Bully Ranch

Vail, CO
www.bullyranchrestaurant.com



The Order:  The Definitive, medium rare.  Angus beef topped with candied bacon, blue cheese butter, and crispy onions, on a challah bread bun.
Side Order:  Comes with fries.
$17.50
Drink Order:  Water
Burger Menu Rating:  8.5/15




This past weekend, some friends and I took a trip to Vail to go to the Big Beers, Belgians and Barleywines Festival and to go snowboarding/skiing (of course).  The festival was at the Vail Cascade Resort Hotel on two floors with a bunch of delicious beer to try, and they weren't lying about being big beers; most of the beers I tried were above 8% ABV.  Having tried something like twenty-five beers, and feeling a little buzzed, I decided (for both myself and my friends) that it was time for a burger dinner (this also should explain why I had water with dinner).

Vail resort is full of restaurants, from pubs, to upscale dining and everywhere in between.  I, of course, was looking for the best burger, and spent some time looking for the top rated burgers in the area.  There were a few honorable mentions, but the one place that stood out was Steve Topple's Bully Ranch because another reviewer said it had "easily the best line-up of burgers" including burgers with buffalo and elk.  Steve Topple is the Executive Head Chef at all four of the restaurants at the Sonnenalp Resort at Vail (as well as the casual lounge King's Club).

The first thing you notice when you look at Bully Ranch's menu is the huge list of sides available for $3, and that at the top of the list are the Truffle Tots.  Truffle Tots?  Sign me up!  Or wait, no, everybody else at the table noticed that as well, so I'll have the fries.  But seriously, all of these sides are probably pretty delicious (ignoring the Caesar Salad, the House Salad, and the non-descript 'Fruit') and the fact that you can swap any of them out for your fries is amazing.  I asked our server what the recommended burger was and where the hell the elk and buffalo burgers were, and, to our unfortunate surprise, they no longer serve burgers made with anything except for ground beef (the buffalo meat is still listed on the website for some reason, but then again, the prices on their website are wrong as well).  For Shame!  According to our server, the Definitive burger (that's quite the statement there isn't it) is the most popular on the menu.  Ok, easy decision.




The Definitive arrived open faced.

When the burger arrived, I was apprehensive.  A pre-formed patty that appears to have been cut from a hamburger log, in my experience, isn't a good sign, and definitely not a sign of the highest quality ingredients.  Notice, also, that the bacon is merely draped over the top of the burger, and not arranged in a way to have delicious bacon in every bite (this will be important later!).


The Definitive burger, looking pretty after some prep.

I placed all the appropriate ingredients onto the burger (there was a piece of lettuce, a tomato, a slice of red onion and a pickle, as well, that did not make it on there) and took a look.  Now this looked more like it.  And what kind of bread is this?  Challah bread?  Delicious, I hope.

A pretty good medium rare.

Cutting the burger in half reveals a pretty good medium rare, and a slightly less than medium-coarse grind.  The bun is light and airy with a fair amount of compression, great for absorbing juices.  But enough with looking at the burger.  Unfortunately, in the first few bites, this burger already does not stand up to the glowing reviews mentioned on various forums and in previous reviews.  The meat was under-salted and lacking in flavor.  The blue cheese butter only made a brief appearance.  It was tasty, buttery sweet with just a slight bit of that blue cheese tang, but I could only taste it in a bite or two.  Perhaps there wasn't enough of it, or it wasn't spread out over the burger, but it needed to play a bigger part.  Or perhaps because they were adjacent to the crispy onions, which also lacked in flavor, the butter was lost amidst the oiliness of the onions.

The first few bites, however, were the prologue.  Suddenly I bit into the candied bacon, and my eyes lit up like a little schoolboy's when he sees a brand new toy.  How could I have forgotten that this burger had this magical ingredient?  Not only candied, but also spiced with a little bit of cayenne (similar to, but not as good as, the bacon on the burger at Hamilton Tavern) the bacon is definitely the star of this burger.  Without the bacon, this burger is nothing.  It shapes both the taste and the mouthfeel around its magnificence.  I could eat a plate of just this bacon for dinner.  So I recommend, when you order it, get extra bacon.  Or make your own burger, as my friends all did, but keep in mind that the candied bacon is not on the build-your-own list and must be asked for specifically.  Maybe think about candied bacon, and a fried egg on your burger for the ultimate in decadence and deliciousness.

The fries were delicious, and plentiful.  Spiced with Rosemary and Thyme, with a great small-medium cut, they were delicious on their own, or with ketchup.  They weren't overly salty, or else they would have been more of a balance to the burger, but still a solid side.  The Truffle Tots were also delicious (having stolen some from nearby plates).  This was one of the few instances where you could really taste the truffle oil, and there was a hint of spiciness as well.  Overall, they were good, but I think a bit overwhelming in taste.  They might be good to split (nobody finished their sides of Truffle Tots).

Other items on the menu looked good, but the general consensus at the table was that the food was affordable, average fare.  I would try something other than the burger here, or make my own next time.  Unfortunately, the Definitive is not the answer to the question of burgers.




Cooked Correctly:  4.5/5
Plating: 1/3
Design: 1.5/4
Value:  1.5/3

Guapo's Shore Shack

Brewster, MA
www.elguapostaqueria.com



The Order:  Guapo Burger, medium rare.  With jack cheese, guacamole, pico (chopped tomato 'salad'), shredded lettuce, and a drizzle of hot sauce.
Side Order:  At time of order - comes with chips.  Current - Add fries ($1.75)
$7.99 (at time of order) - now $8.95
Drink Order:  Coke
Burger Menu Rating:  8.5/15




El Guapo's Taqueria is a little Mexican restaurant over on Underpass Road in Brewster, Massachusetts.  I happen to be up in that area of Cape Cod once or twice a year for work, and I'm, of course, always looking for a burger to try.  I'd been woefully disappointed on previous occasions, but was recently introduced to El Guapo's, a definite game-changer.

Tucked out of the way, and definitely pushing the Mexican theme, El Guapo's is probably one of the last places you'd expect to find a burger that was worth trying.  They've got a small list of burgers to try, three basic run-of-the-mill burgers, but one stands out because it's the only one they have that goes along with their Mexican theme; the Guapo Burger.


The to-go container from Guapo's

The Guapo Burger comes with guacamole, hot sauce and pico.  So they basically took the toppings from one of their tacos and put it onto a burger.  I'm down.  I'm imagining a chef one day was just a little clumsy when transporting the taco ingredients on his spatula across the kitchen and over the grill ("Why do we keep these toppings all the way over there?!") and whoops, the toppings are all on top of a burger ("I'm a genius!"), and thus the Guapo Burger was born.  In truth, it probably wasn't like that at all, but let me believe what I want to believe.


The Burger is revealed, with a nice lightly toasted bun.

Because I was busy at work, I had to order my burger to go.  I got back to work to scarf down this burger.  The burger came in a nice little biodegradable box, which was a perfect size for their burger.  Not crushed, the guacamole was just beginning to creep out of the confines of the burger.  When I cut the burger in half, I was presently surprised.  The thin patty was cooked surprisingly close to medium rare.  I've said it before, and I'll say it again, it is very difficult to cook thin patties correctly, and those few establishments that can do it, or even get close, deserve a tip of the hat (go ahead, put on your hat and tip it).  The burger is only slightly spicy, the hot sauce adding a nice little kick to each bite, but not so much that you have to breathe any harder, or drink any more of your drink to cool off.  The bun has a nice texture, and adds a grainy flavor.  On this particular burger, some of the cheese was a bit charred, which was awesome.  The pico was fresh and crisp, adding the usual tomato flavor.  Unfortunately where the burger fell short was the guacamole.  It was a bit plain and bland, a great textural element, but didn't really add a distinctive flavor to the burger that I expected, especially since the burger shares its name with the establishment itself!  This kind of burger isn't anything new, but if they really wanted to impress, they should up the ante with their guacamole and make it amazing.  And wait!  My order was supposed to come with chips!  There.  Were.  No.  Chips.


The burger, cooked almost medium rare.

Guapo's Shore Shack has recently gone through some rebranding with the opening of their new location in Orleans, MA.  Their new website is up, although it's still under construction, and their menu has changed, with slightly higher prices (which affected this rating a bit after the fact).  The next time that I am up in the area, I'll check out the new establishment and see how things are going.


Another view, more flattering, but deceiving!





Cooked correctly:  4.5/5
Plating:  1 (Branded Takeout)
Design: 1.5
Value: 1.5

Masak

Manhattan, NY
masaknyc.com



The Order:  Grilled 8oz Rendang Burger, medium rare.  On a brioche bun.  Add bacon for $2 (yes!), add cheese $1 (nope), add fried egg for $2 at night (YES YES!!).
Side Order: Add fries for $2 (yes!)
$14 + $2 + $2 + $2 = $20
Drink Order: Sixpoint Bengali Tiger IPA
Burger Menu Rating:  13/15




Having not posted a review in quite some time, and having made the same New Year's Resolution as last year, I felt the need to start off strong with an exceptional burger that is extremely difficult to describe.  I visited Masak with my friend Erin almost a half a year ago, and somehow never managed to post this review!  The Rendang Burger at Masak is a Singapore fusion burger that does a fantastic job of blending the spicy flavor of the classic Rendang dish with an American burger.

Rendang is described as a sweet beef curry dish that originated in Indonesia, by the peoples of the Minangkabau culture.  It was originally a ceremonial dish, used to honor guests and mark special occasions, but is now served widely across the country, and is popular in other countries in the region (thanks wikipedia).  Cool.  It's a sweet beef curry dish.  Don't forget, it's also spicy.

Now, Erin suggested going to this restaurant, and after a little research, I was as excited as she was to eat this amazing sounding burger.  We arrived and were seated fairly quickly for dinner, even though the place is pretty small.  In the entire time we were there, however, it wasn't every empty.  This place sees a steady stream of customers.  We only had to look at our menus for our drinks and we could order immediately.  The service, once the burger was ordered, was a little slow, but well worth the wait, and the waitresses were knowledgeable, easy going, informative and fun.

The Rendang sauce comes on the side and is amazing.  Don't be shy, you should lather the burger with this amazing sauce.  It works so well with the flavor of the meat that I honestly can't believe more places haven't borrowed from this style yet.  All the food came out crammed onto a small oval plate with the burger splayed open.  The small plate makes it all look bigger, although it's still a fair amount of food.  They arranged the burger and fries on either side of the sauce and sides, implying they both have equal right to the sauce. Fantastic.


Look at that delicious fried egg...

This burger has a slow burn, and it's a spicy and sweet sauce. It was salty, a little sour with a building spicyness that warmed the mouth and just tasted fantastic. The burger was cooked NEARLY perfectly (-.5 pts), but this burger is more about the flavor of the additions, rather than the meat itself.  They can get away with it not being exactly perfect.  You should definitely GO for the bacon and fried egg (the egg is not on the menu). The egg is runny, and awesomely delicious. The brioche bun is soft, slightly grilled and absorbed both the sauce and the egg perfectly.  The bacon wasn't hard, and was on the thick side, which added a fantastic texture, and a bit of saltiness, to the burger that was definitely welcome.  There is so much going on in this burger that it's hard to focus on any one thing while you're eating it.  I'd recommend taking your time to slow down with this one, and let each bite bring up a new and interesting flavor/flavor combination.


The picture unfortunately makes it look like it was cooked worse than it actually
was.  To be fair, it was a bit dim in the restaurant. 

The fries were delicious on their own with a delicate scallion taste! But they were amazing dipped in the Rendang sauce, and impossible to stop eating.  A good thick, course-cut fry, they were slightly meaty on the inside, and crisp on the outside.

The burger comes with a small cup of awesome house pickles in some kind of peanut sauce with cauliflower.  I have to say that this meal is difficult to describe, not really knowing much about Singapore fare, but I'd go back in a heartbeat.  With all the add-ons, this is an expensive burger.  Now, the burger would be great without the bacon, I'm sure, and probably without the egg too, but would you really pass that all up?  No.  I didn't think so.

Very small local beer selection. A little pricey, and all in bottles or cans.




Cooked correctly: 4.5/5
Plating: 2.5/3
Design: 4/4
Value: 2/3

Hamburger Fail

I managed to execute one of the bigger tourist faux pas the other day. Not speaking a word of German, but thinking I was pretty safe in what I was doing at the time, I ordered a Hamburger Riesen Knacker.  And I was kind of excited to be eating a hamburger, after all the myriad kinds of sausage I'd already consumed in my first week here in Hamburg.  However, upon trying to order this hamburger, I was instead served 3 massive sausages (bratwursts).  Fail.  I'll not be fooled again Hamburg(er)!

My Absence: Explained

You may have noticed that I have not been publishing in recent weeks, and for this I apologize!  I've been super busy with work, and with gearing up for my upcoming trip.  For those of you that don't know, I'm heading away to Germany for TWO WHOLE MONTHS for work, followed by THREE WEEKS OF TRAVEL THROUGH EUROPE!!  I'm super excited, but that has left me little time for blogging.  But don't you worry.  I've got a bunch of reviews all saved up so I can post while I'm away, and I've been talking to a few people about some guest blog posts from around the country.  I hope you all are doing well, and that you haven't lost your taste for burgers.

Burger out!

Minetta Tavern

Manhattan, NY
minettatavernny.com



The Order:  Black Label Burger, medium rare.  With caramelized onions on a brioche bun, also comes with lettuce and tomato.
Side Order:  Comes with fries and pickle.
$26
Drink Order: Fuller's Bengal Lancer IPA
Burger Menu Rating: 14/15




So I FINALLY went to Minetta Tavern to try their burger!  I wasn't avoiding it really, and it's always been at the top of my list of places to try, but I somehow just never went.  Well, with some prodding from Vanessa and Mike, we went for lunch, and let me tell you, Executive Chefs Lee Hanson and Riad Nasr have created a burger that does not disappoint in the least.


I was beyond excited.  Vanessa was too I swear.

We had made our reservation for right at noon, which I highly recommend you do if you can.  You feel as if you're getting special treatment without the attention feeling oppressive.  When we arrived, the restaurant was empty except for the staff, so we were seated immediately, in the back near the kitchen.  I love the decor in Minetta Tavern.  It feels like an old mob restaurant, complete with black and white pictures of celebrities with the original owner when the restaurant opened in the 1930's.


It wasn't empty for long.

 Our server was quick, knowledgeable and attentive.  I wasn't skeptical about the quality of the burger, but when I specified that I wanted my burger medium rare, she went as far as to describe exactly how the chefs at Minetta cook their burger: medium rare towards rare, with a warm pink center.  Perfect, and I haven't even taken a bite yet.


 Medium rare towards rare, with a warm pink center.

And when that burger came out (quickly, I might add), it WAS perfect.  It was cooked exactly the way the sever described it.  The focus of this burger is definitely the meat, which is dry-aged custom beef blend from Pat La Frieda.  It's a coarse grind, delivered every day, and minimally handled to ensure the burger retains all of it's flavors and juices.  What you can't really see in the picture above is just how amazing the fat distribution in this burger is.  With every bite, juices gush out of this patty, and onto your chin, your plate, and a lot of it gets mopped up by this bun, which is fantastic.  It's light and airy, slightly sweet, and soft, perfect for pressing down around the patty and collecting every bit of those delicious juices.


Vanessa enjoys her second trip to Minetta Tavern.

The caramelized onions are a perfect foil for the burger.  The burger is well seasoned, salty, though never too salty, and really works hand in hand with the onion's sweetness.  After a while, the two tastes become one: a perfect union of two flavors that were meant to be together.

The fries here are delicious too, and apparently exactly the same as the fries at Balthazar, where Hanson and Nasr are also executive chefs.  I'm not complaining.  They're delicious, they don't need that much ketchup, and they're not shoe-string fries!  They're a medium cut, gold in color, and impossible to stop eating.

I love the fact that this burger doesn't come with anything else.  Sure there's a piece of lettuce and a tomato on the side, but does anybody put it on?  Our server said no, and she'd know.  According to her, approximately 85% of the orders during lunch hours are the Black Label Burger.  Looking around us, she isn't wrong, though on the day we went, that number was closer to 100%.  Burger after burger rolled out of the kitchen and into the waiting hands of dozens of other hungry denizens.  I'll be interested in the many return trips to come.  This burger has taken it's place as my favorite burger in NYC, but what will be interesting will be to see how it changes, or if it changes.  Under the supervision of Hanson and Nasr, this burger has seen some updates since it was first created, and who's to say that it won't keep on changing.  I will definitely be going back to try it again.  And again.  And again..




Cooked Correctly:  5/5
Design:  4/4
Plating:  2/3
Value:  3/3



Still super excited.


Vanessa and Mike's 2nd trip to Minetta Tavern.


The glorious Black Label Burger.

So delicious.

Burger juices.  Everywhere.

Superfine

Brooklyn, NY
yelp.com



The Order:  Superfine burger, medium rare.  With lettuce, onion, tomato. Add pancetta ($1, to add cheese is also $1).
Side Order: Comes with shoestring fries.
 $12 + $1 = $13
Drink Order:  Saratoga IPA
Burger Menu Rating: 6.5/15




 Nestled right in the heart of DUMBO, Superfine is an airy, rustic bar restaurant with an attitude.  I say 'with an attitude' instead of 'with attitude' because it's true.  It can be unspoken, but every time I've been here, the servers have been somewhat surly.  It's interesting, and backwards for such a nice place.  The decor is fantastic, almost a throwback to the 50s, and the menu is interesting, or has been, each time I've gone.  Sadly, though, the burger is not their strong point.


The menu: usually interesting.

To begin with, the burger is totally uninteresting.  Between the superfine grind (see what I did there?) and the meat having been overworked into the patty, there wasn't much left for the burger to offer.  It was completely uninteresting, and pedestrian.  And really overcooked!  Medium rare isn't that hard people!  The bun was actually the best part of the burger!  Soft, a great airy texture, and sopped up the few juices that came out of the burger.  The other ingredients on the burger, however, were lackluster.  None of them were really crisp, and the tomato was mealy and tasteless.  And the pancetta?  Save your money.  It didn't add anything to the burger whatsoever.

Shoestring fries?  Can we ban them?  I hate them.  Actually, they were fine, but it's really hard not to make the fries ridiculously crispy when they're so thin.

The service here is slow.  Ordering, paying, everything about it is slow.  Skip it, or at least skip the burger.




Cooked Correctly:  3/5
Design:  1/4
Plating:  2/3
Value:  .5/3




Hey, by the way!  I'm going to Minetta Tavern tomorrow.  I'm excited.  Are you?