QUEST FOR THE BEST BURGER IN WINNIPEG
March-April, 2011
While I love fine foods, ethnic foods and exotic foods, sometimes I just crave a simple and unsophisticated burger. Many joints purport to make the best burger in the city but when it all boils down, who truly makes the best burger in town? To compare fairly, I separate the restaurants into categories but in the end, I will still identify the best burger in Winnipeg.
So what makes a great burger? Differing people have different views on what a great burger entails: some like the standard mustard-relish-catsup dressing, while others like something more exotic, or nothing at all. Some like adventurous vegetables while others like the staples, and the meatheads may not want veggies at all. Despite differing opinions, a few standards (should) remain constant:
• The meat should be fresh, juicy and cooked properly;
• The bun should be fresh;
• The vegetables should be crisp and fresh; and
• The whole package should yield a burger that’s greater than the sum of its parts.
If you want to skip all the discussion and go straight to the guts, scroll to the bottom of the article for printable tables of Winnipeg's best burgers, and Winnipeg's best burger values.
As a side note, most chain restaurants charge extra for cheese or chilli (if available). Many of the local joints serve all burgers with chilli and charge extra for their deluxe burger, super burger, or fat boy (ironic that the fat boy version has the vegetables). That’s quite a statement on our society but that’s a rant I’ll save for a future commentary.
It would be impossible for me to taste every burger in the city—so how do I decide who gets a sampling? I start with a simple search to find the recurring burgers for which people rave. Then I add in a few places from reputation. Finally, I visit some of the local steakhouses—after all, if you make great steaks, you can probably make a great burger. First, I visit the chains.
THE CHAINS
As much as I want to stay away from mass food chains, I would be remiss if I didn’t mention at least the big four fast food chains in doing a review on great burgers. I don’t want to spend any time on the Big Mac or the Whopper, but I will spend a bit of time on the new line of “gourmet” burgers that the chains claim to be the next level of burger tasting.
A&W
25 locations across Winnipeg
http://www.aw.ca/
Claims
The Uncle Burger uses 100% sirloin beef.
The Facts
The Uncle Burger comes with five ounces of beef and runs $3.99.
The Highs
• The beef patty is considerably thicker than anything you saw in an A&W burger in the past.
The Lows
• The vegetables are very wilted.
The Lowdown
A&W burgers have a certain flavour to them. A combination of seasonings and A&W’s Chubby Mayo contribute to each burger tasting like A&W—you know what I’m talking about. The Uncle Burger carries this taste and if you like the A&W taste, you’ll like this burger. The thicker patty makes it less susceptible to drying out; although this burger isn’t moist, neither is it dry. Fresh vegetables would have added texture and crispness to the sandwich but the wilted lettuce leaves add nothing.
Claims
The Grandma Burger uses prime rib.
The Facts
The newly introduced Grandma Burger also costs $3.99.
The Highs
• The beef patty is comparable in thickness to the Uncle Burger but unfortunately doesn’t carry the same taste.
The Lows
• Since the vegetables come from the same place as Uncle’s vegetables, the veggies are expectedly wilted as well.
• The absence of A&W’s condiments makes this burger “not taste like A&W.”
• The sautéed onions are overdone.
• There is way too much mayo.
The Lowdown
After just describing the A&W taste, they go and create a burger that does not carry their staple taste. I assume that they omitted the usual seasonings and condiments so that people can taste unadulterated prime rib beef. Alas, this beef has no flavour and the greasy, overcooked onions do nothing to help the patty. The mess of mayo has a tinge of horseradish flavour but it’s sloppily overused. I don’t expect this burger to stay around for long.
Burger King
Ten locations across Winnipeg
http://en.burgerking.ca/
Claims
“An extra thick flame-broiled 5.5 ounce* beef patty topped with mayo, crispy onions, Thick & Hearty Steak Sauce, plus processed cheese, crisp lettuce and red ripe tomatoes.”
The Facts
The XT (extra-thick) comes with an introductory price of $3.99.
The Highs
• The crispy onions provide an extra dimension of texture.
The Lows
• The vegetables are more than wilted; they’re stale.
• The patty is burnt black.
The Lowdown
What a disappointment! With a thicker patty of beef, I expect juiciness and what I get is burnt black and charcoaled. The lettuce sat so long it turned brown on all its edges. The inferior barbecue sauce dominates all the flavours, all except the coal. The creepy King managed to come out with a creepier burger.
McDonald’s
Dozens of locations across Winnipeg
http://www.mcdonalds.ca/en/index.aspx
Claims
“We crafted 100% Angus beef into a deliciously thick patty and lovingly paired it with quality ingredients and a lightly toasted bakery style bun.”
The Facts
The Angus Burger starts at $4.99 but jumps to $5.49 with bacon and cheddar cheese.
The Highs
• The thick beef patty tastes more like a homemade burger patty than a fast food patty.
• The real cheddar cheese tastes considerably better than processed cheese.
• The vegetables come bright and crisp.
The Lows
• The bun is too thick.
The Lowdown
McDonald’s Angus Burger costs more than the competitors’ premium burgers but it’s certainly worth it. The beef tastes like beef (not like fast food beef) and the real cheddar cheese is a real delight. Personally, I find processed cheese more processed than cheese. Although the vegetables aren’t garden fresh, they are far from their expiry date. The Big Mac exemplifies the “McDonald’s” taste and they wisely carry the taste through to Angus. McDonald’s is the world’s more prolific restaurant for a reason—people love it. People also love to hate it but undeniably, people love it—and the Angus Burger takes McDonald’s food to a new level.
I love bacon but I don’t like bacon in burgers. Bacon has such a strong meat flavour, it easily overpowers milder meats. The Angus Burgers provides good-tasting beef but the strips of bacon overwhelm it. I would order Angus with cheddar but without the bacon. I would also have used the standard bun over the thicker bun, which takes away from some of the taste.
Things happen fast. Two weeks ago, I raved about the bursting positive Angus Burger. Walking through the Golden Arches today, I find an expanded line of Angus Burgers, now called Angus Third Pounders. The line features the original Angus, now called Deluxe, the Mushroom & Cheese, and the Bacon & Cheese versions. An oversized regular bun supplants the bakery style bun.
Claims
The new Deluxe boasts of the same fresh ingredients and advertises its third-pound status.
The Highs
• The thick beef patty still tastes more like a homemade burger patty than a fast food patty.
• The vegetables come bright and crisp.
• The new bun is not as dry as the original.
The Lows
• The excellent cheddar cheese is now replaced by the bland processed cheese.
• The mayo overwhelms and dominates the burger.
The Lowdown
This rendition of the Angus Burger takes a significant nosedive from its prototype. The processed cheese takes the special zip out of Angus and the massive mound of mayo masks the tastes of the Angus beef. Although still tastier than a Big Mac, this Angus is no longer special.
Wendy’s
Six locations across Winnipeg
http://www.wendys.ca/
Claims
“We don't cut corners with our hamburgers…our fresh, never frozen beef is always served hot off the grill. Our tomatoes are hand sliced…real quality taste starts with real quality ingredients.”
The Facts
Wendy’s is the only chain that has not introduced a “premium” burger. Wendy’s maintains that all of their burgers are premium and the standard single, quarter-pound burger with cheese rings in at $4.89.
The Highs
• The vegetables come fresh.
• The beef tastes like homemade beef.
The Lows
• The patty tastes a little dry.
The Lowdown
Wendy’s lives up to their claims. The vegetables look like they’re freshly picked and the tastes reflect it. The patty tastes like the beef you would get if you buy ground beef and make your own burgers. The patty is a little thin and thus, quite susceptible to drying out. As is, this is a very good burger; if Wendy’s would boost this burger to six ounces, and add considerable thickness to retain the juiciness of the meat, this would be a great burger.
LOCAL FAVOURITES – TAKEOUT OF COUNTER SERVICE ONLY
I didn’t expect much from the chains but I found some surprisingly good burgers, but now that we have the formality over with, let’s take a look at some of our local fast-food joints and see how good some of the “best burgers in Winnipeg” really are.
The Burger Place
1909 Portage Ave, (204) 831-7967
Claims
“Our burgers are made fresh daily.”
The Facts
All burgers come with chilli ($4.45) and the deluxe comes with lettuce, tomato, pickles and mayo ($4.75).
The Highs
• Burgers come with fresh, shredded lettuce and fresh tomatoes.
• The combination of sauces is nice tasting and very goopy.
• The meat is fresh, not frozen.
The Lows
• This is one of the messiest burgers I encountered.
The Lowdown
Although the meat patty isn’t daunting, the addition of vegetables brings the sandwich to an almost unmanageable thickness. Add the generous sauces and you have yourself a big, gooey mess. Often, I can’t stand messy food but when a burger tastes this good, I don’t mind having my hands dripping with sauce.
All the burgers come with chilli but the deluxe adds the vegetable component. This is a twist but I guess the carnivorous purists don’t want their meat tainted with anything green. I would find the plain burger boring but the deluxe gives you the perfect combination between vegetable and meat. The only change I would make is to add onions. The meat is well done, but not dry.
The Burger Place is the prototype of “hole in the wall” but sometimes, the holes make the best food. This is definitely one of those places.
Daly Burgers
619 Corydon Ave, (204) 269-3259
1151 Pembina Hwy, (204) 452-3259
http://www.dalyburgers.com/
Claims
“The ingredients are of the highest quality, including 100% pure beef patties and hot dogs (no frozen patties), double thick slices of real cheese, fresh chopped onions, hand sliced beefsteak tomatoes, pickles and mustard.”
The Facts
The deluxe cheeseburger is a sizable creation that comes with chilli and rings in at $5.25.
The Highs
• The crisp and fresh vegetables stand out in this burger. You know when you get a burger with stale vegetables: the wilted lettuce sometimes sports brown spots and the soggy tomatoes fall apart in your palms.
• The chilli tastes subtle and adds a nice dimension to the burger. Some burger palaces serve chilli that overwhelms the burger and dominates the flavour.
The Lows
• The thick slab of beef is overcooked and dried of all its juices.
• The bun is too thick. Bread should act as a container only, and not fill you up.
The Lowdown
Daly puts out a good burger but there’s room for improvement. While I enjoy this sandwich, I would not label this as the best burger in Winnipeg.
Dari-Whip Drive-In
383 Marion Street, (204) 233-5144
Claims
No claims made.
The Facts
The hamburger costs $4.75 and the cheeseburger costs an even $5.
The Highs
• Nothing to report.
The Lows
• Nothing to report.
The Lowdown
The highs/lows say it all—there’s nothing offensive about this burger, but there’s also nothing great about it. The ground beef is unprocessed, which is good, but it’s slightly overcooked and over-salted. Dressings include the standard mustard and catsup. The big chunks of onions are nice but the big chunks of pickles overwhelm the burger. That’s the extent of vegetation on this burger, which leaves the sandwich a bit bland and lacking.
Junior’s Restaurant
558 Portage Ave, (204) 774-6370
785 St Marys Rd, (204) 256-6571
1019 McPhillips St, (204) 589-6777
The Facts
The Fat Boy is somewhat self-explanatory and goes for $4.45.
The Highs
• This massive burger satisfies all but the most gluttonous of gourmands.
The Lows
I don’t know where to begin.
• There is so much goop and sauce that it completely drowns the meat. You can throw a slab of chicken, fish or yak in there and no one would know the difference.
• I know when people order a “Fat Boy,” they have a certain expectation. This Fat Boy offers no shortage of fat. The burger oozes with grease drippings from the first bite to the last squeeze.
The Lowdown
This burger is a mess, literally and figuratively. There’s so much junk in this burger that it doesn’t taste like a burger. If you really want a jolt of fat, just take a big bite out of a lump or lard—it tastes about the same.
Mrs. Mike’s
286 Tache Ave, (204) 237-3977
Claims
Mrs. Mike’s doesn’t make any claims but many local reviewer consider Mrs. Mike’s burgers the best in Winnipeg.
The Facts
All burgers come with chilli, mustard, onions and pickles and the cheeseburger runs $5.25.
The Highs
• Lots of onions give lots of taste.
• Nice ratio and combo of sauces.
The Lows
• The regular burger has no vegetables except onions; the Superburger costs a steep $7.00.
The Lowdown
The taste of the chilli is slightly overpowering but it’s hard to tell since both the chilli and patty taste unbearably salty. Check your blood pressure after this burger! The pickle flavour manages to poke through the burger because of the large wedge that slices across the entire bun.
Note: All burgers come with chilli but if you order the chilli burger, you get a burger in a cup smothered in chilli. How do you eat this? I try a weakly plastic spoon from Mike’s counter to prod into this gastronomic mess. I end up digging through the chilli to get bites of burger goo.
The Red Boot Drive Inn
1866 Ness Ave, (204) 888-1506
info@theredboot.ca
http://www.theredboot.ca/menu.html
Claims
“Real burgers…real good: All our beef hamburgers are homemade using 100% ground beef with no additives.”
The Facts
All burgers come with mustard, onions, pickles and homemade chili sauce. The Boot Special also includes cheese, lettuce, tomato and mayo and rings in at $5.10.
The Highs
• The vegetables, especially the tomato slices, come garden fresh.
• The chilli tastes delicious.
The Lows
• The patty is thin and overcooked.
• The pickle is sliced lengthwise and a little overpowering.
The Lowdown
Over all the burgers that come with chilli, the Boot offers the best chilli, which tastes subtle yet flavourful. It’s hard to call one of the messiest burgers around “subtle” but that’s what this burger is—subtle. All of the flavours blend together wonderfully and none really stands out, except the pickle that I ate separately. The Boot has put together the perfect combination of sauce, onions, vegetables and chilli; alas, the meagre patty drags this burger down. Most of the other drive-inn, counter joints pride themselves on their monstrous patties and if the Boot would boost the size of their meat content, this great burger would become an extraordinary burger.
V.J's Drive Inn
170 Main St, 943-2655
Claims
The Special Burger comes with chilli, cheese, shredded lettuce, tomato, pickles, onions and condiments; the regular hamburger does not have lettuce or tomato. The Special Burger rings in at $5.
The Highs
• The vegetables look fresh.
The Lows
• This sandwich is a gooey mess.
• The generous slop of chilli overwhelms all other flavours, except the pickles.
• The burger comes with huge strips of pickles, sliced lengthwise.
• The meat patty is thin and way overcooked.
The Lowdown
If you Google-search the best burger in Winnipeg, you find VJ's burgers consistently sit near the top the lists-and I can't understand why. When a burger tastes great, you don't mind having some sloppy goo all
over your table. When you have a sad-tasting burger, cleaning up the mess just adds insult to injury. This is a very sad burger. The chilli tastes so overpowering that it wipes out all the other flavours, except
the pickles, which comes in monstrous chunks. If you want a chilli and pickle sandwich, this is the place, but if you want to taste a hamburger, forget it. The pitiful wafer of dried and overcooked patty is completely lost within the sopping and disintegrated bun. I can't tell what the condiments are and I can't taste the cheese-and frankly, I don't care
White Star Diner
58 Albert St, (204) 947-6930
whitestardiner@shaw.ca
http://www.whitestardiner.ca/
Claims
“Everything we serve is made from scratch, in keeping with true diners where frozen fries or mechanically deboned alfalfa burgers would have never been served. It may be simple diner food, but it is delicious simple diner food made with quality, fresh ingredients and seasoned just right to bring out all the flavour.”
The Facts
The White Star Burger starts at $4.75 and available dressings include Canadian cheddar cheese, Dutch edam, crisp bacon, sautéed green peppers, and sautéed mushrooms, each at an additional $1.35.
The Highs
• The patty is perfectly cooked—seared on the outside and dripping, juicy on the inside.
• The cheese is real, and all other options are fresh and generous.
• The burger comes with a great combination of sauces.
The Lows
• The lettuce is wilted and the tomato is fresh but bland.
The Lowdown
The perfect burger should have the complete package but if you deconstruct the process, some aspects of the burger outweigh others—namely, the patty is the most important part of the burger. White Star has it where it counts. Here we have the perfect patty sitting on some wilted lettuce. It wouldn’t take much for this great burger to become an outstanding burger.
The White Top
409 Manitoba Ave, (204) 589-4419
Claims
No claims.
The Facts
The Fatboy Burger includes chilli, vegetables and comes to $4.95.
The Highs
• The impressive pile of vegetables is very fresh.
• There is lots of goop in good proportions.
• The slices of pickle are very thin, providing just enough for an accent, rather than a domination.
• The patty is nicely seasoned.
The Lows
• The beef is very thin and overcooked.
The Lowdown
This could be a great burger. The meat is wonderfully seasoned with a touch of spiciness. The crumbliness of the patty indicates a tight rein on the amount of breading used, which is a good thing. The only problem is that there isn’t enough meat on the patty. The patty gets thin and easily overcooked.
Zax Drive-in
1184 Portage Ave, (204) 786-0908
Claims
All burgers starts with a freshly-made patty and chilli, onions, mustard, pickle and cheese come standard.
The Facts
The basic burger starts at $4.50 and comes with a quarter-pound patty.
The Highs
• The burger comes mile-high, stuffed with vegetables.
• The patty is thick.
• The burger comes with just enough delicious sauce.
The Lows
• The bun top is cold—refrigerator cold.
• The tomato has no taste.
• The shredded lettuce has lots of brown edges.
• The burger is very messy to eat.
The Lowdown
The perfectly blended sauce makes this burger, although the generosity of the vegetables doesn’t hurt; the brown spots must go. The meat comes a little overdone but it’s not dry, mainly because of the brawn of the thick patty. This patty easily outdoes its quarter-pound claim. The chilli acts as a nice accent without overwhelming the taste.
LOCAL FAVOURITES – PARTIAL SERVICE
Blondie’s
1969 Main St, (204) 338-0185
Claims
“Every burger comes with cheese, bacon, onions (raw or fried), lettuce, tomato, mayo, mustard and relish.”
The Facts
There’s nothing official be we suspect that Blondie’s weighs their burgers AFTER cooking. Here’s the price list:
1/8 pound: $4.95
¼ pound: $6.25
½ pound: $12.95
1 pound: $17.95
2 pounds: $29.95
3 pounds: $35.95
6 pounds: $47.95
9 pounds: $62.95 (the largest burger available in Winnipeg)
The Highs
• The lettuce and tomato slices are very fresh.
• The sauce is common, but nicely proportioned.
• The bread tastes fresh.
• The proportions are monstrous.
• The owner is a volatile character that threatens to erupt at any moment.
The Lows
• The meat tastes a little too salty and the bacon exacerbates it.
• The patty is a tad overcooked.
• The owner is a volatile character that threatens to erupt at any moment.
The Lowdown
The amount of food you get for your burger is insane. The ½ pound burger spans 6”–7” and the full pound burger spans 9”–10”, with considerable thickness. The patty tastes a touch overdone, leaving the meat moist, but no longer juicy. People will often overlook the details of this burger when faced with its mass, but great care is placed into its ingredients and assembly. The patty falls apart quite easily, due to a low ratio of breadcrumbs in the mixture—between meat or crumbs, I’ll take extra meat and a crumbly patty any day.
Boon Burger Café
79 Sherbrook St, (204) 415-1391
info@boonburger.ca
http://www.boonburger.ca/cms/pdf/boonburgermenu.pdf
Claims
“We make all our burgers, buns...from scratch. All our burgers are served on ancient organic whole-grain buns and include a dill pickle and a raw vegetable garnish. [The Boon Burger has a] grilled mushroom-rice patty, mayo, Dijon, red pepper peach chutney, caramelised onion, sliced cucumber, tomato and lettuce.”
The Facts
This ingredient-filled vegan burger comes to $6.95, or you can add “bacun” for an extra $0.95.
The Highs
• The “ancient” whole grain bun falls apart in your hands to leave you with sloppy palms but even the sopping fragments of bread tastes delicious.
• All the vegetables come garden fresh and the cuke makes a great sub for the ubiquitous pickle.
• The perfectly blended sauce tastes wonderfully exotic.
The Lows
• The patty tastes a little floury—while nice, I’m sure the carnivores will never buy this rendition of a meatless patty.
The Lowdown
As a package, this wonderful burger delivers almost everything you could want from a burger. The magnificent sauce and the delicious caramelised onions dance in unison with the wonderful bun. I can’t quite make out the red pepper peach chutney but the sauce has an exotic flavour and I attribute it to the chutney. The patty—even with nice seasoning and flavour—may be the weak link in this chain. The texture tastes like a meat patty with too much flour or breadcrumbs. The grilled patty tries too hard to emulate a meat patty when it doesn’t have to.
For many years, Underground Café’s Sun-burger set a stellar standard for meatless burgers. From reputation alone, every vegetarian burger will get inevitable comparisons to the Underground sandwich—and with good reason. The Sun-burger stands as a entity of its own without trying to imitate its meat cousin. The Boon Burger could learn a lesson from the Sun to move from “very good burger” status to “great burger” status.
George’s Burgers & Subs
6 locations across Winnipeg
Claims
Made fresh
The Facts
All burgers come with chilli, onions, mustard and pickles; the Fatboy also includes lettuce, tomato slices, mayo and cheese. The Fatboy rings in at a downright cheap $3.90.
The Highs
• The Kaiser bun is fresh and huge.
• The burger has just enough chilli.
• The mayo and mayo sauce is a nice, proportionate combo.
• The tomato slices are very fresh.
The Lows
• The patty is overcooked.
• There isn’t very much finely shredded lettuce.
• It could use a little more onions.
The Lowdown
This is a great burger for the price. The subtle-tasting chilli acts as a nice complement to the burger without taking over the tastes. Even though the patty is overcooked and dry, the chilli and sauce compensate so that the overall sandwich tastes delicious. The bun is a little too large for the burger; people want to eat what’s between the bun, not necessarily the bread.
Kay’s Delicatessen
339 William Avenue, (204) 949-0424
Fax: (204) 949-0442
http://kaysdeliwinnipeg.wordpress.com/
Claims
“A delicious homemade veggie burger with carrots, lentils, potatoes and pecans on an onion Kaiser bun smothered in our own mango dill yogurt sauce or sweet chilli sauce, topped with red onion, cucumber, tomato, and crisp romaine.”
The Facts
Kay’s Veggie Burger sets you back $5.75.
The Highs
• The fresh vegetables highlight this veggie burger.
The Lows
• The sauce has no taste.
• The patty exemplifies what meaties expect from a meatless hamburger.
The Lowdown
The mango dill yogurt sauce has so much potential, but when I taste it, I can barely tell it’s not just plain mayo. The patty also has great potential but the potato ends up dominating this creation. The excess of starch makes this patty resemble a latke (potato pancake). The pecans add lovely texture but the ingredient proportions of the patty needs some adjusting.
The vegetables taste crisp and fresh but the real star of this burger is the onion Kaiser but with cheese. Kay has the basic foundation for a great burger but as it stands, there’s room for improvement.
Red Top Restaurant
219 St. Mary’s Rd, (204) 233-7943
http://www.facebook.com/group.php?gid=141114742595359#!/group.php?gid=141114742595359&v=info
Claims
“Our hamburger is made daily in our own kitchen from fresh lean ground beef.”
The Facts
The regular burger comes with mustard, chilli sauce, onions and dill pickle; the Lot-O-Burger also includes cheese, lettuce, mayonnaise and tomato slices and runs $4.29.
The Highs
• The vegetables taste fresh, but not special.
The Lows
• There isn’t very much onions, barely enough to notice.
• The two slices of pickles are huge and stacked on top of each other, leaving the remainder of the burger pickleless.
• The patty is very thin, overcooked and over-salted in some areas.
The Lowdown
There is really nothing special about this burger that would elevate it over any regular burger from a fast-food chain.
Salisbury House
Over 20 locations: http://salisburyhouse.ca/locations.html
http://salisburyhouse.ca/index.html
Claims
“All those tastes begin in our unique Commissary. Virtually all ingredients for our menu items are created in this centralised facility and delivered FRESH DAILY to all Salisbury House location. This process allows us to guarantee fresh, consistent, high quality food to our guests with each visit to any Sals location.”
The Facts
Salisbury House coined the term “nip” to denote a hamburger. The Mr. Big Nip costs you $4.99 and comes with raw onions, a slice of processed cheddar cheese, lettuce, tomato and Sals Sauce.
The Highs
• Sals promises fresh ingredients and indeed the vegetables come garden fresh. The lettuce tastes crisp, the onions are clean and the tomato slices firm. Unfortunately, tomatoes aren’t in season right now and they are mostly tasteless.
The Lows
• The wafer thin beef patty is dry and tasteless. The Mr. Big Nip is big in vegetables but little in meat.
• The slice of processed cheese is so thin that I had to search dedicatedly to find it. I’m still not quite sure it was ever there.
• Although every table supports salt and pepper shakers and catsup, I don’t think the burger itself has any condiments. Although the Nip purports to have Sals Sauce, I can’t taste anything but a dry meat on a dry bun.
The Lowdown
If I ordered a vegetable sandwich, I would have been very happy with what I got. I ordered the “famous” Nip and ended up with a monumental burger disappointment. This burger does not match up to any fast food chain’s staple burgers.
Super Boy’s
1468 Main St, (204) 589-8437
Claims
All burgers come with chilli, mustard, onions and pickles, the Super Boy comes with mayo, lettuce and tomato slices in addition.
The Facts
The Super Boy comes in at $5.00.
The Highs
• The patty is thick and wide.
The Lows
• Too much mayo covers the burger.
• The tiny slice of processed cheese barely covers two square inches (which is completely lost against the monster patty).
• The patty is slightly overcooked.
• The patty tastes doughy, indicating a lot of breadcrumbs in the beef mixture.
The Lowdown
At $5.00, your money gets you a lot of food for this oversized burger. The abundance of mayo turns this burger into a sloppy mess, and turns all the vegetables into a soggy heap. The shredded lettuce looks quite fresh but the inclusion of the brown core makes the entire pile look stale.
The Underground Café
70 Arthur St, (204) 956-1925
http://theundergroundcafe.ca/
Claims
“Our burger is a compilation of toasted sesame and sunflower seeds, vegetable protein, mozza and cheddar cheeses, rice, eggs, and assorted spices, baked to perfection. Served on a toasted bagel with lime-dill sauce, romaine, green peppers, onion and tomato.”
The Facts
“The Fabulous Sun-burger” is a meatless burger that rings in at $5.75.
The Highs
• The lime-dill sauce is a ray of genius! This could well be the best sauce a burger can face.
• All vegetables come very fresh.
• The patty is thick and moist, and has wonderful texture.
• The toasted bagel is not too dense and complements the burger package nicely.
The Lows
• The hole in the bagel causes messy hands and a shameful waste of sauce.
• The patty has lots of thickness, but not much diameter.
The Lowdown
I tried to convince some hardened carnivores to try the Sun-burger but some people’s prejudices run soul-deep. It is a true pity for them since they’ll never experience this truly innovative burger. The crunch of the sunflower seeds adds a wonderful, extra dimension to the patty. If you didn’t know it, you may have a fair time ascertaining that this patty contains no meat. Although the delicious patty is thick and juicy, it’s not very large. The jaw-breaking burger gives the impression of being a stomach stretcher, but the smallish diameter of the patty doesn’t leave you stuffed silly. The patty itself could use a bit more seasoning but the wonderful lime-dill sauce makes up for it.
FULL SERVICE RESTAURANT BURGERS
Finally, we have some full-service restaurants throwing their buns into the ring claiming to have the best burgers in the city. These are usually a little more expensive and often they claim to put more care into crafting your sandwiches.
529 Wellington
529 Wellington Cres, (204) 487-8325
http://www.wowhospitality.ca/restaurants/wellington_menu.html
Claims
“[The] 529 Prime Burger [comes with] ground prime beef tenderloin served with mayo, Dijon mustard, lettuce, tomato and fried onions.”
The Facts
The basic burger rings in at $11 but adding cheddar brings the price to $13.
The Highs
• The onions are nicely sautéd.
• The genuine cheddar is just melted.
• The vegetables are as fresh as they come, including the garden-like tomato.
• The well seasoned and thick patty is beautifully seared on the outside and just pink on the inside.
• Dijon mustard adds a nice tangy accent.
• There is just enough mayo to keep the bread moist.
The Lows
• None I can think of, except the $13 for a cheeseburger is the most expensive I encountered (for this size category).
The Lowdown
With food preparation, sometimes you want to exert your creative genius—and sometimes you want to return to basics. When I want a burger, I just want the basics. There’s no real secret to doing the basics well: just use great, fresh ingredients, season/spice well, proportion properly and prepare to detail. The 529 burger has all of those factors ground down to perfection. The flavourful meat comes seasoned marvellously and the bun/vegetables are fresh as morning dew. With everything in harmony, this could be the best burger in Winnipeg.
Bailey’s
150 Lombard Ave, (204) 944-1180
Fax: (204) 944-0449
feedback@baileysprimedining.com
http://www.baileysprimedining.com/
Claims
“A [sic] 8 oz. pure ground sirloin patty with tomato, mayo, onion, lettuce, mustard, crispy smoked bacon and cheddar cheese.”
The Facts
The regular burger has an eight-ounce patty and runs $9.50—add cheddar and bacon and it comes to $10.95. The sandwich comes with fries, a cup of soup, or a side of house salad.
The Highs
• The burger comes with very fresh tomato slices and lettuce.
• The bun comes nicely toasted.
• The combination of sauces complements the burger well.
The Lows
• The thick patty is nicely seared, but overdone.
• There melted cheese slice is so thin, that it looks almost transparent.
The Lowdown
Overall, the burger has nice flavour and good potential to be a great burger. However, overcooking the thick patty compromises the entire package.
The Chocolate Shop
268 Portage Ave,
(204) 947-9109, fax: (204) 944-8207
http://www.thechocolateshoprestaurant.com/Home.html
Claims
The Beefalo and Bacon Burger consists of a “beef and bison patty with homemade bacon and cheddar on warm focaccia, aioli and smoked corn relish.”
The Facts
This untraditional burger from this unlikely burger contending restaurant comes to your table for $10.
The Highs
• The thick patty comes perfectly sear-grilled on the outside and juicy moist on the inside.
• I normally don’t like bacon in a burger but their subtle homemade version works wonderfully.
• Real cheese takes any burger to a new level.
• Aioli in place of mayo—genius!
The Lows
• The patty tastes a little bland, needed a sprinkling of salt and pepper.
The Lowdown
Who would have expected to find a great burger from The Chocolate Shop? The honest truth is that I happened upon this delightful surprise in the midst of my burger research. I would not have included this entry except that this burger tastes so darn good! The substantial Angus burger comes perfectly made and the delicious Italian take on the bun barely contains the patty so you inevitably end up with a handful of tasty goop. I can’t promote this burger any more than what the Highs section already propounds, except that this is one of the best burgers in the city.
Park Tower Family Restaurant
1 – 2015 Portage Ave, (204) 889-4271
Claims
“Our homemade burgers…come with chilli, mustard, pickles & onions.”
The Facts
Although sizes aren’t provided, I suspect the cheeseburger to weigh ½ pound ($6.75) and the deluxe cheeseburger includes tomato slices, lettuce and mayonnaise ($7.75).
The Highs
• The meat patty has wonderful flavours, including bits of onion built into the ground beef.
• The vegetables are quite fresh, but unspectacular.
The Lows
• The thick patty was very overcooked.
• The Tower uses processed cheese.
The Lowdown
The Tower has the foundation to make a great burger, but they fall just a little short. Overcooking the patty is a huge blunder, especially when the patty measures almost an inch thick. Looking around the table, some of my companions have patties that look more moist than mine but the one I have can’t be called anything but a failure. I hope this is just an off attempt.
I expect the drive-ins and fast food joints to use processed cheese, but once I enter the doors of a sit-down, full-service restaurant, I prefer to find real cheese, rather than processed. Switching out the cheese and using more care in the cooking of the patty would elevate this burger to elite status.
Peasant Cookery
100 – 283 Bannatyne Ave, (204) 989-7700
http://www.peasantcookery.com/
Claims
The Cookery makes no overt claims but when the former owner/manager first introduced the burger, he spent 15 minutes explaining the process of making a burger, and the reasoning behind it. I remember his passion like he explained it just yesterday.
The Facts
The burger comprises of a mix of short rib, brisket, chuck on a brioche bun runs $8.99.
The Highs
• This substantial burger is ultra-thick, juicy and cooked to perfection.
• The vegetables taste fresh and crisp.
• The “homemade” mayo tastes rich.
The Lows
• The brioche bun is too thick.
• The meat doesn’t have enough seasoning.
The Lowdown
Let me summarise the detailed description that the owner/manager gave me. The restaurant grinds the meat on demand. After the grinding, the chef takes extreme care to mould the meat with as little manipulation as possible—too much handling spoils the purity of the meat. The chef carefully selects the blend of beef cuts based on meat flavouring and intensity.
I understand the theory behind the method but I don’t think I buy it. The chef intentionally leaves the burgers lightly seasoned/spiced (only a little bit of salt and pepper) to preserve the unadulteration of the meat. In every other respect, Cookery took the right steps to make this the perfect burger, but in not using enough spices/herbs, the meat ends up tasting bland. If you take your best cut of beef (and I’ve tasted Kobe), you still need something to accelerate it to the next level. Of course, you don’t want to overwhelm it, but you want to have enough complement to make it perfect.
Unfortunately, Cookery’s hesitation in applying the little additions prevents this from being the perfect burger. Don’t get me wrong, I’m not talking about smothering the burger with catsup or Dijon mustard; I’m talking about just a little bit of spicing to accentuate the beauty of a solid foundation for a burger. At $8.99, you pay more than the average burger, but you get more than the average burger—but it’s not quite the perfect burger.
Promenade Bistro
130-C Provencher Blvd (204) 233-7030
Fax: (204) 231-4869
http://www.360winnipeg.ca/Restaurants/LocalCuisine/PromenadeBistro.html
Claims
The Organic Beef Burger comes with fries.
The Facts
The basic Organic Beef Burger costs $8.50 but you can add either cheese or bacon at $1.25 each.
The Highs
• The slices of tomatoes and baby lettuce leaves come fresh.
The Lows
• The beef is over-seasoned (too salty) and a bit overcooked.
• The puny slice of processed cheese is lost in the burger.
The Lowdown
I expect fast food restaurants and cheap burger dives to use processed cheese. When I dine in a sit-down restaurant and pay premium prices for a burger, I expect “real” cheese. Especially when the cheese comes at a $1.25 tack-on, I expect more than a 2-square inch piece of processed cheese on the burger. This is a serious shortcoming.
The lettuce leaves come nice and crisp; while the tomato slices come equally fresh, they have little more taste than your typical tomatoes off the grocery shelves. The caramelised onions add a nice facet of flavour but alas, the saltiness of the meat patty drowns out most of the other ingredients. The tiny slices of red onions are completely lost in the concoction.
Muddy Waters Smokehouse
15 Forks Market Rd, (204) 947-6653
http://www.wowhospitality.ca/restaurants/muddywaters_menu.html
Claims
“A half pound of our homemade beef patty grilled to perfection and topped with mayo, lettuce, tomatoes, red onions and a pickle spear on the side.”
The Facts
Muddy Waters’s most basic burger runs $10.99.
The Highs
• The freshly formed patty comes perfectly cooked and juicy.
• The vegetables come fresh and crisp; the red onions are a nice alternative to the usual.
The Lows
• I don’t see much wrong with this burger.
The Lowdown
Muddy Waters named this the Holey Burger because of the hole that they piece in the center of the meat patty. They purport that the hole provides extra cooking surface and thus, evenly cooks burger from the outside in, and from the inside out. This reduces the amount of time the burger needs to stay on the grill and maintains the moisture in the meat.
I can’t argue with the juiciness of the meat but I do question the effectiveness of the hole. A small puncture in the burger cannot possibly provide any extra cooking area—after all, this isn’t a doughnut. If anything, I wonder if the hole permits juices to escape. Regardless, Muddy Waters manages to generate a very enjoyable burger.
Rae & Jerry’s
1405 Portage Avenue
(204) 783-6155
fax (204) 783-5797
http://www.raeandjerrys.com/
Claims
None
The Facts
The eight ounce cheeseburger is served on a toasted bun tomato, lettuce, melted cheddar cheese with a dill pickle side. The cheeseburger runs $10.75 while the cheeseless burger goes for $10.25. The works includes mustard and relish; catsup comes on the side.
The Highs
• The very fresh lettuce comes as one whole leaf.
• Plenty of raw onions provide great bite.
• The generous slice of pickle comes on the side, for your choice of inclusion.
• The thick patty must over-tip the 8-ounce scale.
• The lightly toast bun offers just enough crunch in the texture.
• The burger comes with real cheddar cheese.
The Lows
• The meat could use a bit more seasoning.
• Though the extra cheese only adds $0.50 to the price, there isn’t very much cheese.
The Lowdown
The burger comes open-faced, the way it should be, so the vegetables stay cool and crisp. After you put the two sides together, the sandwich is thick enough where you have trouble engaging the entire works.
The patty is cooked perfectly, with just a touch of pink in the very center of the meat. There’s probably not enough pink to give you salmonella but enough to keep the meat very moist and palatable.
Star Conservatory Restaurant
(at Assiniboine Park)
15 Conservatory Drive
Phone: (204) 897-7827
Fax: (204) 897-2087
http://www.stargrill.mb.ca/conservatory.html
Claims
The 100% beef goldenrod burger comes with either salad or Starfries.
The Facts
This burger runs $11.95, plus an extra $2 for mushrooms or $3 for bacon and cheese.
The Highs
• The fries comprise of both yam and potato sticks. Both are hand-cut and not greasy.
The Lows
• The glass bottle of catsup—some traditions have to go and this container should have went a long time ago (this has nothing to do with the burger; it`s just a personal rant).
• The thin beef patty resembles the pre-fab you get at the grocery store, not the handmade, restaurant type.
• The tomato slice looks fresh but there’s no colour (and no flavour).
• The lettuce looks fresh but Star includes the lettuce ribs. The ribs are speckled with brown spots, so even though the leaves look fresh, the presentation makes it appear stale.
• I love red onions, but there’s too much. I shouldn’t tear when I bite into the burger.
• The entire lower bun is covered with pickles—too much and too overpowering.
• The Kaiser bun is extremely thick.
The Lowdown
There’s lots of substance to this burger, but unfortunately, there’s little meat. The thick bread and vegetables fill the stomach void nicely but you barely notice any beef.
THE ANALYSES
As a general rule, I find restaurant burgers out weigh, out class and out price the local burger joints and the chains. Alas, the Star Conservatory Restaurant provides an expensive exception. Let’s look at the components:
Best Bun: Kay’s Deli’s cheese and onion Kaiser bun injects wonderful flavours where most buns act only as a container for other ingredients.
Best Sauce: The Underground Café’s lime-dill sauce is innovatively inventive and out-of-this-world daring. If the meathead majority would only try this veggie burger, this may become a common alternative to the regular mayo-based sauces.
Best vegetables: The 529 burger’s slice of tomato simply tastes like I just plucked and sliced it from my own garden. Normally, I prefer raw onions but this subtly sautéed slew has just enough caramelising. The meticulously selected lettuce leaf fits onto the bun perfectly. This assembly of vegetables is a work of art.
Best Patty: Seared perfectly on the outside with a touch of pink on the inside, 529’s patty comes as close to perfection as you can expect from a hamburger.
Best Burger: Here’s how they stack up:
As you can see, I found 529 Wellington to make the best burger in the city; however, they also charged the most for their sandwich. Breaking down the value, where can you go to get the best burger for your buck? The final column in the table shows you how much it costs to earn one star rating, the lower the amount, the better value for your burger--to wit, the burger at the top of the table gives you best value, and the burger at the bottom of the table gives you the worst value for your buck.
This is a free product that I'm happy to bring to you. If you enjoyed reading this, please consider clicking on the accompanying ads. This is the only payment I receive for offering this public service. Thank you as always for reading.
March-April, 2011
While I love fine foods, ethnic foods and exotic foods, sometimes I just crave a simple and unsophisticated burger. Many joints purport to make the best burger in the city but when it all boils down, who truly makes the best burger in town? To compare fairly, I separate the restaurants into categories but in the end, I will still identify the best burger in Winnipeg.
So what makes a great burger? Differing people have different views on what a great burger entails: some like the standard mustard-relish-catsup dressing, while others like something more exotic, or nothing at all. Some like adventurous vegetables while others like the staples, and the meatheads may not want veggies at all. Despite differing opinions, a few standards (should) remain constant:
• The meat should be fresh, juicy and cooked properly;
• The bun should be fresh;
• The vegetables should be crisp and fresh; and
• The whole package should yield a burger that’s greater than the sum of its parts.
If you want to skip all the discussion and go straight to the guts, scroll to the bottom of the article for printable tables of Winnipeg's best burgers, and Winnipeg's best burger values.
As a side note, most chain restaurants charge extra for cheese or chilli (if available). Many of the local joints serve all burgers with chilli and charge extra for their deluxe burger, super burger, or fat boy (ironic that the fat boy version has the vegetables). That’s quite a statement on our society but that’s a rant I’ll save for a future commentary.
It would be impossible for me to taste every burger in the city—so how do I decide who gets a sampling? I start with a simple search to find the recurring burgers for which people rave. Then I add in a few places from reputation. Finally, I visit some of the local steakhouses—after all, if you make great steaks, you can probably make a great burger. First, I visit the chains.
THE CHAINS
As much as I want to stay away from mass food chains, I would be remiss if I didn’t mention at least the big four fast food chains in doing a review on great burgers. I don’t want to spend any time on the Big Mac or the Whopper, but I will spend a bit of time on the new line of “gourmet” burgers that the chains claim to be the next level of burger tasting.
A&W
25 locations across Winnipeg
http://www.aw.ca/
Claims
The Uncle Burger uses 100% sirloin beef.
The Facts
The Uncle Burger comes with five ounces of beef and runs $3.99.
The Highs
• The beef patty is considerably thicker than anything you saw in an A&W burger in the past.
The Lows
• The vegetables are very wilted.
The Lowdown
A&W burgers have a certain flavour to them. A combination of seasonings and A&W’s Chubby Mayo contribute to each burger tasting like A&W—you know what I’m talking about. The Uncle Burger carries this taste and if you like the A&W taste, you’ll like this burger. The thicker patty makes it less susceptible to drying out; although this burger isn’t moist, neither is it dry. Fresh vegetables would have added texture and crispness to the sandwich but the wilted lettuce leaves add nothing.
Claims
The Grandma Burger uses prime rib.
The Facts
The newly introduced Grandma Burger also costs $3.99.
The Highs
• The beef patty is comparable in thickness to the Uncle Burger but unfortunately doesn’t carry the same taste.
The Lows
• Since the vegetables come from the same place as Uncle’s vegetables, the veggies are expectedly wilted as well.
• The absence of A&W’s condiments makes this burger “not taste like A&W.”
• The sautéed onions are overdone.
• There is way too much mayo.
The Lowdown
After just describing the A&W taste, they go and create a burger that does not carry their staple taste. I assume that they omitted the usual seasonings and condiments so that people can taste unadulterated prime rib beef. Alas, this beef has no flavour and the greasy, overcooked onions do nothing to help the patty. The mess of mayo has a tinge of horseradish flavour but it’s sloppily overused. I don’t expect this burger to stay around for long.
Burger King
Ten locations across Winnipeg
http://en.burgerking.ca/
Claims
“An extra thick flame-broiled 5.5 ounce* beef patty topped with mayo, crispy onions, Thick & Hearty Steak Sauce, plus processed cheese, crisp lettuce and red ripe tomatoes.”
The Facts
The XT (extra-thick) comes with an introductory price of $3.99.
The Highs
• The crispy onions provide an extra dimension of texture.
The Lows
• The vegetables are more than wilted; they’re stale.
• The patty is burnt black.
The Lowdown
What a disappointment! With a thicker patty of beef, I expect juiciness and what I get is burnt black and charcoaled. The lettuce sat so long it turned brown on all its edges. The inferior barbecue sauce dominates all the flavours, all except the coal. The creepy King managed to come out with a creepier burger.
McDonald’s
Dozens of locations across Winnipeg
http://www.mcdonalds.ca/en/index.aspx
Claims
“We crafted 100% Angus beef into a deliciously thick patty and lovingly paired it with quality ingredients and a lightly toasted bakery style bun.”
The Facts
The Angus Burger starts at $4.99 but jumps to $5.49 with bacon and cheddar cheese.
The Highs
• The thick beef patty tastes more like a homemade burger patty than a fast food patty.
• The real cheddar cheese tastes considerably better than processed cheese.
• The vegetables come bright and crisp.
The Lows
• The bun is too thick.
The Lowdown
McDonald’s Angus Burger costs more than the competitors’ premium burgers but it’s certainly worth it. The beef tastes like beef (not like fast food beef) and the real cheddar cheese is a real delight. Personally, I find processed cheese more processed than cheese. Although the vegetables aren’t garden fresh, they are far from their expiry date. The Big Mac exemplifies the “McDonald’s” taste and they wisely carry the taste through to Angus. McDonald’s is the world’s more prolific restaurant for a reason—people love it. People also love to hate it but undeniably, people love it—and the Angus Burger takes McDonald’s food to a new level.
I love bacon but I don’t like bacon in burgers. Bacon has such a strong meat flavour, it easily overpowers milder meats. The Angus Burgers provides good-tasting beef but the strips of bacon overwhelm it. I would order Angus with cheddar but without the bacon. I would also have used the standard bun over the thicker bun, which takes away from some of the taste.
Things happen fast. Two weeks ago, I raved about the bursting positive Angus Burger. Walking through the Golden Arches today, I find an expanded line of Angus Burgers, now called Angus Third Pounders. The line features the original Angus, now called Deluxe, the Mushroom & Cheese, and the Bacon & Cheese versions. An oversized regular bun supplants the bakery style bun.
Claims
The new Deluxe boasts of the same fresh ingredients and advertises its third-pound status.
The Highs
• The thick beef patty still tastes more like a homemade burger patty than a fast food patty.
• The vegetables come bright and crisp.
• The new bun is not as dry as the original.
The Lows
• The excellent cheddar cheese is now replaced by the bland processed cheese.
• The mayo overwhelms and dominates the burger.
The Lowdown
This rendition of the Angus Burger takes a significant nosedive from its prototype. The processed cheese takes the special zip out of Angus and the massive mound of mayo masks the tastes of the Angus beef. Although still tastier than a Big Mac, this Angus is no longer special.
Wendy’s
Six locations across Winnipeg
http://www.wendys.ca/
Claims
“We don't cut corners with our hamburgers…our fresh, never frozen beef is always served hot off the grill. Our tomatoes are hand sliced…real quality taste starts with real quality ingredients.”
The Facts
Wendy’s is the only chain that has not introduced a “premium” burger. Wendy’s maintains that all of their burgers are premium and the standard single, quarter-pound burger with cheese rings in at $4.89.
The Highs
• The vegetables come fresh.
• The beef tastes like homemade beef.
The Lows
• The patty tastes a little dry.
The Lowdown
Wendy’s lives up to their claims. The vegetables look like they’re freshly picked and the tastes reflect it. The patty tastes like the beef you would get if you buy ground beef and make your own burgers. The patty is a little thin and thus, quite susceptible to drying out. As is, this is a very good burger; if Wendy’s would boost this burger to six ounces, and add considerable thickness to retain the juiciness of the meat, this would be a great burger.
LOCAL FAVOURITES – TAKEOUT OF COUNTER SERVICE ONLY
I didn’t expect much from the chains but I found some surprisingly good burgers, but now that we have the formality over with, let’s take a look at some of our local fast-food joints and see how good some of the “best burgers in Winnipeg” really are.
The Burger Place
1909 Portage Ave, (204) 831-7967
Claims
“Our burgers are made fresh daily.”
The Facts
All burgers come with chilli ($4.45) and the deluxe comes with lettuce, tomato, pickles and mayo ($4.75).
The Highs
• Burgers come with fresh, shredded lettuce and fresh tomatoes.
• The combination of sauces is nice tasting and very goopy.
• The meat is fresh, not frozen.
The Lows
• This is one of the messiest burgers I encountered.
The Lowdown
Although the meat patty isn’t daunting, the addition of vegetables brings the sandwich to an almost unmanageable thickness. Add the generous sauces and you have yourself a big, gooey mess. Often, I can’t stand messy food but when a burger tastes this good, I don’t mind having my hands dripping with sauce.
All the burgers come with chilli but the deluxe adds the vegetable component. This is a twist but I guess the carnivorous purists don’t want their meat tainted with anything green. I would find the plain burger boring but the deluxe gives you the perfect combination between vegetable and meat. The only change I would make is to add onions. The meat is well done, but not dry.
The Burger Place is the prototype of “hole in the wall” but sometimes, the holes make the best food. This is definitely one of those places.
Daly Burgers
619 Corydon Ave, (204) 269-3259
1151 Pembina Hwy, (204) 452-3259
http://www.dalyburgers.com/
Claims
“The ingredients are of the highest quality, including 100% pure beef patties and hot dogs (no frozen patties), double thick slices of real cheese, fresh chopped onions, hand sliced beefsteak tomatoes, pickles and mustard.”
The Facts
The deluxe cheeseburger is a sizable creation that comes with chilli and rings in at $5.25.
The Highs
• The crisp and fresh vegetables stand out in this burger. You know when you get a burger with stale vegetables: the wilted lettuce sometimes sports brown spots and the soggy tomatoes fall apart in your palms.
• The chilli tastes subtle and adds a nice dimension to the burger. Some burger palaces serve chilli that overwhelms the burger and dominates the flavour.
The Lows
• The thick slab of beef is overcooked and dried of all its juices.
• The bun is too thick. Bread should act as a container only, and not fill you up.
The Lowdown
Daly puts out a good burger but there’s room for improvement. While I enjoy this sandwich, I would not label this as the best burger in Winnipeg.
Dari-Whip Drive-In
383 Marion Street, (204) 233-5144
Claims
No claims made.
The Facts
The hamburger costs $4.75 and the cheeseburger costs an even $5.
The Highs
• Nothing to report.
The Lows
• Nothing to report.
The Lowdown
The highs/lows say it all—there’s nothing offensive about this burger, but there’s also nothing great about it. The ground beef is unprocessed, which is good, but it’s slightly overcooked and over-salted. Dressings include the standard mustard and catsup. The big chunks of onions are nice but the big chunks of pickles overwhelm the burger. That’s the extent of vegetation on this burger, which leaves the sandwich a bit bland and lacking.
Junior’s Restaurant
558 Portage Ave, (204) 774-6370
785 St Marys Rd, (204) 256-6571
1019 McPhillips St, (204) 589-6777
The Facts
The Fat Boy is somewhat self-explanatory and goes for $4.45.
The Highs
• This massive burger satisfies all but the most gluttonous of gourmands.
The Lows
I don’t know where to begin.
• There is so much goop and sauce that it completely drowns the meat. You can throw a slab of chicken, fish or yak in there and no one would know the difference.
• I know when people order a “Fat Boy,” they have a certain expectation. This Fat Boy offers no shortage of fat. The burger oozes with grease drippings from the first bite to the last squeeze.
The Lowdown
This burger is a mess, literally and figuratively. There’s so much junk in this burger that it doesn’t taste like a burger. If you really want a jolt of fat, just take a big bite out of a lump or lard—it tastes about the same.
Mrs. Mike’s
286 Tache Ave, (204) 237-3977
Claims
Mrs. Mike’s doesn’t make any claims but many local reviewer consider Mrs. Mike’s burgers the best in Winnipeg.
The Facts
All burgers come with chilli, mustard, onions and pickles and the cheeseburger runs $5.25.
The Highs
• Lots of onions give lots of taste.
• Nice ratio and combo of sauces.
The Lows
• The regular burger has no vegetables except onions; the Superburger costs a steep $7.00.
The Lowdown
The taste of the chilli is slightly overpowering but it’s hard to tell since both the chilli and patty taste unbearably salty. Check your blood pressure after this burger! The pickle flavour manages to poke through the burger because of the large wedge that slices across the entire bun.
Note: All burgers come with chilli but if you order the chilli burger, you get a burger in a cup smothered in chilli. How do you eat this? I try a weakly plastic spoon from Mike’s counter to prod into this gastronomic mess. I end up digging through the chilli to get bites of burger goo.
The Red Boot Drive Inn
1866 Ness Ave, (204) 888-1506
info@theredboot.ca
http://www.theredboot.ca/menu.html
Claims
“Real burgers…real good: All our beef hamburgers are homemade using 100% ground beef with no additives.”
The Facts
All burgers come with mustard, onions, pickles and homemade chili sauce. The Boot Special also includes cheese, lettuce, tomato and mayo and rings in at $5.10.
The Highs
• The vegetables, especially the tomato slices, come garden fresh.
• The chilli tastes delicious.
The Lows
• The patty is thin and overcooked.
• The pickle is sliced lengthwise and a little overpowering.
The Lowdown
Over all the burgers that come with chilli, the Boot offers the best chilli, which tastes subtle yet flavourful. It’s hard to call one of the messiest burgers around “subtle” but that’s what this burger is—subtle. All of the flavours blend together wonderfully and none really stands out, except the pickle that I ate separately. The Boot has put together the perfect combination of sauce, onions, vegetables and chilli; alas, the meagre patty drags this burger down. Most of the other drive-inn, counter joints pride themselves on their monstrous patties and if the Boot would boost the size of their meat content, this great burger would become an extraordinary burger.
V.J's Drive Inn
170 Main St, 943-2655
Claims
The Special Burger comes with chilli, cheese, shredded lettuce, tomato, pickles, onions and condiments; the regular hamburger does not have lettuce or tomato. The Special Burger rings in at $5.
The Highs
• The vegetables look fresh.
The Lows
• This sandwich is a gooey mess.
• The generous slop of chilli overwhelms all other flavours, except the pickles.
• The burger comes with huge strips of pickles, sliced lengthwise.
• The meat patty is thin and way overcooked.
The Lowdown
If you Google-search the best burger in Winnipeg, you find VJ's burgers consistently sit near the top the lists-and I can't understand why. When a burger tastes great, you don't mind having some sloppy goo all
over your table. When you have a sad-tasting burger, cleaning up the mess just adds insult to injury. This is a very sad burger. The chilli tastes so overpowering that it wipes out all the other flavours, except
the pickles, which comes in monstrous chunks. If you want a chilli and pickle sandwich, this is the place, but if you want to taste a hamburger, forget it. The pitiful wafer of dried and overcooked patty is completely lost within the sopping and disintegrated bun. I can't tell what the condiments are and I can't taste the cheese-and frankly, I don't care
White Star Diner
58 Albert St, (204) 947-6930
whitestardiner@shaw.ca
http://www.whitestardiner.ca/
Claims
“Everything we serve is made from scratch, in keeping with true diners where frozen fries or mechanically deboned alfalfa burgers would have never been served. It may be simple diner food, but it is delicious simple diner food made with quality, fresh ingredients and seasoned just right to bring out all the flavour.”
The Facts
The White Star Burger starts at $4.75 and available dressings include Canadian cheddar cheese, Dutch edam, crisp bacon, sautéed green peppers, and sautéed mushrooms, each at an additional $1.35.
The Highs
• The patty is perfectly cooked—seared on the outside and dripping, juicy on the inside.
• The cheese is real, and all other options are fresh and generous.
• The burger comes with a great combination of sauces.
The Lows
• The lettuce is wilted and the tomato is fresh but bland.
The Lowdown
The perfect burger should have the complete package but if you deconstruct the process, some aspects of the burger outweigh others—namely, the patty is the most important part of the burger. White Star has it where it counts. Here we have the perfect patty sitting on some wilted lettuce. It wouldn’t take much for this great burger to become an outstanding burger.
The White Top
409 Manitoba Ave, (204) 589-4419
Claims
No claims.
The Facts
The Fatboy Burger includes chilli, vegetables and comes to $4.95.
The Highs
• The impressive pile of vegetables is very fresh.
• There is lots of goop in good proportions.
• The slices of pickle are very thin, providing just enough for an accent, rather than a domination.
• The patty is nicely seasoned.
The Lows
• The beef is very thin and overcooked.
The Lowdown
This could be a great burger. The meat is wonderfully seasoned with a touch of spiciness. The crumbliness of the patty indicates a tight rein on the amount of breading used, which is a good thing. The only problem is that there isn’t enough meat on the patty. The patty gets thin and easily overcooked.
Zax Drive-in
1184 Portage Ave, (204) 786-0908
Claims
All burgers starts with a freshly-made patty and chilli, onions, mustard, pickle and cheese come standard.
The Facts
The basic burger starts at $4.50 and comes with a quarter-pound patty.
The Highs
• The burger comes mile-high, stuffed with vegetables.
• The patty is thick.
• The burger comes with just enough delicious sauce.
The Lows
• The bun top is cold—refrigerator cold.
• The tomato has no taste.
• The shredded lettuce has lots of brown edges.
• The burger is very messy to eat.
The Lowdown
The perfectly blended sauce makes this burger, although the generosity of the vegetables doesn’t hurt; the brown spots must go. The meat comes a little overdone but it’s not dry, mainly because of the brawn of the thick patty. This patty easily outdoes its quarter-pound claim. The chilli acts as a nice accent without overwhelming the taste.
LOCAL FAVOURITES – PARTIAL SERVICE
Blondie’s
1969 Main St, (204) 338-0185
Claims
“Every burger comes with cheese, bacon, onions (raw or fried), lettuce, tomato, mayo, mustard and relish.”
The Facts
There’s nothing official be we suspect that Blondie’s weighs their burgers AFTER cooking. Here’s the price list:
1/8 pound: $4.95
¼ pound: $6.25
½ pound: $12.95
1 pound: $17.95
2 pounds: $29.95
3 pounds: $35.95
6 pounds: $47.95
9 pounds: $62.95 (the largest burger available in Winnipeg)
The Highs
• The lettuce and tomato slices are very fresh.
• The sauce is common, but nicely proportioned.
• The bread tastes fresh.
• The proportions are monstrous.
• The owner is a volatile character that threatens to erupt at any moment.
The Lows
• The meat tastes a little too salty and the bacon exacerbates it.
• The patty is a tad overcooked.
• The owner is a volatile character that threatens to erupt at any moment.
The Lowdown
The amount of food you get for your burger is insane. The ½ pound burger spans 6”–7” and the full pound burger spans 9”–10”, with considerable thickness. The patty tastes a touch overdone, leaving the meat moist, but no longer juicy. People will often overlook the details of this burger when faced with its mass, but great care is placed into its ingredients and assembly. The patty falls apart quite easily, due to a low ratio of breadcrumbs in the mixture—between meat or crumbs, I’ll take extra meat and a crumbly patty any day.
Boon Burger Café
79 Sherbrook St, (204) 415-1391
info@boonburger.ca
http://www.boonburger.ca/cms/pdf/boonburgermenu.pdf
Claims
“We make all our burgers, buns...from scratch. All our burgers are served on ancient organic whole-grain buns and include a dill pickle and a raw vegetable garnish. [The Boon Burger has a] grilled mushroom-rice patty, mayo, Dijon, red pepper peach chutney, caramelised onion, sliced cucumber, tomato and lettuce.”
The Facts
This ingredient-filled vegan burger comes to $6.95, or you can add “bacun” for an extra $0.95.
The Highs
• The “ancient” whole grain bun falls apart in your hands to leave you with sloppy palms but even the sopping fragments of bread tastes delicious.
• All the vegetables come garden fresh and the cuke makes a great sub for the ubiquitous pickle.
• The perfectly blended sauce tastes wonderfully exotic.
The Lows
• The patty tastes a little floury—while nice, I’m sure the carnivores will never buy this rendition of a meatless patty.
The Lowdown
As a package, this wonderful burger delivers almost everything you could want from a burger. The magnificent sauce and the delicious caramelised onions dance in unison with the wonderful bun. I can’t quite make out the red pepper peach chutney but the sauce has an exotic flavour and I attribute it to the chutney. The patty—even with nice seasoning and flavour—may be the weak link in this chain. The texture tastes like a meat patty with too much flour or breadcrumbs. The grilled patty tries too hard to emulate a meat patty when it doesn’t have to.
For many years, Underground Café’s Sun-burger set a stellar standard for meatless burgers. From reputation alone, every vegetarian burger will get inevitable comparisons to the Underground sandwich—and with good reason. The Sun-burger stands as a entity of its own without trying to imitate its meat cousin. The Boon Burger could learn a lesson from the Sun to move from “very good burger” status to “great burger” status.
George’s Burgers & Subs
6 locations across Winnipeg
Claims
Made fresh
The Facts
All burgers come with chilli, onions, mustard and pickles; the Fatboy also includes lettuce, tomato slices, mayo and cheese. The Fatboy rings in at a downright cheap $3.90.
The Highs
• The Kaiser bun is fresh and huge.
• The burger has just enough chilli.
• The mayo and mayo sauce is a nice, proportionate combo.
• The tomato slices are very fresh.
The Lows
• The patty is overcooked.
• There isn’t very much finely shredded lettuce.
• It could use a little more onions.
The Lowdown
This is a great burger for the price. The subtle-tasting chilli acts as a nice complement to the burger without taking over the tastes. Even though the patty is overcooked and dry, the chilli and sauce compensate so that the overall sandwich tastes delicious. The bun is a little too large for the burger; people want to eat what’s between the bun, not necessarily the bread.
Kay’s Delicatessen
339 William Avenue, (204) 949-0424
Fax: (204) 949-0442
http://kaysdeliwinnipeg.wordpress.com/
Claims
“A delicious homemade veggie burger with carrots, lentils, potatoes and pecans on an onion Kaiser bun smothered in our own mango dill yogurt sauce or sweet chilli sauce, topped with red onion, cucumber, tomato, and crisp romaine.”
The Facts
Kay’s Veggie Burger sets you back $5.75.
The Highs
• The fresh vegetables highlight this veggie burger.
The Lows
• The sauce has no taste.
• The patty exemplifies what meaties expect from a meatless hamburger.
The Lowdown
The mango dill yogurt sauce has so much potential, but when I taste it, I can barely tell it’s not just plain mayo. The patty also has great potential but the potato ends up dominating this creation. The excess of starch makes this patty resemble a latke (potato pancake). The pecans add lovely texture but the ingredient proportions of the patty needs some adjusting.
The vegetables taste crisp and fresh but the real star of this burger is the onion Kaiser but with cheese. Kay has the basic foundation for a great burger but as it stands, there’s room for improvement.
Red Top Restaurant
219 St. Mary’s Rd, (204) 233-7943
http://www.facebook.com/group.php?gid=141114742595359#!/group.php?gid=141114742595359&v=info
Claims
“Our hamburger is made daily in our own kitchen from fresh lean ground beef.”
The Facts
The regular burger comes with mustard, chilli sauce, onions and dill pickle; the Lot-O-Burger also includes cheese, lettuce, mayonnaise and tomato slices and runs $4.29.
The Highs
• The vegetables taste fresh, but not special.
The Lows
• There isn’t very much onions, barely enough to notice.
• The two slices of pickles are huge and stacked on top of each other, leaving the remainder of the burger pickleless.
• The patty is very thin, overcooked and over-salted in some areas.
The Lowdown
There is really nothing special about this burger that would elevate it over any regular burger from a fast-food chain.
Salisbury House
Over 20 locations: http://salisburyhouse.ca/locations.html
http://salisburyhouse.ca/index.html
Claims
“All those tastes begin in our unique Commissary. Virtually all ingredients for our menu items are created in this centralised facility and delivered FRESH DAILY to all Salisbury House location. This process allows us to guarantee fresh, consistent, high quality food to our guests with each visit to any Sals location.”
The Facts
Salisbury House coined the term “nip” to denote a hamburger. The Mr. Big Nip costs you $4.99 and comes with raw onions, a slice of processed cheddar cheese, lettuce, tomato and Sals Sauce.
The Highs
• Sals promises fresh ingredients and indeed the vegetables come garden fresh. The lettuce tastes crisp, the onions are clean and the tomato slices firm. Unfortunately, tomatoes aren’t in season right now and they are mostly tasteless.
The Lows
• The wafer thin beef patty is dry and tasteless. The Mr. Big Nip is big in vegetables but little in meat.
• The slice of processed cheese is so thin that I had to search dedicatedly to find it. I’m still not quite sure it was ever there.
• Although every table supports salt and pepper shakers and catsup, I don’t think the burger itself has any condiments. Although the Nip purports to have Sals Sauce, I can’t taste anything but a dry meat on a dry bun.
The Lowdown
If I ordered a vegetable sandwich, I would have been very happy with what I got. I ordered the “famous” Nip and ended up with a monumental burger disappointment. This burger does not match up to any fast food chain’s staple burgers.
Super Boy’s
1468 Main St, (204) 589-8437
Claims
All burgers come with chilli, mustard, onions and pickles, the Super Boy comes with mayo, lettuce and tomato slices in addition.
The Facts
The Super Boy comes in at $5.00.
The Highs
• The patty is thick and wide.
The Lows
• Too much mayo covers the burger.
• The tiny slice of processed cheese barely covers two square inches (which is completely lost against the monster patty).
• The patty is slightly overcooked.
• The patty tastes doughy, indicating a lot of breadcrumbs in the beef mixture.
The Lowdown
At $5.00, your money gets you a lot of food for this oversized burger. The abundance of mayo turns this burger into a sloppy mess, and turns all the vegetables into a soggy heap. The shredded lettuce looks quite fresh but the inclusion of the brown core makes the entire pile look stale.
The Underground Café
70 Arthur St, (204) 956-1925
http://theundergroundcafe.ca/
Claims
“Our burger is a compilation of toasted sesame and sunflower seeds, vegetable protein, mozza and cheddar cheeses, rice, eggs, and assorted spices, baked to perfection. Served on a toasted bagel with lime-dill sauce, romaine, green peppers, onion and tomato.”
The Facts
“The Fabulous Sun-burger” is a meatless burger that rings in at $5.75.
The Highs
• The lime-dill sauce is a ray of genius! This could well be the best sauce a burger can face.
• All vegetables come very fresh.
• The patty is thick and moist, and has wonderful texture.
• The toasted bagel is not too dense and complements the burger package nicely.
The Lows
• The hole in the bagel causes messy hands and a shameful waste of sauce.
• The patty has lots of thickness, but not much diameter.
The Lowdown
I tried to convince some hardened carnivores to try the Sun-burger but some people’s prejudices run soul-deep. It is a true pity for them since they’ll never experience this truly innovative burger. The crunch of the sunflower seeds adds a wonderful, extra dimension to the patty. If you didn’t know it, you may have a fair time ascertaining that this patty contains no meat. Although the delicious patty is thick and juicy, it’s not very large. The jaw-breaking burger gives the impression of being a stomach stretcher, but the smallish diameter of the patty doesn’t leave you stuffed silly. The patty itself could use a bit more seasoning but the wonderful lime-dill sauce makes up for it.
FULL SERVICE RESTAURANT BURGERS
Finally, we have some full-service restaurants throwing their buns into the ring claiming to have the best burgers in the city. These are usually a little more expensive and often they claim to put more care into crafting your sandwiches.
529 Wellington
529 Wellington Cres, (204) 487-8325
http://www.wowhospitality.ca/restaurants/wellington_menu.html
Claims
“[The] 529 Prime Burger [comes with] ground prime beef tenderloin served with mayo, Dijon mustard, lettuce, tomato and fried onions.”
The Facts
The basic burger rings in at $11 but adding cheddar brings the price to $13.
The Highs
• The onions are nicely sautéd.
• The genuine cheddar is just melted.
• The vegetables are as fresh as they come, including the garden-like tomato.
• The well seasoned and thick patty is beautifully seared on the outside and just pink on the inside.
• Dijon mustard adds a nice tangy accent.
• There is just enough mayo to keep the bread moist.
The Lows
• None I can think of, except the $13 for a cheeseburger is the most expensive I encountered (for this size category).
The Lowdown
With food preparation, sometimes you want to exert your creative genius—and sometimes you want to return to basics. When I want a burger, I just want the basics. There’s no real secret to doing the basics well: just use great, fresh ingredients, season/spice well, proportion properly and prepare to detail. The 529 burger has all of those factors ground down to perfection. The flavourful meat comes seasoned marvellously and the bun/vegetables are fresh as morning dew. With everything in harmony, this could be the best burger in Winnipeg.
Bailey’s
150 Lombard Ave, (204) 944-1180
Fax: (204) 944-0449
feedback@baileysprimedining.com
http://www.baileysprimedining.com/
Claims
“A [sic] 8 oz. pure ground sirloin patty with tomato, mayo, onion, lettuce, mustard, crispy smoked bacon and cheddar cheese.”
The Facts
The regular burger has an eight-ounce patty and runs $9.50—add cheddar and bacon and it comes to $10.95. The sandwich comes with fries, a cup of soup, or a side of house salad.
The Highs
• The burger comes with very fresh tomato slices and lettuce.
• The bun comes nicely toasted.
• The combination of sauces complements the burger well.
The Lows
• The thick patty is nicely seared, but overdone.
• There melted cheese slice is so thin, that it looks almost transparent.
The Lowdown
Overall, the burger has nice flavour and good potential to be a great burger. However, overcooking the thick patty compromises the entire package.
The Chocolate Shop
268 Portage Ave,
(204) 947-9109, fax: (204) 944-8207
http://www.thechocolateshoprestaurant.com/Home.html
Claims
The Beefalo and Bacon Burger consists of a “beef and bison patty with homemade bacon and cheddar on warm focaccia, aioli and smoked corn relish.”
The Facts
This untraditional burger from this unlikely burger contending restaurant comes to your table for $10.
The Highs
• The thick patty comes perfectly sear-grilled on the outside and juicy moist on the inside.
• I normally don’t like bacon in a burger but their subtle homemade version works wonderfully.
• Real cheese takes any burger to a new level.
• Aioli in place of mayo—genius!
The Lows
• The patty tastes a little bland, needed a sprinkling of salt and pepper.
The Lowdown
Who would have expected to find a great burger from The Chocolate Shop? The honest truth is that I happened upon this delightful surprise in the midst of my burger research. I would not have included this entry except that this burger tastes so darn good! The substantial Angus burger comes perfectly made and the delicious Italian take on the bun barely contains the patty so you inevitably end up with a handful of tasty goop. I can’t promote this burger any more than what the Highs section already propounds, except that this is one of the best burgers in the city.
Park Tower Family Restaurant
1 – 2015 Portage Ave, (204) 889-4271
Claims
“Our homemade burgers…come with chilli, mustard, pickles & onions.”
The Facts
Although sizes aren’t provided, I suspect the cheeseburger to weigh ½ pound ($6.75) and the deluxe cheeseburger includes tomato slices, lettuce and mayonnaise ($7.75).
The Highs
• The meat patty has wonderful flavours, including bits of onion built into the ground beef.
• The vegetables are quite fresh, but unspectacular.
The Lows
• The thick patty was very overcooked.
• The Tower uses processed cheese.
The Lowdown
The Tower has the foundation to make a great burger, but they fall just a little short. Overcooking the patty is a huge blunder, especially when the patty measures almost an inch thick. Looking around the table, some of my companions have patties that look more moist than mine but the one I have can’t be called anything but a failure. I hope this is just an off attempt.
I expect the drive-ins and fast food joints to use processed cheese, but once I enter the doors of a sit-down, full-service restaurant, I prefer to find real cheese, rather than processed. Switching out the cheese and using more care in the cooking of the patty would elevate this burger to elite status.
Peasant Cookery
100 – 283 Bannatyne Ave, (204) 989-7700
http://www.peasantcookery.com/
Claims
The Cookery makes no overt claims but when the former owner/manager first introduced the burger, he spent 15 minutes explaining the process of making a burger, and the reasoning behind it. I remember his passion like he explained it just yesterday.
The Facts
The burger comprises of a mix of short rib, brisket, chuck on a brioche bun runs $8.99.
The Highs
• This substantial burger is ultra-thick, juicy and cooked to perfection.
• The vegetables taste fresh and crisp.
• The “homemade” mayo tastes rich.
The Lows
• The brioche bun is too thick.
• The meat doesn’t have enough seasoning.
The Lowdown
Let me summarise the detailed description that the owner/manager gave me. The restaurant grinds the meat on demand. After the grinding, the chef takes extreme care to mould the meat with as little manipulation as possible—too much handling spoils the purity of the meat. The chef carefully selects the blend of beef cuts based on meat flavouring and intensity.
I understand the theory behind the method but I don’t think I buy it. The chef intentionally leaves the burgers lightly seasoned/spiced (only a little bit of salt and pepper) to preserve the unadulteration of the meat. In every other respect, Cookery took the right steps to make this the perfect burger, but in not using enough spices/herbs, the meat ends up tasting bland. If you take your best cut of beef (and I’ve tasted Kobe), you still need something to accelerate it to the next level. Of course, you don’t want to overwhelm it, but you want to have enough complement to make it perfect.
Unfortunately, Cookery’s hesitation in applying the little additions prevents this from being the perfect burger. Don’t get me wrong, I’m not talking about smothering the burger with catsup or Dijon mustard; I’m talking about just a little bit of spicing to accentuate the beauty of a solid foundation for a burger. At $8.99, you pay more than the average burger, but you get more than the average burger—but it’s not quite the perfect burger.
Promenade Bistro
130-C Provencher Blvd (204) 233-7030
Fax: (204) 231-4869
http://www.360winnipeg.ca/Restaurants/LocalCuisine/PromenadeBistro.html
Claims
The Organic Beef Burger comes with fries.
The Facts
The basic Organic Beef Burger costs $8.50 but you can add either cheese or bacon at $1.25 each.
The Highs
• The slices of tomatoes and baby lettuce leaves come fresh.
The Lows
• The beef is over-seasoned (too salty) and a bit overcooked.
• The puny slice of processed cheese is lost in the burger.
The Lowdown
I expect fast food restaurants and cheap burger dives to use processed cheese. When I dine in a sit-down restaurant and pay premium prices for a burger, I expect “real” cheese. Especially when the cheese comes at a $1.25 tack-on, I expect more than a 2-square inch piece of processed cheese on the burger. This is a serious shortcoming.
The lettuce leaves come nice and crisp; while the tomato slices come equally fresh, they have little more taste than your typical tomatoes off the grocery shelves. The caramelised onions add a nice facet of flavour but alas, the saltiness of the meat patty drowns out most of the other ingredients. The tiny slices of red onions are completely lost in the concoction.
Muddy Waters Smokehouse
15 Forks Market Rd, (204) 947-6653
http://www.wowhospitality.ca/restaurants/muddywaters_menu.html
Claims
“A half pound of our homemade beef patty grilled to perfection and topped with mayo, lettuce, tomatoes, red onions and a pickle spear on the side.”
The Facts
Muddy Waters’s most basic burger runs $10.99.
The Highs
• The freshly formed patty comes perfectly cooked and juicy.
• The vegetables come fresh and crisp; the red onions are a nice alternative to the usual.
The Lows
• I don’t see much wrong with this burger.
The Lowdown
Muddy Waters named this the Holey Burger because of the hole that they piece in the center of the meat patty. They purport that the hole provides extra cooking surface and thus, evenly cooks burger from the outside in, and from the inside out. This reduces the amount of time the burger needs to stay on the grill and maintains the moisture in the meat.
I can’t argue with the juiciness of the meat but I do question the effectiveness of the hole. A small puncture in the burger cannot possibly provide any extra cooking area—after all, this isn’t a doughnut. If anything, I wonder if the hole permits juices to escape. Regardless, Muddy Waters manages to generate a very enjoyable burger.
Rae & Jerry’s
1405 Portage Avenue
(204) 783-6155
fax (204) 783-5797
http://www.raeandjerrys.com/
Claims
None
The Facts
The eight ounce cheeseburger is served on a toasted bun tomato, lettuce, melted cheddar cheese with a dill pickle side. The cheeseburger runs $10.75 while the cheeseless burger goes for $10.25. The works includes mustard and relish; catsup comes on the side.
The Highs
• The very fresh lettuce comes as one whole leaf.
• Plenty of raw onions provide great bite.
• The generous slice of pickle comes on the side, for your choice of inclusion.
• The thick patty must over-tip the 8-ounce scale.
• The lightly toast bun offers just enough crunch in the texture.
• The burger comes with real cheddar cheese.
The Lows
• The meat could use a bit more seasoning.
• Though the extra cheese only adds $0.50 to the price, there isn’t very much cheese.
The Lowdown
The burger comes open-faced, the way it should be, so the vegetables stay cool and crisp. After you put the two sides together, the sandwich is thick enough where you have trouble engaging the entire works.
The patty is cooked perfectly, with just a touch of pink in the very center of the meat. There’s probably not enough pink to give you salmonella but enough to keep the meat very moist and palatable.
Star Conservatory Restaurant
(at Assiniboine Park)
15 Conservatory Drive
Phone: (204) 897-7827
Fax: (204) 897-2087
http://www.stargrill.mb.ca/conservatory.html
Claims
The 100% beef goldenrod burger comes with either salad or Starfries.
The Facts
This burger runs $11.95, plus an extra $2 for mushrooms or $3 for bacon and cheese.
The Highs
• The fries comprise of both yam and potato sticks. Both are hand-cut and not greasy.
The Lows
• The glass bottle of catsup—some traditions have to go and this container should have went a long time ago (this has nothing to do with the burger; it`s just a personal rant).
• The thin beef patty resembles the pre-fab you get at the grocery store, not the handmade, restaurant type.
• The tomato slice looks fresh but there’s no colour (and no flavour).
• The lettuce looks fresh but Star includes the lettuce ribs. The ribs are speckled with brown spots, so even though the leaves look fresh, the presentation makes it appear stale.
• I love red onions, but there’s too much. I shouldn’t tear when I bite into the burger.
• The entire lower bun is covered with pickles—too much and too overpowering.
• The Kaiser bun is extremely thick.
The Lowdown
There’s lots of substance to this burger, but unfortunately, there’s little meat. The thick bread and vegetables fill the stomach void nicely but you barely notice any beef.
THE ANALYSES
As a general rule, I find restaurant burgers out weigh, out class and out price the local burger joints and the chains. Alas, the Star Conservatory Restaurant provides an expensive exception. Let’s look at the components:
Best Bun: Kay’s Deli’s cheese and onion Kaiser bun injects wonderful flavours where most buns act only as a container for other ingredients.
Best Sauce: The Underground Café’s lime-dill sauce is innovatively inventive and out-of-this-world daring. If the meathead majority would only try this veggie burger, this may become a common alternative to the regular mayo-based sauces.
Best vegetables: The 529 burger’s slice of tomato simply tastes like I just plucked and sliced it from my own garden. Normally, I prefer raw onions but this subtly sautéed slew has just enough caramelising. The meticulously selected lettuce leaf fits onto the bun perfectly. This assembly of vegetables is a work of art.
Best Patty: Seared perfectly on the outside with a touch of pink on the inside, 529’s patty comes as close to perfection as you can expect from a hamburger.
Best Burger: Here’s how they stack up:
As you can see, I found 529 Wellington to make the best burger in the city; however, they also charged the most for their sandwich. Breaking down the value, where can you go to get the best burger for your buck? The final column in the table shows you how much it costs to earn one star rating, the lower the amount, the better value for your burger--to wit, the burger at the top of the table gives you best value, and the burger at the bottom of the table gives you the worst value for your buck.
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I agree with most of you present here Ray; however, I would certainly place my burger from Park Tower higher on the list and our experience from George's was less than stellar among the four of us last year. As a matter of fact, it rated the lowest of all the fatboys we ate. We found it had too much bun and not much flavour. You're bang on with Burger Place, though, and we've always had a good burger at Daly too, though I haven't tried the "spin-off" site. We also found the Red Boot underwhelming.
ReplyDeleteWendy's can be hit and miss but a Big Mac always tastes like a Big Mac regardless of when and where you eat it, and I have tried them in Thailand and Mexico. The one time I tried the Angus burger, I thought it was awful. I'm always drawn back to a Big Mac (double) and I don't know why--Pavlovian bliss I suppose. Anyway, I enjoyed the article and I've sent it along to our work "Fatboy" club so we may challenge your rankings!
In Cholesterol Solidarity... Paul
Yes, I noted that George's buns are thicker than ideal; however, they also charged the least of all the burgers I tried, presenting very good value.
ReplyDeleteMcDonald's ensures that a Big Mac is a Big Mac everywhere you go. Part of their consistency is what brings people back. Many people won't admit it, but they like familiarity and comfort. That's the main reason why I did not rate the chains' flagship burgers--everyone knows what they taste like and it's all a matter of preference.
Thanks for reading and thanks for the comments.
By the way a big "shout out" to Blondies for the sheer volume of burger, despite the fact that "the owner is a volatile character that threatens to erupt at any moment." Also, kudos to the Park Tower for a delicious side of Greek salad and crispy--uniformly golden--fries in an establishment that really caters to the customers.
ReplyDeleteIntersting comments. I personally love the fact that winnipeg has such a great collection of burgers. All said find it hard to be a critic since it also comes down to personal taste. Having said that I will say new ownership at the Red Boot on Ness does a great job...especially in a city with a lot good competition.
ReplyDeleteThe Downtown Winnipeg Biz spring/summer magazine (available at the Biz HQ on Portage ave) outlines the top 5 downtown burgers.
ReplyDeleteCheck it out!
A number of people asked me how I decided which burgers to sample. Generally, I want to compare apples to apples, oranges to oranges and fatboys to fatboys; however, given the variety available with burgers, I found it impossible to order the same ingredients across restaurants. As a compromise, I simply asked the server to give me the burger for which their known or famous. I assume they would serve me what they're most proud product.
ReplyDeleteI would add another stop on your quests. Inn at the Forks makes and awesome burger imho. I never asked but it tastes in house ground beef with the right amount of fat. Garnished with sauteed onions, a cheese blend, tomato (under ripped a few times), lettuce and a chili mayo for seasoning. Just a suggestion to try it. It's in the more expensive ($12.00) with a side off real potato fries. Sit on the patio!!
ReplyDeleteYou need to go to the NorthStar on McGregor if you want the best burger in town. Fresh meat, veggies and great fries make for a super satisfying meal. Check it out. The veggie burger is amazing, too. It's my favorite place for a Skor blizzard.
ReplyDelete