called Sweets House that specialized in kunafe, a very tasty Middle Eastern dessert.

It’s a burger joint now, though the kunafe remains on the menu, and the Sweets House signage can still be seen in the restaurant.

I think it’s safe to say that there aren’t many restaurants in the world that specialize in hamburgers and kunafe, so that’s interesting.  Alas, I didn’t try the kunafe — they only sell it in big, shareable trays that they make to order.

Burger Maker

I did, of course, try a hamburger.

I got the BM Burger (should someone tell them that BM has… other meanings?), which comes topped with pickles, tomato, onion, lettuce, and BM sauce (seriously, someone should say something).

The patty is grilled, which is a nice change of pace, with a decent amount of flavour and texture from the grill.  Its flavour is a bit odd, however — I wouldn’t call it a full-blown meatloaf burger, but it’s definitely spiced with something beyond salt and pepper, and the spicing is mixed right into the meat, giving it a slightly sausage-like texture.

Burger Maker

Thankfully, the spicing isn’t too assertive, but it’s enough to cover up whatever mild beefy flavour that the patty might have had.  It’s not unpleasant to eat, but it tastes muddled — it’s not particularly meatloafy, and it’s not particularly burgery.

The well done patty was also a bit on the dry side, with a texture that’s slightly too finely ground, but it’s basically okay.

Burger Maker

The BM sauce was quite tasty, however, which is good because there was a lot of it.  It’s zingy and a little bit sweet, with a nice roasted garlic flavour.

The bun was slightly oversized for the patty, but it was soft and fresh enough that it was barely an issue.

As for the fries, they weren’t great.  They were overly crispy on the outside and slightly undercooked on the inside.

2.5 out of 4

Top Gun Burgers

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Top Gun BurgersLocation: 5955 Latimer Drive, Mississauga
Website: http://www.topgunburgerto.com/

I’m not sure why it’s taken me so long to check out Top Gun Burgers.  I guess their original Kensington Market location opened shortly after The Burgernator, a nearby burger joint I didn’t care for, and it looked similar enough that I was never particularly motivated to try it.

In the meantime, however, Top Gun Burgers have done well enough to expand to eight locations throughout the GTA, so this review was long overdue.

Top Gun Burgers

Their fighter-plane-inspired menu has over a dozen choices, but I went simple with the Bobcat: “beef patty, fresh onion, lettuce, tomato, pickles and top gun aioli.”

It’s not the best, though it certainly looks impressive.  The smashed and griddled patty (of course it’s smashed and griddled, what else would it be??  There’s no other way to cook a burger, right???) looks great, with a picture-perfect amount of crust from the hot griddle.

Top Gun Burgers

Alas, though it’s certainly not bad, it doesn’t taste quite as good as it looks.

The patty is the biggest issue.  It’s been cooked to well done and beyond, not to mention the fact that it’s a bit too tightly packed.  It’s vaguely juicy, but still dryer than it should be. It all adds up to a patty that’s a bit of a tough chew.

Top Gun Burgers

The burger has a very mild beefy flavour; it’s nice, but not nearly as beefy as you’d like it to be.

The toppings are what you’d expect, other than the Top Gun aioli, which is zippier than the standard burger sauce, with a slightly smoky flavour.

The bun is mostly okay, though it’s a bit too dense.

Top Gun Burgers

As for the fries, they’re absolutely phenomenal.  They’re some of the best fries I’ve had in ages; they’re perfectly crispy and creamy, and the flavour is outstanding.  It’s worth coming here just for them.  Seriously, seriously good.

2.5 out of 4