Up near Yosemite National Park is a place called Bass Lake. Bass Lake has itself a little village, and this village is dominated by a huge lodge called The Pines Resort. Inside this resort is a fancy restaurant called Ducey’s on the Lake. We wanted no part of this, so we found Ducey’s Bar and Grill, with a swanky patio and a much more reasonable and fun menu. We grabbed a table outside and sorted out what to eat. I had sworn a couple days off of burgers after tackling a couple bad ones in the last couple days, but there was a burger on this menu calling out the unvegan name and I couldn’t resist.
The burger was called the Bad Dam Burger and although the name evokes images of a leaky beaver home, it contains two cheeses, bacon and the kicker: Italian sausage. Yes, Italian sausage on a burger, making it a triple-meat burger. And wrapped around this burger was a honey bun. Of course, it came with the tomatoes, lettuce and onions that no unvegan should ever have on a burger, and I ordered mine without. Finally, it included fries.
When my burger arrived, I was in for a nasty surprise (see above). That’s right, loaded with all the veggies I refuse to ingest. The waitress walked by and noticed I was picking out chunks of lettuce from my cheese and realized that the kitchen had made a mistake. She offered to take it back and get me a real burger and I did not refuse. After a few more minutes I was back in business with a true meal.
I took my first bite and was met with a ton of different flavors. From cheese to beef to bacon to sausage to bun, my mouth was in for a ride. But it was not a perfect ride. The bacon, cheese, sausage and bun were truly delightful. In fact, the sausage was like the size of an entire patty and added some great flavor. The highlight of these flavors, though, was not the meat at all. It was actually the honey bun, which added just the right amount of sweetness to such a savory meal. Th biggest disappointment, however, was the beef patty. This guy was dry, overcooked and totally lacking in flavor. In fact, the burger probably would have been better as an Italian sausage sandwich with those cheeses, bacon and bun.
So I give kudos to Ducey’s for thinking outside the typical burger toppings by throwing in a sausage and enclosing it all in some sweet honey, but sadly a burger cannot truly be great without a good patty as a base. Ducey’s failed at that and will thus be relegated to the land of good ideas and unfortunate execution.
And oh yeah, the fries were pretty good, but not good enough to salvage that beef patty.
