Toronto – Page 18 – Tasty Burgers

b.good

Published on March 8, 2015 by Michael NusairLeave a comment

bgood
Location: 100 Front Street East, Toronto
Website: http://www.bgood.ca/

My last review was of a burger joint with two different tongue sandwiches on the menu. Speaking of incongruous pairings, we have b.good, the latest American restaurant chain to head north. Their theme? Health food and hamburgers.

I’m going to let that sink in for a second: Health food. Quinoa. Kale. Salads. And hamburgers.

To me (and to any rational person) the words “health food” and “hamburgers” should never be in the same sentence, other than to say “hamburgers are not health food.”

Needless to say, I was skeptical, but still hopeful; perhaps b.good’s definition of a healthy burger was merely one without any unnecessary chemicals/additives/preservatives. Maybe you can make a hamburger with high quality beef and call it healthy. Maybe I wouldn’t have to suffer through a dried-out patty made under the ill-advised notion that any food can be made healthy if you wish hard enough.

Maybe I’ll win the lottery tomorrow.

No, b.good’s burger isn’t healthy in the “we used good quality ingredients” sense of the term. It’s healthy in the “lean beef” sense of the term. It’s healthy in the “let’s ruin something good” sense of the term. It’s healthy in the “what the hell have you done to this hamburger” sense of the term.

They have six pre-topped burgers on the menu; I went with the simplest choice, the Cousin Oliver. That one comes with “lettuce, tomato, onions, Chef Tony’s homemade pickles.” They have beef, chicken, turkey, and veggie patties, as well as white or whole wheat buns. Do I even need to mention I picked beef with a white bun? Because of course I picked beef with a white bun.

I’m not going to sugar-coat it: it’s dry. Oh good heavens was it dry. If you poke around this blog for longer than a few minutes, you’ll probably see me complaining about overly-dry hamburgers, but this one takes the cake. I’m not a hundred percent sure if it’s the driest burger I’ve had in my life, but it’s a contender.

It’s way too tightly packed, which doesn’t help. It also doesn’t help that it was cooked all the way to well done, but there were still vague hints of pink in there, so it wasn’t overcooked. But it’s obvious that they started with ridiculously lean beef, because there wasn’t even a hint of juiciness. As you chew it, the beef just sort of crumbles into sad little pellets of desiccated meat. It sucks all the moisture out of your mouth. It needs it.

It also tastes weird. It tasted odd enough that I actually looked at the menu to make sure bison wasn’t an option, because it didn’t really taste like beef; it didn’t taste right. It was gamy and funky and weird. It was unpleasant. It tasted like maybe they had cooked it yesterday and reheated it today (that would also account for some of the absurd dryness), but don’t take my word for that. That’s a serious accusation and I don’t make it lightly. I’m just trying to figure out what could possibly make beef taste like that.

My dining companion had the same complaints vis-a-vis taste and texture, so this wasn’t just the case of one burger gone awry. In fact, he posted a Yelp review, and if you’re noting similarities between the two reviews? Yeah. That’s inevitable. The burgers here are dry, and they taste weird. It’s hard not to take note of that.

The toppings and the bun were fine, though the bun was too big for the patty, and the burger oddly doesn’t come with any condiments like ketchup or mustard or mayo. That didn’t help matters, but you could have dunked this patty in a bath consisting of all the condiments in the world, and it still would have been unpalatably dry.

As for the “fries,” they weren’t fries. B.good proudly proclaims that they’re “oven finished” a.k.a. baked, a.k.a. not fried. If you don’t fry a fry, is it still a fry? Do I really need to answer that? They tasted baked. They didn’t taste anything like fries, though they basically looked the part. They weren’t terrible (they were well cooked at least) but they weren’t fries.

1 out of 4

O&B Canteen

Published on February 1, 2015 by Michael NusairLeave a comment

Location: 330 King Street West, Toronto
Website: http://oliverbonacini.com/Canteen.aspx

I’m at the Lightbox to watch movies semi-regularly, so I’m actually kind of surprised it took me this long to check the Canteen out. I used to enjoy getting pastries from here when I was on my way to a movie, but a couple of TIFFs ago I got a croissant that totally put me off the place. It looked like a croissant but tasted like Wonder Bread. It was shockingly bad.

The O&B Canteen has an all-over-the-place menu that ranges from jerk chicken and prawn curry to pulled pork and pizza. And of course, a burger. It’s a mish-mash of dishes that might lead you to believe that the restaurant is a Jack of all trades, master of none, and… well, you’d be correct (at least if the burger is anything to go by).

The Canteen Burger comes topped with “bacon, aged cheddar, pickled jalapeño, herb mayo, hot house tomato,” and also includes a side order of fries.

It’s fine, I guess. The well done patty generally has a decent texture, though it’s dryer than I’d like. The taste is a bit more questionable. The beef is pretty tasteless, and has a vague gamy flavour that was kind of unpleasant. However, this is less of an issue than you’d think; it’s nearly impossible to taste the beef with all the stuff they’ve got piled on top of it.

The toppings are pretty tasty, at least, which is good because that’s where about 95 percent of this burger’s flavour comes from. Though the cheddar was almost completely unmelted, it tasted good. The sharp cheese and creamy mayo contrasted nicely with the vinegary bite of the abundant pickled jalapeños, and though the tomatoes kind of got lost in the mix, it was overall a pretty good combo. It doesn’t quite make you forget how mediocre the burger itself is, but it helps.

The bun was amazing. Super fresh, with a very delicately crackly exterior and a fluffy interior that still had enough substance to hold up to the many toppings, it was pretty close to bun perfection (I guess I should give their pastries another chance).

The fries were also above average, and came with a delicious curry-tinged ketchup for dipping. So basically, everything was actually pretty good — except for the burger patty itself. Which is kind of an important element in a hamburger. You know, just a little bit.

Since I mentioned prices in my last review, it’s only fair for me to point out that for 17 bucks for the burger and fries, it’s a bit expensive. This wouldn’t be a problem if the burger was great. The burger was not great.

2.5 out of 4

Bareburger

Published on January 25, 2015January 25, 2015 by Michael Nusair3 Comments

Location: 111 Dundas Street West, Toronto
Website: http://111-dundas-st-w-toronto.bareburger.com/

It makes me really happy when I think about how good it’s gotten for burger-lovers in Toronto over the last several years. A few years ago, with the dearth of great burger choices in the city, Bareburger would have been a breath of fresh air. But now? Not so much.

And Bareburger is a fairly popular chain in the States, with most of its locations around New York City. I’ve been under the impression that New York had us handily beat in the burger department, but if this place is good enough to thrive there, it might not be so clear-cut.

It’s not even that Bareburger is bad, per se. It’s fine. There’s just nothing particularly noteworthy about it.

It’s a nicely designed restaurant, with lots of light coming in from the windows. Unlike a lot of burger joints in the city, it’s waiter service, with more than just burgers on the menu (and more choices than just beef for the burgers).

You can either pick one of their handful of pre-topped burgers, or you can customize your own. I went with the Standard: “beef, colby, stout onions, dill pickles, special sauce, brioche bun.”

Like I said, it’s fine. The griddled burger comes cooked to well done (they say medium well on the menu, but this sucker was gray throughout), and while it was vaguely juicy, it was dryer than I’d like. It was also a little bit too dense, and somewhat tough.

The patty has a very mildly beefy flavour, which was entirely wiped out by the burger’s toppings. In particular, the zesty special sauce completely knocked out any flavour from the beef itself. It wasn’t bad, don’t get me wrong — it was just a bit overwhelming.

The other toppings were pretty good as well. The fully melted colby cheese was mild and creamy, and the caramelized stout onions were dark brown, with a sweet, rich flavour.

I wasn’t as keen on the brioche bun. It was okay, but it was way too dense and substantial for the task at hand. It was also a good thirty percent wider than the patty itself, leaving me with a ridiculous amount of bun on my plate after the patty was long gone. Come on, guys. Seriously. This is burger making 101.

I feel like I’m piling on more criticism than this place deserves (again, it’s not bad), but I have to mention that it’s alarmingly expensive. The burgers are all in the 12 to 15 dollar price range, and that doesn’t include a side. Fries will run you another three bucks. Factor a drink and a tip on top of that, and you’re looking at spending well north of twenty bucks. I don’t always pay a ton of attention to this in my reviews, because it’s the quality of the burger that really concerns me, but these prices are a little bit intense, especially considering the only-average quality of the food.

The fries, too, were good but not great. But hey, let me close things out with a couple of things I really liked. They have a handful of interesting sodas on the menu — I have a hard time saying no to a unique soda, so obviously I got one. I went with blueberry, and it was surprisingly good. The blueberry flavour was really outstanding; it almost tasted like a blueberry pie in soda form. It was one of the best sodas I’ve had in quite a while.

For dessert, my dining companion ordered the Snickerdoodle ice cream sandwich; I wound up splitting it with him, and oh man was it good. I think it might even have Bang Bang beat for the title of best ice cream sandwich in the city. The cookie was cinnamony and chewy, with the absolute perfect ice cream sandwich consistency — dense, but not too dense, with just the right amount of chew. And the super creamy ice cream had a satisfyingly intense roasted marshmallow flavour — I think it was either from Greg’s, or very similar to what they serve there. It was the absolute perfect match for that cookie. I’m not even kidding: you need to go there just for that sandwich. It was outstanding.

2.5 out of 4

Dangerous Dan’s Diner

Published on January 18, 2015January 18, 2015 by Michael NusairLeave a comment

Location: 714 Queen Street East, Toronto
Website: http://www.dangerousdansdiner.com/

Dangerous Dan’s is pretty much a Toronto burger institution, predating Toronto’s recent burger trend by well over a decade (it opened in 1999). You know that old hipster argument? “Oh, I was into them before they were cool?” Well, Dangerous Dan’s was into hamburgers way before they were cool.

So why has it taken me over 100 reviews to check the place out? I’m going to be honest: I wasn’t super keen on trying it. Why? I mean, take your pick: they’re on the east end and a bit out of the way for me; they serve meatloaf burgers, which certainly aren’t my favourite; it’s an old school burger joint, which doesn’t exactly fill me with confidence. In my experience, the overwhelming majority of older burger joints are mediocre at best. Don’t ask me why.

Anyway, better late than never.

Dangerous Dan’s is fairly well known for some of their more extravagantly-topped burgers, like the Coronary, which features a pound of beef, bacon, cheese, and a fried egg. I went much more bare-bones, with the Plain, which is an eight ounce burger topped to request. I got mine with tomato, pickles, and mayo.

First and foremost, it is absolutely, positively a meatloaf burger. You can see the burger being made on this episode of You Gotta Eat Here, and they mix in the works. Garlic, spices, breadcrumbs, eggs — they go full meatloaf, no doubt about it.

If you’ve read much of this blog, you know that me and meatloaf burgers generally aren’t the best of friends. I was pretty much ready to hate it — and maybe the lowered expectations helped, but I was very pleasantly surprised. The patty is super meatloafy, but it tastes good, at least. Unlike last week’s burger at BriSkit, which had a muddled, neither-here-nor-there flavour, it at least knows what it is and goes for it. It’s not a classic burger by any stretch of the imagination, and the flavour of the beef is mostly wiped out, but it tastes good for what it is.

The grilled burger is cooked to well done, but actually remains quite juicy, which is always nice. Though the patty was slightly over-charred from the grill, the grilling mostly added a nice smoky flavour and a satisfyingly crispy crust.

Meatloaf burgers can sometimes have an unpleasantly sausagey texture; this thankfully wasn’t the case here. Texturally, the patty was pretty much exactly where it needed to be — it had a good grind, it obviously hadn’t been overhandled, and it was nice and tender.

The lightly toasted bun was slightly cold and a little too dense, but it mostly suited the burger pretty well.

As for the fries, they were very thickly cut, which isn’t my favourite — but for this style of fry, they were quite good (much better than you’d think seems to be a theme here). It’s very easy to end up with an unpleasantly dense interior with fries like this, but these were lightly crispy on the outside and really fluffy on the inside.

3 out of 4

The Burger Cellar

Published on January 4, 2015 by Michael NusairLeave a comment

Location: 3391 Yonge Street, Toronto
Website: http://theburgercellar.com/

The Burger Cellar serves a pretty good burger. The end.

What, I can’t just leave it at that? I mean, it is my blog. I’m pretty sure I can do whatever I want.

Fine, I’ll write a few more words. This is probably going to be a quick one, though; there are only so many reviews of good-but-not-great burgers I can write before they all start to blend into an interchangeable jumble of phrases like “beefy flavour” and “tightly packed.”

The Burger Cellar bills itself as a “burger grill + wine bar,” so yeah, it’s a bit classier than your average burger joint. It’s also a bit pricier than your average burger joint, but I guess you should probably expect that from a place with wine pairings on the menu.

Every burger on the menu comes with two beef choices: AAA Black Angus Natural, or Prime, which costs an extra four bucks. I asked the waitress what the difference was, and she told me the cuts of beef that each choice was made from. I immediately thought to myself “what a helpful tidbit for my review!” and then promptly forgot everything she said.

I think — and please don’t quote me on this — the Black Angus is made from chuck, and the Prime is made from brisket, but I might be way off on that one. I think I might have the worst memory on the planet. You laugh now, but when it turns out I have ultra early onset Alzheimer’s, it won’t be so hilarious.

I asked the waitress which of the two she recommended, and of course she went with the more expensive choice. So I ordered that, and went with the Original Classic Burger, which comes topped with “lettuce, vine-ripened tomato, red onion and a kosher dill pickle.”

As I mentioned before, it’s nothing special, but it’s pretty good. The medium well patty had a mild-but-there beefy flavour, a little bit of juiciness, and an okay texture. It’s a bit too finely ground and densely packed, and thus a bit on the tough side, but I’ve certainly had worse.

I wasn’t crazy about the sesame seed bun, which was a bit too substantial for the task at hand, and which tasted slightly stale.

Along with the aforementioned toppings (which were fine), ketchup, mustard, relish, and mayo were all provided on the side. The mayo was actually quite tasty — definitely a cut above the standard Hellmann’s.

The burger doesn’t come with any sides, so I ordered fries. They were top-notch.

3 out of 4