Sliders

Oklahoma Burgers

Published on October 29, 2022 by Michael Nusair1 Comment

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

Broncos Slider Bar

Published on November 8, 2015 by Michael NusairLeave a comment

Location: 127 Strachan Avenue, Toronto
Website: http://www.broncosrestaurant.com/

Broncos Slider Bar – a spinoff of Branca, a tapas joint – is the latest restaurant in the city to specialize in so-called sliders.

No, they’re not sliders in the original sense of the term, but I’ve come to accept two things about this:

1) The definition of the word “slider” has now lost all connection to what it used to mean. It went from referring to a very specific style of hamburger, to a small burger of any style, and now to any small sandwich that’s served on a bun. And the way things are going, it will soon refer to any food that happens to be bite-sized. The English language is constantly evolving; no point in trying to fight it.

2) The specific style of burger that originally birthed the word “slider” will never be served in Toronto – or at least, not until I finally make good on my idle chatter and open my own burger joint.

Both points make me sad (particularly number two), but it is what it is.

Anyway, word-nitpickery and burger-style-snobbery aside, Broncos actually serves a pretty good hamburger.

It’s a classic, fast-food-style cheeseburger – griddle-cooked, and topped with melty American cheese.

The patty has a good texture, a decent amount of juiciness, and a satisfying beefy flavour. Combined with the nice brown crust from the griddle and the gooey cheese, it’s clear that someone in the kitchen knows their way around hamburger cookery.

I would, however, ask for it without mustard next time, or at least ask for less mustard, because the amount applied here just detracted from that great patty.

The other toppings are solid – the pickles did their usual hamburger-improving thing, and even the onions were pretty good. I’m normally not crazy about raw onions on a burger (or anywhere, for that matter), but these weren’t too strong, offering some mild oniony flavour and a little bit of crunch, without overpowering.

Sadly, the bun was an absolute disaster. It’s way, way, way too big and dense for the task at hand. It works well on their other sandwiches, which tend to be messier and crammed to the gills with stuff, thus necessitating a bun with more heft. On the burger, however, the substantial bun throws the beef-to-bun ratio so far off that it’s almost ruinous. Seriously: it comes alarmingly close to flat-out ruining the hamburger. It completely overwhelms the beef. It’s a damn shame, because with a better bun this would be a great burger, and now it’s merely good.

The fries, on the other hand, were great. They look kind of pale but they taste amazing – crispy, creamy, perfect.

3 out of 4

Published on August 24, 2014May 1, 2016 by Michael NusairLeave a comment

Location: 704 The Queensway, Etobicoke
Website: https://twitter.com/_SLIDERS

Sliders is on a shrinking list of places I’ve been meaning to review since I started this blog. I went there once a few years ago (pre-Tasty Burgers) and found it to be passable but fairly mediocre — the kind of unremarkable place that almost immediately recedes from your memory.

Time after time I’d think “Maybe I’ll finally review Sliders this week!” only to find an excuse to go somewhere else instead. I’m not going to lie: I didn’t particularly want to go back.

Long story short: I went back and it was pretty much exactly as I remembered. It was fine — I would theoretically eat there again, but with a Burger’s Priest location less than five minutes away, it’s not going to happen.

True to their name, they serve sliders — though what they serve are just mini hamburgers, not actually sliders by the true meaning of the term (to my knowledge, no one in Toronto serves that style of hamburger). That being the case, I went with a normal-sized burger instead. I got the Double Stacker with Cheese and had it topped with Slider sauce, pickles, and tomato.

The griddled patties were cooked to well done and were a tad on the dry side, though they did actually have some juiciness to them. There was also a little bit of crust from the griddle, but not nearly as much as there should have been.

Though I wouldn’t exactly call this a meatloaf burger, there was definitely something other than salt and pepper mixed into the patty. It’s subtle, but it’s definitely there. Still, some beefy flavour remains, which, however mild, is pleasant.

The cheese was American, perfect for a classic cheeseburger like this. The slider sauce was a spicy mayo that actually did have a small kick to it; the other toppings were fine. The bun was fresh and suited the burger well.

Again, it’s not a bad burger — but with Burger’s Priest nearby serving a burger done in a similar style that’s so, so much better, Sliders feels redundant.

The fries, however, were really excellent. It’s close, but they probably have Burger’s Priest beat in that department.