The Unvegan » Burgers

Victory Dinner at San Francisco Saloon

The Unvegan — Mon, 21 May 2012 16:00:58 +0000

Go Bruins?

After my team posted a huge victory in our rec basketball league, we decided to grab some burgers to celebrate. This led me to San Francisco Saloon, which is not located in San Francisco at all, but rather in West LA and has been serving LA since 1934. The place is more sport bar than saloon and actually has a good sports bar vibe. The burgers are named for LA and San Francisco sports teams like the Giants and the Trojan, with a few non-sports names like Hickory to join them.

Of these, I liked the looks of the Bruin the best. I’m not sure why this was chosen to represent UCLA, but it came with avocado, bacon and jack cheese. All burgers came with lettuce and tomato, so I ordered mine without such things and then chose fries from my side choices. Then, since they asked, I ordered it medium rare.

Be true to yourself.

What arrived looked like a sports bar burger should. The bun was topped with sesame seeds and a toothpick impaled each half of the pre-halved burger. Bacon and cheese protruded beyond the confines of patty and bun, waiting for my attack.

I was a little sad to find the burger cooked pretty thoroughly throughout. Typically, I would not have cared about this at a sports bar, but usually a sports bar doesn’t ask me how I want a burger cooked. As far as taste went, that was pretty much the only thing to complain about. Everything else was spot on, with the bacon being the real highlight of the meal. The fries were a good side, but nothing overly impressive. If there was anything to complain about aside from the fully browned burger, it would be the price. It isn’t terrible by LA standards, but its also priced at the gourmet burger level rather than its actual sports bar level.

I guess basically, San Francisco Saloon, don’t try to make your burgers into something they aren’t. Your bar and burgers remind me of great sports bars I’ve been to in other places, but they don’t try to dress things up to be bigger than themselves. Now that I’ve been I know what to expect. But for unsuspecting patrons like I once was, I want a bit more of “what you see is what you get.”

Opening the Expo with The Lazy Ox Canteen

The Unvegan — Thu, 10 May 2012 16:00:12 +0000

Egg and pasta as one.

Sometimes a restaurant sounds incredible, but is in a difficult part of town to get to. It lingers on your to-eat list for what seems like ages until a golden opportunity comes around to seize it. For me, this restaurant was The Lazy Ox Canteen and the opportunity was twofold. First, the Expo Line from Culver City to Downtown LA was finally opening opening and second, Blackboard Eats sent me a 30% off coupon for the place. It was the perfect storm and I rode the newly opened Metro train to Little Tokyo for a piece of The Lazy Ox.

Aside from the onions, that sure is pretty.

As per usual, I decided I had to get the burger. The Lazy Ox version of a burger is pretty basic, consisting of Carmody cheese and green peppercorn mustard. In fact, the mustard doesn’t even come on the burger and is served on the side. What they don’t tell you, though, is that it also comes with lettuce, onions and an aioli. Fortunately I asked the waitress about such things before ordering and made sure to order without those vegetables. And while I was glad I was able to figure out there were veggies involved and order without, it was a surprisingly long process, as the waitress didn’t really seem to know the menu yet. I figure she was new and gave her the benefit of the doubt…at least until my burger came.

Other burger places - take note.

I took one good look at it and a little part of me died. Sitting between my buns was a slice of onion. It was an easy situation to remedy, yet I felt somewhat betrayed. The feeling of betrayal, however, quickly disappeared when I took my first bite. This burger was really quite awesome in its simplicity. The cheese had been melted perfectly, but did not have any sort of strong flavor. The bun was a slight gourmet upgrade to the old-fashioned poppy seed sort and the beef was just magnificent. It was perfectly, mildly seasoned, ground medium and cooked to an exact medium rare. I still like me some burgers with crazy fixings, but I must say that this simple, yet expertly crafted cheeseburger did wonders for my belly.

I'll say it again - take note.

The burger also came with fries and a sort of chipotle aioli dipping sauce. These guys were thick-cut and not in the steak fries kind of way, but in the extra-thick regular fries kind of way. I’ve seen these attempted a few times, but none were so well executed as at The Lazy Ox. Crispy on the outside and fluffy on the inside was the name of the game, and these fries were ready to play ball.

The arrow points to where you want to eat. Now.

I also want to recognize that while the burger was great, there were other great dishes on the menu as well. I tried some sort of pork ragu pasta dish (pictured above) and something else that involved bacon or chorizo or some sort of delicious breakfast meat. They were both big time winners.

It all added up to The Lazy Ox being a delicious experience. So delicious, in fact, that I’m already trying to figure out a good time to return and go to town on their full dinner menu.

Going Global at Plan Check

The Unvegan — Wed, 02 May 2012 16:00:27 +0000

Fries of the world.

A couple of weeks ago, The Backyard Bite invited me to The Burger Culture Clash, sponsored by Stussy (which apparently still exists) and Plan Check. Plan Check, by the way, is a sort of new (since February) restaurant in West LA with Chef Ernesto Uchimura of Umami Burger fame. As my love of burgers, especially those of the umami variety, I jumped at the opportunity.

Although I arrived alone, I was not the only lone eater. Just next to where I was seated, I met e*star LA and we decided to share a meal called loneliness, because it’s better than eating alone. We made quick friends over our respective blogs and Midwestern roots, then got to work at dissecting the special menu, which Plan Check will be featuring for the next month if anything tickles your fancy.

The deal was, we got the Worldwide Tribe Fries to share, an International Stussy Burger (I.S.B.) each, Stoopid Fresh Donuts for dessert and a choice of three drinks to wash it all down. The best part? Despite being a special event, this whole shindig was completely friendly to my unvegan lifestyle.

Starting with the Worldwide Tribe Fries, these guys were covered with chorizo gravy, a fried egg and roasted pasilla chile. Almost immediately, these fries were better than any I’d ever had at Umami Burger. They had a regular cut and had been fried to just the right crisp. The egg was fried to a near-perfect runniness level and the chorize gravy and pasilla chile added a salty/meaty/spicy hint to the smorgasbord. Although it is rare that I eat fries (outside of the chili-cheese variety) with a fork, this was definitely necessary here.

Crunch bun!

Next came the I.S.B. The patty was prepared with an American Wagyu-style beef called Akaushi, then topped with jalapeno escabeche, Americanized cheese, smokey bacon, battered onion straws, knowledge sauce and held together by a “crunch bun.” e*star was quick to drop a knowledge sauce joke before we convinced the waiter to explain what the sauce was.

An amalgam of ingredients with a medium-rare patty.

It turned out to be a bacon-y thousand island-y sauce, which was just fine by me. All these ingredients kind of had the effect of making nothing stand out, although the bacon was awesome and the crunch bun was a nice touch. In case you’re wondering what a crunch bun is (I know I was), it’s like a regular bun, but with some bread crumbs stuck to the top where you might usually find sesame seeds. I liked it and could definitely see such a bun used effectively in a burger that doesn’t already have crunchy innards to give it a mix of textures. As it was, while it was hard to pick out specific flavors and I rarely support the use of Wagyu beef in burgers, it was definitely tasty enough to make me interested in their other, regular menu burgers.

This dessert is just stoopid, dood.

The Stoopid Fresh Donuts were a stoopidly intense sugar bomb. The breakdown was two “funky fresh” cooked crullers, raisin frosting, cereal milk ice cream and caramelized cornflakes. Just looking at it made me feel diabetic, but while there were no holds barred in the sugar department, it didn’t taste overly sweet like some desserts are apt to.

While there were three drinks to choose from, I went with the New Belgium Shift Pale Lager. It’s a pretty good beer that I’ve had before, but I should also mention the other two options, which were mango soda with kaffir lime and Brugal Rum or that same thing without the rum. I think I made a good choice, although I am curious how mango and lime would go with rum.

Basically, this event was a huge success on my end. First, I had never heard of Plan Check before, and now I am ready to go back and annihilate more burgers. Second, I got in some quality time with fellow food bloggers (oh yeah, also hung with The Minty a bit in there). But perhaps most importantly, I got filled to the brim with an unvegan-friendly menu and left a happy man.

Burger Aid at Salt’s Cure

The Unvegan — Tue, 24 Apr 2012 16:00:22 +0000

Why are there pickles on this plate?

My continued quest for amazing burgers took me to a place called Salt’s Cure in West Hollywood. At this particular intersection, only one of the corners lacks burgers, as the other two are populated by Fatburger and Astro Burger. And while Salt’s Cure isn’t strictly a burger place, a quick look at the high priced menu on the wall when I walked in all but guaranteed I would be eating their burger.

Shoulder of pork and elbow of fiancee.

We began by ordering one of their homemade pretzels and a plate of cheese and meat to join it. We went with all three cheeses on the menu, two of which were creamy and the third was blue-ish. As for the meat, we chose the pork shoulder, which turned out to be prepared as a cured meat dish. Not exactly the pork shoulder I was accustomed to seeing, but it certainly fit the bill of the restaurant. These were also served with homemade bread sticks (the crunchy sort), homemade raisin bread, plus some walnuts, raisins and a fruity jam. Basically, it was an awesome spread, except for one thing – pickles. Never before had I seen pickles on a cheese plate and I hope to never see them again. These unwanted veggies ruined at least two slices of bread with their juices (fortunately the fiancee ate those) and generally turned the assortment ugly. Luckily, the cheeses were delicious, as cheese tends to be, and the pork shoulder was also quite stellar. It wasn’t overly salty or seasoned, but cured in a way that released the natural flavor of the piggy in a really delicious manner.

Just look at that bacon girth.

As for the main course, I went with their Bacon Cheeseburger. At 17 bucks, this clocked in as the cheapest entree and was topped with lettuce and onion, with a side of homemade fries. I ordered mine without the lettuce and onion, and was pretty surprised when the burger arrived and wasn’t the size of my head. Not that the thing was small, but for some crazy reason I still associate price with size. I guess I’m just old fashioned like that. The burger was topped with one thick slice of bacon and the white cheddar cheese was oozing down the sides of the guy. I must admit that the burger was quite thick and had been perfectly shaped to fit the upscale poppy seed bun.

This picture is so grainy and that burger is so cheesy.

As far as the taste breakdown, the burger was definitely awesome. The cheese and bacon were both of the highest quality and flavor. The meat itself had been cooked to more of a medium than medium rare, but was still impeccably juicy. So juicy in fact that I feared for the life of the bun. Fortunately, these fears were unfounded, as the bun held up strong against the onslaught of burger juice. The meat also had a nice, thick grind to it and had clearly been pressed into a perfectly round shape. I’m always torn when places do this. I know it makes the burger easier to cook and fit into a bun, but it also sometimes makes me feel as though the burger had been sitting in the back for a while rather than being made just for me. Nonetheless, the burger was great.

Then there were the fries. Quite often, homemade fries wind up in strange sizes and uneven cooking (likely due to the strange sizes). As opposed to the burgers, it seems to be better to have uniformity to fries. At Salt’s Cure, though, the fries were nicely sliced into crunchy-on-the-outside and soft-on-the-inside pieces. This made me a happy man, and they also lived up to their name by seasoning the fries with just the right amount of salt.

The burger at Salt’s Cure was definitely one worth having. I loved the place’s stress on doing things in-house or local, but they were not without flaw. For one, their menu was incredibly limited. Sure, the meaty options were there, but seriously there were only like 5 entrees and the burger was the only one under 25 bucks. And that brings me to my next issue. Yes, the burger was delicious, but $17 delicious? Not quite. It was absolutely worth the visit, I’m just struggling with finding a reason to go back.

Eating the Old West at Tinhorn Flats

The Unvegan — Mon, 26 Mar 2012 16:00:42 +0000

But really, it's not gimmicky.

There’s something about a gimmick that alienates people. You go to Hooters and while they have good wings, a small part of you feels dirty because it was a gimmick that brought you in in the first place. Many times I drove by Tinhorn Flats in Burbank and wrote it off because it looked like an Old Western saloon, which to me screams out gimmick. Little did I know that Tinhorn had been around since 1939, which makes it one of the oldest things in LA. If it was simply a gimmick, it never would have lasted these 70+ years. So when my coworker encouraged me to check it out, I roped in the troops at work to head east on Magnolia – straight for the Old West.

Having your own beer is awesome.

We headed out to the back of the place and took a seat at one of their picnic tables. Before checking out the food selection, I ordered myself a Tinhorn Blonde, which is their signature beer that may or may not be brewed specially for them by the Karl Strauss Brewing Company. It was a pretty good beer that hung kind of on the sweet end for a blonde, but had a crisp finish.

For my main course, I made my way to their burger menu. This consisted of a solid variety of bar burgers, from Western Bacon to their most creative Mushroom Blue. Needless to say, nothing here was gourmet, but a truffle burger with some sort of snazzy aioli would have felt way out of place here. Cowboys don’t eat that shit. Blue cheese was as fancy as it got and as fancy as I would have wanted it to be.

Brings back memories of 1939.

I chose their Bacon Ultimate Cheeseburger, which differed from the regular bacon cheeseburger by adding Swiss cheese and doing away with stupid toppings like lettuce, tomato and onions. Basically, this burger was made for a man like me. There was no “how would you like it cooked?” at Tinhorn, so I hoped for the best while kind of expecting the worst. It came to the table with a fatty knife stuck through it like a toothpick and looked quite delicious. The bun was classic sesame seed and was just big enough to contain the huge patty that had clearly been formed by hand in the kitchen. The bacon was stellar, perfectly crisped without getting burnt and pretty much all you could ask for in burger bacon. The cheddar and Swiss cheese melted well together and the patty itself was delicious, albeit a bit dry. It felt like the only thing the burger was missing was BBQ sauce, but when I didn’t find any in the array of condiments on the table, I settled for a blend of ketchup and steak sauce. I would have asked the waitress, but service was a bit lacking. It was a bar first and foremost, after all.

The steak fries made for a nice side, with a bit of seasoning on them. I had had the option to upgrade to onion rings, which I turned down, but was able to try one or two from someone else and can vouch for them being damn good. The best part of all this was the price. Tinhorn offers all of their sandwiches, salads and burgers for $5.95 at lunchtime on weekdays, which is a goddamn steal. Seriously, I’ll a burger like this at that price any day. Sure, I wouldn’t complain if the burger was a little juicier and the service was a little better, but the value was undeniably amazing. I left the place knowing that if they kept things up like that, they could easily make it to 2039.

Not Addicted to Chili Addiction

The Unvegan — Mon, 12 Mar 2012 16:00:44 +0000

I'd like some chips with my salt.

My quest for challengers to the Chili John’s and Coney Dog empire of LA chili led me to Chili Addiction in West Hollywood. Their menu of insane chili concoctions really pulled me in the first time I saw their menu online and I really thought I had found myself a contender. I convinced my buddy to give it a try with me, both for company and so we could get multiple things to test out.

Upon arrival, we tested out a few different chilis. The nice thing about the place is that they have a rotation of different chilis, and offer 6 up fresh daily. The best of the day we were there was the Texas Filet. Billed as pretty spicy, it had a bit of a kick to it, but really nothing too potent. I decided to get this with their chili cheese fries, and then a side of mac and cheese, while my buddy opted for their Truffle Burger (which had caramelized onions and truffle aioli). The wait to get our food was far longer than expected, especially considering the simple things we ordered, but we were brought out some chips while we waited. These chips had a great consistency, but had been greatly over salted and I could only take down a couple before screaming for water.

Kraft, are you there?

When the meal did come, the chili cheese fries and burger looked mighty tasty. The mac and cheese, though, looked really basic. As it turned out, this book matched its cover. To say that the mac and cheese wasn’t good would be a lie. But to say I could make better mac and cheese from a box in my kitchen would not be a lie. I hoped the rest of my food would fare better.

Perhaps Burger Addiction?

Which brings me to the burger. Of course, I scraped the onions off of my half and got to work with the remainder. To my surprise, the burger was really quite delicious. The aioli was pretty lacking in truffle, but still provided a nice little mix of flavor to an otherwise well-cooked and executed patty of meat. It had been cooked medium rare, and despite having a pretty thin grind turned out really well.

Ok, break it up guys.

Finally, I took on the fries, which wound up to be a pretty big disappointment. The chili was as good as it had been when I tasted it, but it simply did not mesh well with the fries. This wasn’t because they became soggy, over salted or anything, so I chalked this up to being good chili that simply did not go well with fries. I didn’t know such a thing existed, but Chili Addiction proved it to be true.

Segregated pickles.

At this point, I was not content to be done eating. In true unvegan fashion, instead of opting for a dessert, I decided to order some more meat. This time my meat sense took me to their Chili Cheese Dog. Once again, I went for their Texas Filet chili and hoped it would go nicely with the hot dog. It didn’t. Was I doing something wrong? Was I being punished somehow? No, this was simply a case of a restaurant trying to do too much. This chili simply did not play well with others. It would have been better suited in a bowl on its own, maybe with something like pasta or a flat bread that would only enhance the flavor and not compete with it. Oh and did I mention the dog came with pickles? They were separated out into a little cup, but I would be lying if I said their presence at my table didn’t bother me.

As it was, I suppose if I am looking for a simple bowl of chili, I may make my way back to Chili Addiction, but likely as not I would head to Chili John’s or Tub’s Chili, where they know exactly what they’re doing. For burgers, though, I wouldn’t mind revisiting Chili Addiction, but I will have to get over the fact that best thing a chili place had to offer me was a Truffle Burger that didn’t even taste like truffles.

British Fusion at The Rose and Crown

The Unvegan — Fri, 24 Feb 2012 17:00:42 +0000

Britine?

Situated right across the walking street from Pizzeria Bianco in downtown Phoenix, one has to wonder how many patrons of The Rose and Crown are people who tired of waiting for Pizzeria Bianco and decided to eat at the next closest place. We ended up in a similar situation, in which a reservation miscommunication led to us without ample room at the pizzeria. So off we went to The Rose and Crown for some British Pub food. A quick look at the menu revealed that this was no ordinary British Pub and it actually had some unique-looking options.

One of these unique-looking options was Poutine. If you know my blog, then you know I have a bit of an unhealthy obsession with poutine. I’d blame this on my Canadian ancestry, but I find no need to make excuses for fries topped with gravy and cheese curds. The poutine at The Rose and Crown was a little different than your typical poutine, signifying some sort of fusion between British and Canadian food. For starters, although I had taken the term “chips” on the menu to be Britspeak for fries, when they arrived, they really were homemade potato chips. Also, instead of cheese curds, this poutine was topped with shredded cheddar. While I appreciated the attempt at innovating poutine, it fell a bit short in the flavor and texture land. Seriously, no curds?

The Crown!

I followed up this appetizer with, surprise, a burger. This thing went by the name of The Crown and was topped with cheddar, bacon and a fried egg. Similar to my obsession with poutine, I am also obsessed with fried egg as a burger topping and couldn’t wait to get this thing. But first I had to order. It came with lettuce, tomato, pickle and onion, which I rapidly dismissed as I also attempted to order my burger medium rare. Sadly, I was told the best they could do was medium. It also came with a side of fries or slaw and I most certainly went with fries.

The burger turned out to be quite a beauty, with a shiny bun and real fries to accompany it. As I ate the burger, I delighted in the perfect crispiness of the bacon and the flavor provided by the fried egg. The cheddar was as expected and although the bun had a hard time holding its own against the weight of so many toppings, it had the support of a toothpick and lasted throughout the noshing. Also, it was tasty. The meat itself, though, was a bit of a disappointment. I don’t know if it was the extra cooking or a bad choice of beef, but I found it to be a bit drier than I would have preferred and lacking in delicious flavor. It wasn’t bad, but just could have used a few tweaks. And to end on a high note, the fries were great and really should have been used in the poutine instead of those gravy-sucking chips.

In the end, The Rose and Crown delivered most of the goods. A few changes here and there would have me singing their praises and commanding all Phoenicians to skip the line at Pizzeria Bianco and head to The Rose and Crown instead, but without those changes The Rose and Crown is just an above average British Pub.

Holy Donut Buns at Da Burger Boss

The Unvegan — Fri, 17 Feb 2012 17:00:21 +0000

Oh my God the bun is on backwards!

Da Burger Boss is part of the newer wave of food trucks and while they aren’t brand new, they’re still plenty new to me. Their schtick is naming burgers after mob terms like The Strongarm, The Collector and so on. It’s an interesting schtick that has produced some interesting-looking combinations, but the sole reason I found myself waiting for Da Boss was to partake in The Patrolman.

You see, The Patrolman is no ordinary burger. Sure, it’s filled with a half-pound patty, bacon and blue cheese dressing, but after that the burger goes in a frightening and exciting direction. First is the cran-apple reduction, which is not crazy on its own, but when you throw in the grilled glazed donut bun, things get goddamn nuts. Yes, I said a grilled glazed donut bun. I was unsure of how any degree of this would be pulled off and figure it was worth the 9 bucks to find out.

A nice medium rare cook also made me happy.

And find out I did. The first thing I wondered was how it would stay together. For starters, this wasn’t some soft, melty Krispy Kreme donut, but a thick grocery store-style breakfast sweet. It was still wildly inadequate at holding together a burger, especially when you throw the donut hole in the mix, so the make up for it the burger was wrapped in paper. Nonetheless, this was nothing less than a mess to eat.

The next thing I wondered was how I would handle the sweetness. Not only was there donut, but also fruit reduction to consider. And the truth is that the sweetness was a bit much. There was certainly a lot of savory between the bacon, patty and blue cheese, but this was not enough to counter the fruit and donut punch. My suggestion is to either swap out the glazed for old fashioned donuts or to drop the fruit. I can’t say whether either would work, but I do know that either way would be less sweet.

I had to move it from a tray to a plate because IT COULD NOT BE CONTAINED.

But who am I kidding here? Is The Patrolman really seeking out the perfect blend of burger balance? Oh dear I hope not. This burger represents America and our undying dream of gluttony and excess. In that regard, this burger is a major success. Yeah, I can get finicky with the details, but in the end, Da Burger Boss delivered a pretty good, juicy burger and topped it with an obscene bun. And I annihilated it. In other words, it was glorious.

I should also point out that Da Burger Boss in no way invented the glazed donut bun. This was something I had heard about before and Da Burger Boss is simply the first I had ever actually seen.

Tonto and the Lone Burger

The Unvegan — Mon, 13 Feb 2012 17:00:37 +0000

What's that you say, Kemo Sabe?

One benefit of getting married is the tastings. Not so much tasting food that the guests will eat, but traveling back and forth between Arizona and LA to plan things, and knowing there will be food in need of eating. On my most recent foray into the Grand Canyon state, we went out to dinner at a place called Tonto Bar & Grill in Cave Creek. Tonto is quite the popular place, with an outdoor patio looking out onto a golf course and an old Western eclectic interior. The menu ranges from some fancy salads to super fancy steaks, but somewhere in the middle there is burgers. And having gone at least a couple days without crushing a burger, I felt it was time.

The Tonto Burger is essentially a build-your-own burger, starting with either a corn-fed or grass-fed patty. I’m not sure what sort of crazy person would choose corn-fed over grass-fed, especially with them costing the same, but I suppose it’s possible. So over course I went with the corn…er…grass patty, then topped it with sharp cheddar, avocado and bacon. I noticed that lettuce, tomato, pickle planks (yargh) and crispy fried onions were included for free in every burger, yet for some reason in my head, I decided that I had to mention them in order for them to be included. Stupid, stupid unvegan. It was a mistake I hope to never make again, because when my burger I arrived I found a lot more than I bargained for.

Yes, all those dastardly vegetables were found in between my buns and my face immediately turned from smile (“We’re eating at a place named for the Lone Ranger?!”) to frown (“I’ve made a huge mistake…”). But the gods weren’t entirely angry at me, because I found that the pickle planks (yargh) were actually quite dry and their juices didn’t destroy my burger from the inside. Yet, where I took solace in the light pickling, I was saddened to find that they used shredded lettuce in true Southwestern fashion. It was quite an effort to get this burger ready for eating, but when I did I found it a truly enjoyable burger. The patty had been cooked to a perfect medium rare and simply could not be contained by the bun. The sharp cheddar was as expected, as was the avocado. The bacon, though, was not the usual applewood smoked or regular smoked bacon, but a pepper bacon. This was an interesting twist that added a little something to experience. But if I may, I’d like to get back to the bun, which was not only too small for the burger, but also not thick enough to contain this meaty monster. Midway through, the meal became a battle to keep my food together. It was a worthy battle, though, and in the end I won.

Was it a groundbreaking burger? Not exactly, but it was still pretty tasty. If you find yourself in Cave Creek in need of a burger, you won’t go wrong with Tonto. But you may want to be smarter than me and order yours without and of those preposterous vegetabled.

No related posts.

Winter Grilling at Coppertop

The Unvegan — Thu, 09 Feb 2012 17:00:15 +0000

Just like out back.

In dire need of lunch at the base of Breckenridge, I skied on over to Coppertop Bar & Grill to meet up with the fiancee while she was on a little break from ski school. Realistically, very little is expected of ski mountain food. The restaurants have a captive audience, jack up the prices and provide more warming and high energy foods than truly good food. So when I moseyed on over to the food area at Coppertop, my expectations were quite low. But wait…did I just see a dude walk by with curly fries covered in cheese sauce? Scratch that, my expectations hit the roof.

So the first thing I did after choosing to go with a burger was ensure that they could hook me up with those same cheese-doused fries and they certainly could. They didn’t disappoint and even told me they could throw chili on top. I didn’t want to overdo it, though, so instead I doubled up on cheese by ordering a bacon cheeseburger, with pepper jack cheese. I was impressed that they were actually grilling up each burger as they were ordered and didn’t have a whole set pre-made. Plus, they were actually grilling them…with real fire, which was also pretty sweet.

Cheesey meets curly.

Soon enough, all was ready and I got busy with my foodstuffs. I found the curly cheese fries to be everything I had hoped for. The beauty of topping curly fries with cheese is that they are especially resistant to sogginess, and in fact the cheese began to get a bit gnarly and cold before the fries buckled.

As for the burger, it tasted exactly like I would expect a summertime grill burger to taste. You know, the kind you eat on Labor Day over at your buddy’s place while knocking back a Silver Bullet. In that context, it was a good burger and probably better than usual considering the 0 degree weather outside.

On the other hand, this burger and cheese fries cost me something like 20 bucks, which is about double what I would pay for such food in a normal marketplace. But alas, Coppertop had a captive audience and while their prices were wildly inflated, I certainly can’t complain about the taste of what I ate.