Vincent A Restaurant

Vincent A Restaurant is a French-inspired restaurant in downtown Minneapolis that has routinely won accolades for its burger. Dig this: a ground beef and braised short rib patty combined with smoked gouda, Jucy Lucy-style. Are you hungry yet?

The burger is only available in the bar area of the restaurant, which is fine -- a Jucy Lucy, even a fancy one, doesn't really fit the white-tablecloth aesthetic of the main dining room. Normally, the burger is $14, but if you go during one of Vincent's two nightly happy hours, the price drops to only $8! I ordered mine with a side salad, but if the fries are the same as the ones that come with the poutine we ordered as an appetizer, they're also a good choice. The burger is only cooked one way: a little past medium to ensure the cheese inside is fully-melted.

The first thing I noticed when the burger arrived was that the patty was quite a bit smaller than the bun. I didn't take a cross-section cut before eating it because that would have allowed the delicious cheese to leak out. Unlike at Matt's Bar(and I'm aware that it's a little ridiculous to compare Matt's Bar to Vincent), Vincent's take on the Jucy Lucy is immediately edible without scalding the inside of your mouth with napalm-like melted cheese, which to me belies the attention paid to the cooking process. And those bites are truly glorious. I am a big fan of smoked foods, and the smoked gouda in this burger is fantastic. The meat itself was perfectly seasoned in the first half of the burger that I ate, but veered towards too salty as I got to the end. One unexpected surprise was the nice crust on the outside of the patty that made the whole experience a textural pleasure. On the other hand, the bun was soft and fresh but nothing exceptional, and the tomato was also, sadly, a bit mealy and lacking in flavor.

Despite the partially-errant seasoning, overall the flavor of this burger is great -- there's a reason it wins all those awards. It's worth a trip to downtown.

Vincent A Restaurant

1100 Nicollet Avenue

Minneapolis, MN 55403

(612) 630-1189

Ike's Food and Cocktails

Today's cheeseburger (ok, I actually ate this burger over two months ago...) is from Ike's Food and Cocktails, in downtown Minneapolis. The place has a dark, old-boys-club sort of feel (they don't even have a website, as far as I can tell) and a great selection of burgers. My choice on this particular evening was their patty melt: it's advertised as ground Angus beef with aged cheddar cheese and caramelized onions, all served on, interestingly, a Parmesan bread rather than the standard rye. I ordered mine medium, as usual, and with a side of fries it was about $13 if I remember correctly (it was a while ago, after all).

The patty melt arrived already cut in half, showcasing the nice and even medium cooking level. The meat was clearly juicy (more on that later), the cheese was melted well, and the bread had a nice golden-brown grilled exterior.

The first bite showed that this was a great patty melt. The beef had great flavor, its seasoning was dead on, and the bread provided a great crunch. The parmesan bread was also a great choice, adding another layer of flavor on top of the standard patty melt flavor profile. The only downside was the juice -- because the melt had been cut in half, this allowed much of juice in the second half of the burger to drain out and soak into the bottom piece of bread while I was eating the first half. This typically doesn't happen with the burgers I cut myself (as in most reviews) since the time I spend inspecting and taking pictures allows the burger to rest for a bit and results in meat that holds on to its juice once cut. Sure, this is a minor nitpick, but when part of the appeal of a burger is the great texture resulting from grilled bread, I think it's a valid complaint.

Soaked bread aside, this is an excellent burger and I wouldn't hesitate to head back to Ike's if I'm in downtown and craving a good burger.

Ike's Food and Cocktails

50 6th Street South

Minneapolis, MN 55402-1540

Get Directions

(612) 746-4537

(Reposted due to funny date stamping issues)