hamiltontavern.com
Photo courtesy of Hamilton Tavern.
The Order: Crosstown Burger, medium rare. Roseda Farms beef, shredded iceberg lettuce, onion, horseradish cheddar. Add Sticky-Spicy Bacon and fried egg ($2).
Side order: Comes with chips. Substitute Natty Boh beer battered O's ($1). Fried dill pickle chips with Zippy Goat Cheese Sauce ($5).
$11 + $2 + $1 + $5 = $19
Drink Order: Firestone Union Jack IPA
Burger Menu Rating: 12.5/15
Hamilton Tavern is a little bit out of the way if you're in downtown Baltimore, but believe me, it's worth the trip. Located out in Hamilton, this little bar/restaurant is warm, friendly and inviting, and the burger is to die for. But let me take this from the beginning.
Hamilton Tavern has a large airy room, friendly staff, and games (located in the back corner). It's not too loud, even later in the week, though I imagine that with all the hard surfaces in this place that when it gets busy the decibels can run up. They have a decent beer menu, which gets better after 10pm. Why? Because of reverse Happy Hour. From 10pm til they close, select draughts are $3, and they have $2 Abita. Awesome. They're kitchen closes at 11pm on Thursday, Friday and Saturday, so if you get there right at 10pm, you're golden.
Joined by fellow burger enthusiast, Becky, we began with an order of Pickle Chips. Now. I'm a skeptic when it comes to pickle chips, because every time I order them, they're always made with butter pickles, and they really just don't do it for me. But these were DILL Pickle Chips. Fingers crossed. And they were delicious, as was the Zippy Goat Cheese Sauce! BUT you only get six of them. They're thick, to be sure, but definitely not worth almost $1 per chip. I'd order them again if they were $3/$4.
The Natty Boh beer battered O's were a major letdown. Crunchy, yes, but flavorless. They just tasted like oil, not even seasoned with salt. Luckily, we kept the sauce from the Pickle Chips which, once dipped in it, made the O's better. Still, I'd say they're not worth it. Save the dollar and go for the house made potato chips.
So you're thinking, wow, this place already seems like kind of a let down. Let me stop you right there. Only the O's were a letdown. The Pickle Chips were delicious, just pricy. But now we're past those and onto the main event: the Crosstown Burger. This burger was fantastic. It was cooked perfectly, and it was stacked and huge, definitely not a small burger. My mouth is watering just thinking about this thing again. I had never eaten a sweet tasting burger before this, but the Sticky-Spicy bacon works really well with the ground beef, and the egg oozing all over the place. Brown Sugar and Cayenne Broiled Bacon is a revelation. I've since made it at home, and it's super easy to do so why isn't everyone doing it yet?!
It definitely was a messy burger, so if you go, prepare to get your hands dirty as you dig into this awesome monster burger. And don't skimp on the extras. The bacon and egg really did take it to another level. All of the flavors in this burger were well balanced, all fighting for top billing, but none of them really getting ahead of the others. I did wish, however, that I could taste the cheese more. It added some great gooey texture, but being horseradish cheddar, I expected a stronger flavor to be present. The bread contained the burger well, and helped mop up the yolk and burger juices that had gushed out all over the place, and what they don't tell you is that the onions are, in fact, caramelized, and that the burger patty sits on top of them. Amazing.
This place is absolutely worth the small trek to the Hamilton area, and I'll hopefully be making it over there again soon. Fingers crossed.
Cooked Correctly = 5pts
Presentation/Plating = 2pts
Design/Ingredients = 3pts
Value = 2.5
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