restaurant – Page 17 – Tasty Burgers

The Burger’s Priest

Published on July 11, 2011July 29, 2012 by Michael Nusair8 Comments

Location: 1636 Queen Street East, Toronto
Website: http://theburgerspriest.com/

In many of the reviews that I’ve written thus far, I’ve complained about the burgers being too dry. I started to wonder: was I making that complaint too much? I doubted myself. Am I insane? Is a burger not supposed to be as juicy as I think it’s supposed to be? Have I been unfairly maligning hamburgers that are, in reality, acceptably juicy and not — as I perceive them to be — egregiously dry?

I started to have what amounts to a burger-lover’s existential crisis. Maybe the perfect hamburger, as it exists in my mind, is just not feasible in the real world. Maybe my standards are astronomically high, and a good burger is supposed to be a bit on the dry side. I started to try to justify it in my mind: maybe dryness helps add character to a burger. Maybe dryness, in the way that it tends to suck the moisture out of your mouth, makes you hyper-aware of the meat you’re eating. Maybe the increased effort it takes to chew and swallow dry beef only increases your appreciation of the meal at hand.

Basically, Toronto’s awful burger scene started to mess with my head.

Thank God for the Burger’s Priest. This is a place that opened up a couple of years ago to immediate hype. I instantly knew I had to go there, and yet it took me two long years to actually go. In the meantime, having heard nothing but effusive hype about the place, I was afraid that my expectations were getting unreasonably high.

I’m happy to say that aside from one fairly major caveat, the place has lived up to my expectations and then some.

An aside: I must apologize for this photo. One of my food blog pet peeves is the ubiquitous photo of a half-eaten burger being held in the photographer’s hand. I don’t want to see your stupid hand, or your gross half-eaten meal. Sadly, the folks at the Burger’s Priest didn’t have any knives they could give me, so I had no way of feasibly cutting my burger in half. And yet I had to show you the inside of this glorious hamburger. So here we are.

Moving on. You’ve probably heard that the restaurant is small. It’s smaller than you’ve heard. About the size of a large walk-in closet, this is a take-out place only. There are a few stools, but you’re probably better off taking your food outside and sitting down on one of the grassy patches in the vicinity of the restaurant. Of course, this will be a challenge once it starts to get really cold, but right now the weather is just too nice for me to even think about the ugly unpleasantness of the Canadian winter.

I walked in, and it being an off time (around 2:00), I was able to immediately order a Double Double from the vaguely surly woman behind the register (I’d be a bit surly too if I were crammed into that tiny space with four sweaty cooks) and within a few minutes, I had it in my hands.

I opened the bag, and rivulets of grease and burger juices began to flow from my burger. This was a glorious burger to behold: glistening, with a gorgeously browned crust that can only be the product of a burger chef who really knows what he’s doing. The two patties each had a slice of bright orange American cheese (a must for a true, classic cheeseburger) that were gooey and melted.

Just looking at it, I knew it was going to be a great hamburger.

And it was; but let me get that big caveat out of the way first. The patties were excessively salty. At first I thought that perhaps they were using a overly-salty brand of American cheese, but my two dining companions both elected to go cheese-free, and they too found the saltiness issue to be problematic.

Aside from that, this was pretty damn close to burger perfection. It’s telling that despite the oppressive saltiness of the beef (it really was quite salty) I still enjoyed the hell out of this burger.

It’s a gloriously, magnificently, decadently juicy burger. One bite and I immediately knew that my burger crisis was completely unfounded. Yes, a burger can and should be juicy. I held the proof right there in my hands.

The medium-well patties had a great, beefy flavour (which was, sadly, partially obscured by the saltiness) which was only magnified by that amazing crust. Seriously, take a closer look at that crust and tell me that you don’t want to eat that burger right this minute.

The gooey cheese complimented the burger perfectly; the other toppings were standard burger fare, and worked quite well.

Like the American cheese, the soft, squishy bun may turn off those who have become accustomed to fancier burgers. Those people are wrong. This is a classic bun for a classic burger; it provides just the right amount of heft without getting in the way, and gives the burger a perfect bun-to-beef ratio.

The medium-cut fries were golden brown with a robust potatoey flavour. They were a bit soggy, but that may be because I didn’t start eating them until after I had finished my burger.

If it weren’t for the over-salted patties, I’d easily give the Burger’s Priest a perfect score. Alas, as much as it pains me to do so, I cannot give a perfect rating to such a salty hamburger — despite the fact that I’m fairly certain that this visit was just an aberration, and that the patties normally have a reasonable amount of salt. However, I’ll definitely be going back at some point soon. If my suspicions are correct, I’ll update this post and change the score.

Update (7/27/2011) – I just went back. This time I got a double burger with no cheese and my usual toppings (mayo, pickles, tomato) just so I’d be sure about the saltiness issue. It was perfect. The burger had just enough salt to highlight its absolutely amazing, almost ridiculously beefy flavour. It was just as juicy as last time. This was a burger so beefy and so juicy that it puts every other Toronto burger joint to shame. Seriously — every Toronto burger joint proprietor should be forced to eat a burger here so they can see how a burger is supposed to taste. It’s easily the best burger I’ve had in Toronto, and probably one of the best burgers I’ve ever had. I can now happily bump this up to the perfect rating it so richly deserves.

Update 2 (7/29/2012) – I felt like I would be remiss if I didn’t update this review to note that, on my last couple of visits, the aforementioned ridiculously beefy flavour has been greatly diminished. It’s still a great burger, and still a very strong contender for best in the city, but it is no longer anywhere close to the best burger I’ve ever had.

The Yellow Griffin Pub

Published on July 4, 2011 by Michael Nusair1 Comment

Location: 2202 Bloor Street West, Toronto
Website: http://www.yellowgriffinpub.com/

The Yellow Griffin Pub isn’t a burger joint per se, though they do take pains to make sure you know that they serve over 35 different burgers, which make up the bulk of their menu… so basically, it is a burger joint; it just calls itself a pub.

Semantics aside, sitting down and looking at their menu is an overwhelming experience. There are an absurd amount of burgers to choose from, which range from relatively simple to completely over-the-top. After some deliberation I elected to go with the English Breakfast Burger: “Buckingham baked beans, HP Sauce and crowned with a royal fried egg.”

The menu proudly proclaims that the burger will take 20 minutes to cook, which seems like an insane amount of cooking time to get an eight ounce burger to well done.

The burger arrived looking very promising, with the top bun askew and the toppings and sizable patty in full view. Thinking that this could very well be a great hamburger, I started to get excited.

I took a bite. My excitement quickly turned to befuddlement.

This is a strange burger: it’s ridiculously dry, with a weird texture and no discernible beefy flavour. That’s not to say that the patty is flavourless — it has a flavour, but a funky one that I can’t quite put my finger on. I briefly thought that perhaps they had given me a bison burger by mistake, but I’ve had a bison burger before and it certainly didn’t taste like this.

The texture is almost reminiscent of kibbe, an Arabic dish in which ground beef is mixed in with bulgur (a grain) and other spices. I’m not sure what they’re putting in the patty, but there’s almost certainly a filler of some sort. It’s quite off-putting, texturally. I think the beef is also probably ground too finely, contributing to the odd texture.

Even the toppings were kind of a miss. The “Buckingham baked beans” were completely dry, and basically just tasted like they took a can of plain beans, dried them out very thoroughly, and then dumped them on the burger. I Googled the term “Buckingham baked beans,” thinking that perhaps this is a euphemism for plain beans without any sauce or seasoning, but that doesn’t seem to be the case. Odd.

The fried egg was fine. It’s hard to mess up a fried egg unless you overcook it, and though the yolk was completely solid (I’m not sure if that’s intentional or not), the egg wasn’t overcooked. As for the HP sauce, if it was present, it was applied so sparingly that I couldn’t taste it.

The bun was a little too dense and a bit oversized in relation to the patty, but it was decent enough.

I think special attention should go to the sides, because they were the clear highlight of the meal. One of the choices was fried pickles, which you don’t see very often in Toronto. Of course, I had to order them. I’ve had fried pickles a few times before, but never this good. The crunchy, flavourful breading works perfectly with the zingy, crisp pickle. It also comes with a creamy dipping sauce that compliments the pickles perfectly. I would probably return if only to get the pickles again; they’re that good.

My dining companion ordered the onion rings, of which I sampled one, and which was definitely above average.

If the Yellow Griffin Pub were just a standard pub, the bizarrely awful burger would be easy to shrug off as something that’s just present to fill out the menu and give people something to eat while they drink their beer. But burgers are clearly front and centre here. For a place that purports to be serious about burgers, it’s kind of stunning how spectacularly the Yellow Griffin Pub misfires when it comes to their hamburgers.

W Burger Bar

Published on June 27, 2011August 18, 2011 by Michael Nusair1 Comment

Location: 10 College Street, Toronto
Website: http://www.wburgerbar.com/

Unlike a lot of burger places in Toronto, the W Burger Bar is a real, no-foolin’ restaurant: waiters, tables and all. The prices, though, are about in line with what you’d typically pay at a burger place in Toronto, so you’re not getting charged extra just for the pleasure of sitting down in a restaurant and being served (aside from the tip, of course). That’s not to say that this place is cheap, only that paying in the ballpark of seven bucks for a burger is, sadly, pretty much the norm in Toronto.

The menu lists a variety of daily specials; thinking it was Wednesday, I was all set to order the Kobe burger, which normally costs 19 dollars (!) but is marked down to ten in the middle of the week. In fact, I did order it, or attempted to do so, at which point my waitress patiently explained to me that no, it is not Wednesday, it’s Tuesday. Whoops.

Tuesday’s special is the bison burger, but since this is a burger blog and not a sandwiches-that-kind-of-look-like-burgers-but-aren’t-actually-hamburgers-at-all blog, I opted to take a pass on that one.

I wound up ordering the regular beef burger. Which is fine — it probably makes for a more useful review, as I suspect that most people will be reluctant to spring for the pricier Kobe and will be getting plain ol’ beef.

I’ve been to the W Burger Bar once before, and I recall that last time I was given the choice to have my burger griddled or grilled. This time I wasn’t asked, and it came grilled. It wasn’t a problem for me, as I like both cooking methods pretty much equally, but if you have a preference one way or the other I’m assuming you can still request it.

The burger is actually pretty damn solid. Nicely grilled and not too densely constructed, this was probably one of the better tasting burgers I’ve had recently. It had a surprisingly complex beefy flavour, and was obviously made from higher quality beef. The biggest issue here is the pervasive dryness that plagues so many Toronto burger joints. The burger had some juiciness to it, but it was definitely drier than it needed to be.

Toronto burger establishments, take heed: fat is your friend. You’re not doing us a favour when you use leaner, “healthier” beef. A hamburger needs a a good amount of fat, especially when cooked to the legally-required well done.

Boy, do I wish that more burger places in the city would cook to order (there are a few restaurants that do this, but it is very, very rare). If this burger had been cooked to medium or medium rare, the too-lean issue would have mostly faded into the background. This could have been a great hamburger, instead of merely a good one.

As for the toppings, there’s a fairly lengthy selection to be had; I went relatively simple, with pickles, tomatoes and chipotle mayonnaise. The mayo added a creamy tanginess, though no actual heat (chipotles are supposed to be spicy, are they not?). The pickles and tomatoes were fine. The soft sesame seed bun was fresh and complimented the burger well.

My dining companion ordered the 50/50 fries (half regular fries, half sweet potato) of which I sampled a few. The thinly cut fries were a little soggy, but tasty nonetheless.

Earl’s Kitchen and Bar

Published on June 20, 2011August 18, 2011 by Michael NusairLeave a comment

Location: 40 Colossus Drive, Woodbridge
Website: http://www.earls.ca/

First off, I must apologize for the shoddy quality of the pictures. This was an impromptu trip to Earl’s, and the only camera I had on hand was the one in my cell phone. Crappy cell phone camera + dark restaurant = the worst pictures ever. I debated whether I should even use them at all, but what — am I going to do a blog post with just words? What am I, a caveman?

Earl’s is a slightly more upscale than normal chain restaurant, akin to a place like Moxie’s (which, FYI, has a terrible burger) or Milestones.

I wasn’t even going to order the burger. Without my camera, I didn’t feel like I could do a proper review. I figured I’d just return at some point and order the burger then. I had even ordered something else, but shortly after my waitress left, I spotted someone else receiving the burger. One look at it and I knew that I needed to have it immediately.

The Bronx burger is a towering behemoth of a hamburger. It is described thusly: “half pound Certified Angus Beef patty, beer battered onion rings, roasted garlic aioli, red pepper relish, aged white cheddar and rocket greens, toasted sesame seed burger bun made from scratch every day.” And indeed, with the large onion rings piled on there (among other toppings), this is not a burger for the weak-hearted. Piled high, it’s one of those burgers where you really have to open wide to take a bite.

Now, I think it’s fairly clear at this point that my general preference is a more sparsely-topped burger. I find that too many toppings can obfuscate what makes a burger so great in the first place: the beef. But every now and then, I have no problem eating a kitchen sink burger, with everything the chef can think of thrown on there.

However, while all the individual toppings on this burger were actually of a fairly high quality, in this case, the whole is actually less than the sum of its parts.

The main problem with this burger is that all the tastes are working against each other. Pretty much every single topping on it has a very strong, very distinctive flavour, and none of the tastes compliment each other particularly well. It’s like a symphony where everyone is playing in a different key; even if everyone is playing beautifully, it’s still going to sound like a mess.

There’s the very strong garlicky aoili, the roasted red peppers, the rocket (which basically tastes like arugula, another strong flavour), the thickly battered onion rings (which feature a much more strongly-spiced batter than traditional onion rings), and of course, the beefy patty (which fights valiantly for attention among the many assertive flavours). There’s also the cheese, but it’s completely lost among the other flavours and textures, and may as well not be there at all. There’s a lot going on in this burger, and while I did basically enjoy it, the lack of harmony among the ingredients made for a sub-par experience.

You want another iffy metaphor to describe this burger? No? Well, you’re getting one: you know that expression “there’s a party in my mouth”? Well this burger is like there’s a fight in your mouth, and all the ingredients are battling it out for your attention.

As for the beef itself? It tasted pretty good, actually. Cooked to well done (I’ve long since resigned myself to the fact that you’re almost never going to get a burger in Toronto cooked much less than medium well, if you’re lucky), the patty has a fairly pronounced crust, with a decently beefy taste and a fair amount of juiciness. This is, of course, based on the few bites I got on the outside of the burger, without the many toppings to get in the way. But even in the middle, when the taste of the beef itself had no chance among the other ingredients, I still appreciated the presence of an above average patty on a textural level. You can pile as many toppings as you want on a frozen burger; you’re never going to mask that off-putting chewiness.

The big, bready bun would probably be too substantial for a more traditional hamburger. It worked pretty well here, though, since this is a burger that requires a bun with a bit more heft to hold it all together.

The burger was accompanied by a generous helping of fries, which were thinly cut and very reminiscent of the ones served at McDonald’s. There was, however, something a bit off about them that I can’t quite put my finger on; they tasted vaguely processed. I’d be very surprised if it turned out they were freshly cut in-house. Regardless, they were pretty good.

I’d definitely like to return to Earl’s at some point; the hamburger had a lot of promise. I just wouldn’t order the Bronx burger next time.