Reporting on Places to Eat from the Regular Guy’s Point of View
A business friend of mine sent me a link to a 9News Denver story on their picks for the four top burger places in Denver.
If you want to just go straight there, I won’t do any spoilers, other than to say I have only grabbed a burger at one, so I am juiced to give the other three a try when things open up again.
Here is the story.
Thanks, Chris, for sharing with me. Sometime I will write about our time at Crave and the peanut butter burgers.
A month ago I wrote about the disappointing quality of burgers in the Disney parks. That said, I do need to point out one exception–the Black Tap that is found in Downtown Disney.
Just before the pandemic closed everything down, I was fortunate enough to head to Disneyland for a couple days of fun with my wife, one of my kids and his wife and their two kids. (That means I spent the two days at Disneyland with two of my grandkids, in case that was obscured by my description.) On the third day, we spent a couple hours at Downtown Disney. I really recommend Downtown Disney as a place to go before and after you spend days at Disneyland itself. It’s an easy break and you still can enjoy the Disney park ambience and shopping.
That’s what we did before we had to head to the airport to head home. It also just so happened to be my son’s birthday. And nothing says birthday quite like a burger. He had his eye on the Black Tap from a previous visit to Downtown Disney, so we had lunch there to celebrate his birthday.
As you might expect, located on Disney property, it is a bit pricey, especially as a counter service burger bar. That said, all food options in Downtown Disney are relatively pricey. I firmly believe Disney is counting on a certain callousness to price developing while you are there–and captive to their food choices.
The burgers themselves are quite good. Yes, the restaurant claims to be a craft burger joint. Yes, they offer some varieties on the burgers that technically make them a craft burger joint. But, no, in my opinion, they are no more a craft burger joint than is Red Robin. The burgers taste good. And the fries are good too, which helps make the whole package enjoyable.
But, in the end, while they are good and a great exception to the Disney-dry burgers otherwise available in the parks, they taste more like a chain burger than a craft burger.
When you are at Disney, definitely worth going. But don’t make a special trip just for them.
Recently, just before the pandemic came closing in and closed up so much of life, I went to Disneyland for a couple days with a couple of my grandchildren. It was great fun. I love Disneyland and Disney World, and love, love the fun that my kids and my grandkids enjoy there. That said, not everything at Disney parks is fun and games. Kids get tired and grumpy. And, as you well know, prices of merchandise and food are heavily inflated.
This photo was taken the second day in the afternoon. People were tired. Especially the older people who couldn’t just throw themselves on the ground and have a tantrum.
One of the things that really grates on me each time I visit a Disney park is the low quality of the food–especially the burgers. I will give them credit that there are some concessions in the different parks that have pretty good food. In California Adventure, for example, there is Boudin’s and also Ghiradelli’s. And there is some pretty amazing fried chicken at Flo’s V8 Cafe. But in general, if you order something, especially a burger, it is pretty darn mediocre at best.
The reason this really gets to me is that everything else at any Disney park is so quality. Even standing in line is an above average experience. The Galaxy’s Edge? I swear you actually believe you are in Star Wars. Everything. And I mean Every. Thing. is absolutely top notch quality.
Except their burgers and fries.
Why is that? They have to know they can do better. Is it a Disney blindspot. Do they think the fast food there is actually good? Do they somehow focus more on quantity and delivery than on quality? I mean, McDonald’s can serve millions of burgers in a day and they are about 10 times better quality than those you find at Disney.
I am hopeful that during this time that the parks are closed, maybe they can take the time to build a better burger.
I haven’t updated this blog recently. I have been trying to eat healthier lately to deal with some high blood pressure issues. My apologies. But that may just be one of the outcomes of trying to find the world’s best cheeseburger. Maybe I should change my quest to the world’s best quinoa or kale.
Nah.
Though recently during the week of Christmas, with kids visiting, we dropped into the local Smashburger for lunch. I was looking forward to that sizzling, grease-dripping, fresh-tasting Smashburger I have experienced before. It had been so long since I had had any kind of cheeseburger. So I went with the Classic.
It was meh. Just tasted bland. No real flavor at all.
Now, before you start abandoning Smashburger as a source for cheeseburger delightfulness, consider that there may have been two reasons for this, one of which may not have been Smashburger’s fault.
One–it could have been a bad day at the Smashburger grill. Though that is not something I want to experience. Especially when I am indulging less often–those times when I do, it needs to have a positive cheeseburger ROI.
Two–it could be that I am eating so much healthier lately that I lost my taste for a cheeseburger.
It’s possible. But really? Isn’t there a bit of truth to the saying, “absence makes the heart grow fonder?” I suppose I could have had higher expectations because it had been so long, so the disappointment was that much stronger. Maybe.
But in the end, with a chain there is a certain expectation of consistency. That’s why I am loyal to Marriott hotels–consistent quality. I do hope this was just a blip for Smashburger. I really hope so. Sometime in 2020 I will have to try again and see.
This article from Taste chronicles the rise of the chef-inspired burger and what the author believes is the decline of the same. It’s a good bit of history, though I have to say it comes with a very obvious New York City is the center of it all bias. Shake Shack is considered the quintessential quick-serve burger. I like Shake Shack well enough, but it’s hardly the best quick serve burger out there and it certainly was not the first. They also conveniently ignore the whole western states obsession with drive-in burger stands that have for a long time added toppings that reflect some eccentricity of the owner or locale, and offer up burgers made with typically fresh, quality meat and some of the best fries (and, if in Utah, fry sauce) around.
That said, it is interesting to get the east coast perspective on the burger culture and there is definitely something to be said about the decline of the $25+ fancy restaurant burger.
Last week I was on a business trip to Utah and so I have several burger joints to report on for you. So I will start with the first one I visited. I flew in on a Tuesday and met up with Art Coombs, one of the founders of Kombea. Don’t quote me on this, as our discussion wasn’t really about business but more of a catch up on a personal level, but Kombea does app development for call centers. They have some pretty cool stuff and have been around for over 20 years. Check them out and talk to Art if that is of interest to you.
Art and I knew each other, sort of, in our high school years and then later worked together in a voluntary capacity. That last was in the latter part of the 80s, so a lot of water had flowed beneath the bridge. And there is nothing like a burger to facilitate a good catch-up. (Pun completely and totally intended. Especially since Art likes to dip his burger in ketchup.)
The only thing I could complain about at this place is that they only do Coke products. You know how I feel about Pepsi products, particularly Diet Mountain Dew. But that said, at least they had Coke Zero on tap. I needed the caffeine, having had to rise at O’Dark Thirty to get to the Denver Airport, which is actually in Kansas, for an early flight.
I got the Turtle Deluxe burger. Pastrami piled on a burger patty is what makes it deluxe. And I liked that. It was a good, fresh burger in old school fashion. And that’s a good thing. The fries are also classic style and really the perfect accompaniment. And they have tater tots too.
Fry sauce is an indigenous condiment in Utah. And every place does their fry sauce just a bit differently. I would say that the Purple Turtle’s fry sauce is among the best I have had.
So, yeah, don’t let the sign with the turtle and the purple trim dissuade you from trying this out. Definitely a local find and well worth getting a burger here. It’s good stuff.
In these divisive times, one of the most divisive topics is whether you like or dislike In-n-Out Burgers. If you happen to not think that highly of the franchise, Southern Californians, for whom In-n-Out Burgers are the gold standard, will accuse you not being patriotic, American and even moral.
As far as Fast Food burgers go, for me, they are good, but there are definitely those that are better.
I will admit that there are times, especially when traveling and there is an In-n-Out that I pass, that I crave their unique burger and fries. Sometimes I come away disappointed. But I recently learned that getting onions on the burger or asking for it Animal Style–makes a big difference and definitely elevates the burger beyond. But really, In-n-Out I am talking to you–to get the good burger you shouldn’t have to order it with cheat codes. That is just as Unamerican as a phone call with a Ukrainian leader.
I had my first Animal style double cheeseburger tonight. At the Reno location. To put my hunger in perspective, I had three miles after work–at my best pace in a few years. (Aside, the Who’s Won’t Get Fooled Again is a great song for a fast pace. Especially for the primal scream; you know what part I am talking about, perhaps one of the best moments in rock.)
And it was way late.
And the burger was perfect. So it raised In-n-Out a bit in my rankings. Maybe a #4 or #5 now.
Scottsdale and Phoenix. What do they share besides intensely hot summer weather and a city border? Rehab Burger Therapy.
So I was on a trip to meet with Paul Reed and Doug Gilliat of Reed Hill Advertising fame. And conducted business over delicious Rehab Burgers in Scottsdale.
Paul was so excited about introducing me to Rehab Burgers that I didn’t have the heart to tell him that I had tried them at the one in Tempe a few months earlier.* And frankly I wasn’t really impressed with them then. I learned this time though the right way to do a Rehab Burger, which is rare or medium rare. They use such good quality meet and they really cook it just right for what you ask for. I got mine medium rare and it was, to put it simply, absolute perfect deliciousness in the burger alone. *So checking them out on the web to get the link, I discovered that the Tempe location is no longer. Maybe they weren’t up to par.
The other thing I did right was to get their PB&J Burger. It sounds weird. Peanut Butter, Grape Jam and Bacon. And Sriracha. But if you have followed my blog at all, you know that I am a fan of the peanut butter as condiment approach to burgers. But I wasn’t so confident in the idea of Grape Jam as a condiment too.
Yeah, I need to have more faith. Because the jam and the sriracha, with the salty amazing deliciousness of bacon, basically create an explosion of delicious flavor between two pretzel buns.
The only downside is that it is so crazy messy that it becomes a definite fork and knife burger. A delicious fork and knife burger.
Let’s talk the side. For me, the side makes such a difference. I normally like to go with the traditional fries. But Rehab has sweet potato tater tots. Who can resist that. Especially with pineapple dipping sauce. Just for the tots, that’s worth going to Rehab.
In the end, this is definitely in my Top 10, probably in my Top 3 for sit down restaurants. In fact, in that category, second only to The Humboldt in Denver. Though the argument could be made that the tots move it into a tie at #1. Yeah, it’s that good. But only if you go rare or medium rare. Trust me on that.
*Some might ask whether it is truly therapeutic as promised by the name of the joint. All I can say is that I had a banana for breakfast and needed nothing for dinner. And I felt so good! So, yeah, this is the kind of therapy I can get behind.
I subscribe to this podcast called The Art of Manliness. I know, I know–“you need to learn how to be many?” Maybe. Maybe not. I also listen to a podcast that features two Canadians reviewing classic rock albums that is not that unlike Bob and Doug McKenzie discussing in-depth the musical intricacies of albums like Who’s Next or Queen’s Day at the Races. In other words, my taste in podcasts is not something you can really rely on.
All that said, the AOM (yep, that’s the acronym for Art of Manliness) posted the recipe for Hemingway’s favorite burger recipe. And I am talking about that Hemingway–Earnest Hemingway, author of The Old Man and the Sea, For Whom the Bell Tolls, etc. Original tough guy. And definitely someone who probably made a good tasting burger.
Here is the link to the recipe. https://www.artofmanliness.com/articles/ernest-hemingways-favorite-hamburger/
I haven’t tried it yet. I plan to soon and will report back on how it goes. If you have tried it or do so in the near future–would love to hear what your experience was like.
Summer isn’t over, though I did just notice the first leaves in our yard starting to turn (that’s what you get when live above 6,000 feet, but even so, I know I had the best burger of the summer already.
I bet you are just on pins and needles hoping to hear where this amazing burger is and can you get it.
It was my birthday burger (early on in the summer), and it wasn’t at a burger joint. It was on the grill here at home. And it was amazing.
One of the secret sauce’s was almost literally a secret sauce. I used cream cheese and some fig jam as a part of the condiment layering. I know. It sounds a bit crazy, but the cream cheese works. First tried it on a hot dogs some years ago. Was amazed. It’s so good with hot, good beef of any sort. And fig jam adds just a touch of sweetness that compliments the savory package.
Oh, and the fries were great too–which is something really important to a great burger.
Burger & Fries 