Shake Shack

Have you ever waited an hour and half for a burger in the middle of a park? I HAVE.  

worse than women at a MAC sale.

No seriously, do you see that long line for Shake Shack? Incredible! This little joint in Madison Square Park, NYC without any indoor seating or a washroom can generate this kind of revenue on a regular Friday at 12pm.  The line grew even longer by the time we got to the front. 

wonder how these seats are in winter...

After finally placing our order, we even get a little buzzer to notify us when our burgers were ready.

technology makes up for the lack of everything else. 

I got the double Shackburger and the Shackstack, which respectively is a double cheeseburger and a cheeseburger with a deep-fried portobello mushroom stuffed with cheese, similar to "The Priest" at Burger's Priest. I was surprised at the lack of condiment options, but with a burger like this, I don't see what else to put on there.  It comes with tomato, lettuce, and Shack sauce (some flavoured mayo). I got mine sans tomato of course.

ogod.

It was so delightfully heavenly.  Beef, cheese, bun... everything in the right proportions with the cheese oozing out. The beef was juicy and bigger than the one at Burger's priest, and the portobello was not as battered. Juicy but not greasy to the point where the bun cannot support the weight of the patties. Unfortunately, frand said that 2 patties wasn't enough and that I should've gotten him 2 patties PLUS the portobello.  Oops. There's no way I'm going back into that line, even though the wait was completely worth it.

oozing. cheese.

The cheese fries were also wonderful but quite small.  I didn't end up getting the milkshake because I figured that would be overindulging, and I was thirsty. This burger will definitely stay in my heart forever.  Just like these girls <3. *inserts big awwwwwwwwwwww*

four sexy burger models.

My verdict on this burger? Don't leave NYC without having Shakeshack.  It's gonna take 2 hours to line up for Statue of Liberty anyway and it's probably pretty lame.  They also have other locations in the States as well.  A blogger's tragic flaw, but I'm sincerely at a loss for words to describe this scrumptious burger. Sorry. :(

Joe's Hamburgers

I'm not sure why I decided to go eat a burger in Richmond Hill and blog about it today when I could've just waited a week until I'm in NYC eating Shake Shack.  The chicken shawarma at Joe's also looked quite appealing, but I decided to get a Big Joe's with cheese instead for $5.79. I find that Mediterranean people seem to like having burgers on their menu, like some signs I saw in Danforth for burgers in a Greek restaurant, or that Middle-Eastern man who made the horrible burger I had at Chef Burger (I don't even want to link to that blog post).  Quincy suggested that perhaps they like grilling souvlakis and kebabs so much that they decided to try grilling the burger.  But I kinda like flat-top burgers now...

Behold! Big Joe

So I decided to put some shawarma options on my burger in addition to the typical lettuce, onion, pickle, mayo, ketchup, mustard, etc.  I went for this mixed coleslaw stuff and tzaziki sauce. It was good!  It was kinda like a beef shawarma burger.  I liked how the burger was grilled so hot that my bottom bun felt too warm to pick up, but not the kind that starts getting soggy from all the juices, yet not so hard that all I taste is bun.  Good bun.  The patty itself has probably been frozen, but the 8oz patty was pretty juicy nonetheless.  The cheese was processed and kinda gross. Quincy liked his bacon if anyone cares.

In conclusion: I'm going back.  For the chicken shawarma.

Jetsun's Juicy Burger

I should really just quit blogging after trying The Burger's Priest. However, Richard is convinced that this Jetsun's Juicy Burger would be good, so I agreed to go.  Located right at Yonge/Empress, I saw so many options on Yonge that would make an equally great lunch, but the goal today was a good burger. For some reason, it kept reminding me of Johnny Rockets, but it's not a diner- more like a wannabe growing fast-food chain that only serves burgers.

quite the extensive menu

We both got the $5.49 Juicyburger and added cheese for $1.  Both got a small pop (free refills) and split the onion rings. What I really should've tried was their milkshake- they had 8 flavours of ice cream which could all have been turned into a delicious milkshake but too bad, I wasn't feeling it. Their menu was pretty boring, with only one type of burger and the options were either adding cheese, bacon, or chili, so I expected the condiment section to be a little more exciting.

not excited.

Their fanciest sauce was probably the garlic mayo.  I got lettuce, pickle, garlic mayo, ketchup, and dijon mustard.  I didn't like how the onion was cut and I got the pickle anyway even though it didn't look too fresh. And banana peppers are just a disgrace on any burger. I saw that they toasted my bun, which was a +1.  Then I saw them put the patty on the bun with the cheese still looking cold and unmelted on top.  -5, one of my biggest pet peeves.

Iceberg lettuce totally fails.

Romaine lettuce would probably have been a better choice because it's more flat so it can actually stay inside the burger. The cheese ended up melting a bit, which was a bit better, and tasted like good, unprocessed cheddar that just needs to melt a little more. The bun was a little too thick so I ended up not eating most of the top bun.  The patty... was pretty good, 6oz or so and you can tell that it hasn't been frozen because of how tender it is despite looking somewhat overcooked on the outside.  I wouldn't exactly call it very "juicy", but still had a nice texture that kinda tastes like a thicker Harvey's burger.  

Overall, I don't really understand the niche, because they're not exactly competitive in style, originality, variety or value. We have new fads such as Hero Burger expanding everywhere with their varieties of gourmet burger toppings and condiments, the older burger joints with their regulars that have adapted the taste, other fast-food chains, and full-service restaurants which Jetsun's Juicy Burger is none of the above. Perhaps location, since there isn't a Harvey's around there. So I can see how people would like it, kinda like how people enjoy Harveys.

The Burger's Priest

Ta-da! Look where I finally went to after a two month hiatus from my burger soul searching.  There's never an opportune moment to go since it's far with nothing nearby- except for the beaches.  So after a tanning session we decided to go (well I decided to drag everyone) to this much raved hotspot.  

look how it's even glorified by the sun

We walked in to a cramped little place with literally six stools on the side. No more than 2 average sized people can stand comfortably side by side in the space between the counter and the stools.  How ironic, I thought yummy burgers were for fatties.  

They used a flat top instead of a grill, which is newer to me. I don't mind- unlike those other critics who think that a burger has to be grilled- because sometimes grilling makes the burger too charred and dry tasting. We ordered "The Priest", which was a $9.99 4oz cheeseburger with "the Option."  After 10 minutes of waiting, our burgers are ready.

"The Priest"

This isn't a fair fight. This burger was so amazing, so delicious, and everything went together so well.  They didn't have the fancy condiments, and I just got ketchup, mayo, mustard, lettuce, and onion.  The thinly sliced onion was quite delicious.  The cheese oozing out of "The Option" was quite heavenly.  

the cheese

But wait- where's the beef?  This burger would have tasted quite lovely even without that shrimpy 4oz patty. The beef seemed pretty tender, moist, and juicy without soaking up the bun, which is a positive thing. I was blinded by "The Option"- which is two portobello mushrooms sandwiching gooey cheese deep fried in panko breading.  The bread wasn't toasted and it carried a McDonald's bun sort of style to it.  It makes me wonder how it can hold up those secret menu items, because my burger felt heavy on the bottom bun already. The Priest was the perfect portion, making me completely satiated without feeling like I overindulged. 


The verdict? I need to go back and try a double-double so that I can decide whether or not to crown them for the best cheeseburger. On the other hand, I may just have found a perfectly constructed cheeseburger that I will continue to crave over and over. At first I thought $9.99 was a bit steep, since there wasn't even really any sitting space to enjoy my burger. But I have since changed my mind, it's worth it. I am salivating right now as I blog, thinking about this delicious combination of nature's gifts that man has enhanced. In other words, GO GET IT CUZ IT'S KICKASS.
  

Backyard BBQ

Believe it or not, I honestly have not had a burger since the last post except maybe a McDouble here and there. So, here I am blogging about the most recent burger I had that you'll never get because I'm not even quite sure what I had. I was hungry and just got off work to go to Quincy's birthday BBQ- who by the way, was doing the grilling. It's not a bad idea though; it's kinda like cooking- you can't have an unskilled person manning the grill or if a women sucks in the kitchen then just buy takeout.  So here it is:

it was dubbed "the double stacker" how original.

I was eating that mini chicken slider before my burger was ready in case you were wondering why that pussy cracker was sharing the royal plate with the burger.  It was pretty dry, until I dousted it with some mayo I found on the counter.  I think it was something like this

Smokin'

It became kickass after that.  So I decided to try it on my garnishless bun with the whole double burger and process cheese, which was way too salty. But I didn't care because I was hungry so it was good.  I don't get it, how come process cheese from home never taste like the ones from the restaurants??!!  Am I doing something wrong?  Because that reminds me of the many individuals that I have spoken to recently who don't know the difference between mayonnaise and miracle whip.  They wonder why mayo in restaurants taste so much better than at home.  My answer: "cuz your mom's buying miracle whip."  So now I'm wondering, is that me with processed cheese? Is that why they rip you off and charge an extra dollar for cheese that you can't even taste on your burger?!!  

P.S. Sorry for the overdramatic use of exclamation marks, it would appear that I'm not quite emotionally stable from the burger withdrawal

Grindhouse Burger Bar

On King West, hungry, didn't want fast food, and m:brgr closed down before I got to try it? Grindhouse it is.  We were actually looking for a rooftop patio and it looked like there may have been one there.  By the time we went inside and asked we had already given up and decided to settle for a burger.  I didn't really have any expectations and I was too tired to think of what I wanted in my burger, so I just got the Big Grind burger for $10.  

ok it doesn't look appealing I know

It contained lettuce, cheese, pickles, and their house sauce.  I got a whole wheat bun in case you were wondering.  Not too sure what I was thinking there but it wasn't bad! Unfortunately I think that the beef was lacking a bit since the bun was too big for it.  What I have noticed however is that I can now tell whether the beef is fresh or frozen/defrosted etc, there really is a distinguished texture.  This one was definitely fresh - they were also light on the seasoning which is good, because a good beef burger should not rely on sodium.  Frand had the black and blue burger, but I have yet to acquire the taste for strong cheeses so it wasn't that great tasting for me. We had them done medium rare, but it still can't compare to the medium rare at Allen's.

couches!

If you believe that you are some beer connoisseur who enjoys burgers, this might be the place for you.  They have quite a few craft/local beers available to go with that so called local burger. That reminds me - how do you keep kangaroos local?  And no, I do not plan to eat kangaroos, as common as they are in Australia. It's like the same as us eating raccoons. But maybe we'll keep this killing raccoon thing underground after all the controversy.  

 In conclusion, Grindhouse has the right recipe going on but could use perhaps a bigger patty and maybe a juicier one too.  It was definitely fresh, but can use some improvement to make the side-less burger actually worth $10 and perhaps attract more customers, since the 10 table burger bar wasn't very full on a King West Friday night for dinner time.

Origin Restaurant

I really haven't had many burgers lately because A) I need to be on a beach diet for Cancun, B) work, and C) the past 3 weeks of summer school had been more intense than regular school. So today I decided to take my mother out at Origin for a cute little expensive brunch so that I can get a burger. Two birds with one stone!

no reason really, just more taking pictures cuz I wasn't hungry

I didn't even have an appetite but I ordered a blood orange mimosa with my Origin burger ($17) anyway. The burger didn't have much garnish and I didn't have to go through all the condiments to figure out what I want, which I think is better that way anyway. It contained: arugula, chipotle aioli, and guacamole. Yum. It didn't have cheese, but this burger definitely did not need it.  And they do it medium rare!!!

big, thick, and juicy mmm.

It didn't juice out and it wasn't that pink inside but still very good! The beef wasn't highly seasoned but had a subtle flavour, super juicy without being too greasy, and the sea salt on the bun really adds to the burger.  The guac kept falling out but I was pretty thrilled that they actually gave a decent portion of it.  Even though it was a little too early for such a heavy burger, I still thought it tasted delicious.  My mom got the oysters and deviled eggs, and my sister got the french toast with the berry compote.  They both loved their meals.

pretty place...

They also had a very nice patio which we didn't go to because we're Asian duh. I contemplated convincing my mom to sit in the shade but decided to give our server a table instead. Speaking of servers, I finally have evidence that good burgers are correlated with hipsters as stated in previous posts.  Observe.

I love how iphone doesn't make a sound taking pictures

So turns out whoever said hipsters are always unemployed need to understand that they they do work as baristas or servers who wear their framed sunglasses indoors. Was it worth the drive to King/Church just for brunch? Yes, but make sure your wallet is full. 
Consensus: Definitely a very, very good burger.  It makes me wonder how it'd taste with cheese, but it was wonderful even without it. The bun wasn't toasted, but the beef totally made up for it. HIGHLY recommended.