Tracy's Saloon and Eatery

Tracy's Saloon and Eatery is a neighborhood bar in the Seward neighborhood of Minneapolis. Despite being a bar, it has a pretty wide-ranging food menu, including, of course, burgers.

I bellied up to the bar and ordered myself a "California Cheeseburger", which is to say it had mayo along with the usual lettuce and tomato and was topped with Wisconsin cheddar cheese. With a side of tater tots, it was $10 even (regular french fries are $0.50 less). I wasn't given a choice of doneness level (insert ominous music here).

The burger was delivered and, wonder of wonders, not a pickle in sight! The cheese was nicely melted, the meat was well-seared, and the toppings (the lettuce and a single large-diameter slice of tomato)neatly covered everything. The patty looked to be something like 1/3 lb. Cutting it in half revealed what I had surmised would be the case -- well done.

With the first bite I knew it was a decent but not exceptional burger. The good: The meat was seasoned perfectly, the cheese was great, and the bun (from the Franklin St. Bakery a mile or so down the road) was soft and fresh. On the other hand, the outside of the patty was seared so much it had a hint of that acrid burnt taste -- no bueno! And the patty was pretty thin, which gave the burger a pretty low meat-to-bun ratio. And, of course, being so well-done, it was pretty dry. Try as it might, the tomato could not make up for the meat's near-complete lack of molten fat. The above-average acoutrements aren't enough to make up for the sub-par beef (though I should note that it's not necessarily sub-par in terms of quality, just cooking).

In the end, I wouldn't come here specifically for a burger. BUT...if I happened to be here anyway on a Monday night, when some (most?) of the burgers are half price, it would take some convincing to get me to order something else.

Tracy's Saloon and Eatery

2207 East Franklin Avenue

Minneapolis, MN 55404

(612) 332-1865

Pat's Tap

Pat's Tap is a relative newcomer to the Minneapolis scene, opening late last year on Eat Street at 35th and Nicollet Ave. It joins the Twin Cities' growing ranks of so-called 'gastropubs', offering something beyond the standard bar fare as well as a moderate but nicely curated selection of local and non-local beers. But...can they make a good cheeseburger?

As per my usual, I ordered their "Big Cheese Burger", which is advertised as having "Cheddar, tomato, garlic dill pickles". Given the option of doneness, I chose medium, as is my standard. The pickles were ordered on the side (and subsequently bequeathed to my wife upon their arrival with the burger). Total cost, with the chips upgraded to their Belgian-style pommes frites, was $14.

The burger arrived a little different than I had envisioned -- but not in a bad way. The "tomato" turned out to be a thick slice of a green tomato (possibly an heirloom variety that covered the entire top bun. And the cheese was not only laid on thickly, but also uniformly browned on top as if the whole thing had been held briefly under a broiler after assembly. The meat had a nice sear to it, and the bun was also lightly toasted. Cutting into it showed that the meat was a little on the rare side of medium in the very center but with most of the meat showing a perfect medium doneness.

Biting into it, I knew I had found a winner. While the patty isn't as intensely beefy as The Anchor's grass-fed affair, everything in this burger just works. The beef just straddled the border between being undersalted and perfect, but with the large slab of melted cheese on top no additional seasoning was necessary. The patty was deliciously juicy, and the cheese -- let me tell you, whoever decided to brown the cheese deserves a raise, because it's goddamn brilliant. The tomato provided a nice textural contrast to the meat and cheese but not a lot of flavor (hey, it's March in Minnesota, we can't expect miracles), and the bun, while fresh, was content to just stay out of the way of the more flavorful elements of the burger.

All in all, this is a burger worth making a trip for. It's not my all-time favorite (that honor still belongs to The Lyndale Tap House), but it's definitely up there.

Pat's Tap
3510 Nicollet Ave.
Minneapolis, MN 55408
(612) 822-8216 ‎

p.s. The ambiance was a bit raucous when we were there, with lively conversation, relatively loud music playing on the stereo, and the sounds of billiards and skee-ball (!) caroming off the hard, sound-reflecting walls, so be aware. And, the fried cheese curds are fan-frickin-tastic -- I don't know how they did it, but they somehow made battered and deep-fried cheese into a concoction that was light and almost delicately fluffy. Alchemy, I say.

The Anchor Fish and Chips

Hoooooly crap it's been a while.

I could make a whole bunch of excuses. I could talk about how I got engaged, bought a house, moved, went to Texas for 2 and a half months, helped plan the wedding, and got married, but it would be just that -- excuses. I could also mention how many times I kept myself from ordering cheeseburgers at restaurants because I didn't have my camera on me (and who wants to see crappy cell phone pics of food? Not this guy). Really, there is no excuse for not eating and/or talking about cheeseburgers.

I'm not going to make any promises that I will update more regularly, but I am armed with a fancy new camera (part of whose purchase I justified by being able to take better low-light pictures of cheeseburgers...). When my friend whose wife was out of town asked if I wanted to go try the cheeseburger at The Anchor Fish and Chips, I jumped at the chance to both eat a cheeseburger and try out my new toy in a new circumstance. Of course, it also didn't hurt that my wife happened to be out of town too...

I had never been to The Anchor before, and have yet to try their namesake fish and chips, but a guy's gotta have priorities. The burger is advertised as featuring Minnesota-raised, grass-fed beef from 1000 Hills, and the cheese as an Irish cheddar. All told, with a side order of hand cut thick fries (er, I mean, chips), it was $9.95. I ordered mine cooked medium, sans pickles (natch).
Upon delivery of the burger, I took note of a few things: One the patty was much smaller in diameter than the bun. Not a huge deal, but one of those things that makes you wonder... The patty itself looked to be somewhere between 1/3 and 1/2 lb, nicely seared, and with the cheese melted thoroughly atop it. The bun appeared lightly buttered and lightly toasted, and the burger was served with a generous helping of sliced red onion, a couple thick tomato slices, and a full leaf of green-leaf lettuce.

Slicing through, I saw meat that was, unusually, cooked more medium rare than medium. I'm not complaining, but it stood out because most places are probably so afraid of food-borne pathogens that they overcook everything. Being willing to serve ground beef at medium rare shows confidence in one's meat. I approve. The burger was evenly done throughout as well. The cross-section revealed the layer of cheese was quite thin (nearly invisible, actually).

So how did it taste? In a word: excellent. The standout in this burger is the beef: intensely flavorful, juicy, and darn near perfectly seasoned (I probably wouldn't have minded a touch more salt, but it certainly didn't need it). The use of local grass-fed beef comes through and makes this burger worth eating. The cheese, being as thin as it was, was not a strong component of the overall flavor of the burger. I might even argue that this burger probably would be just as good without the cheese for $1 less (blasphemy!). Surprisingly, the tomatoes were pretty good despite it being January. The bun was soft and fresh and didn't detract from the real star of this burger. Make no mistake: it's all about the beef.

The only downside to this burger is the high bun-to-meat ratio. With careful eating, you can arrange it so that every bite has both bun and meat in it -- but if you're not so careful, you'll end up like my friend who had nearly half of his bun left after finishing the meat. This doesn't affect the flavor one bit, but it's still not ideal.

In the end, though, you can't argue with the meat. This is a great burger. Go get one.

The Anchor Fish and Chips

302 13th Avenue Northeast

Minneapolis, MN 55413

Five Guys Burgers and Fries

You may have heard of Five Guys Burgers and Fries. I had heard that they were a similar concept to my beloved In-N-Out burger -- fast-food burgers made from fresh, never-frozen beef and freshly-cut french fries. Unlike In-N-Out, however, Five Guys has locations all over the country.

Now, I had been to Five Guys before the genesis of this blog -- they have a location in Edina to which I made a trip a while back. And, frankly, I was disappointed. BUT...my entire experience was tainted by shattered expectations: I was looking forward to a cheeseburger and a shake...but Five Guys doesn't offer shakes. Having to settle for a soda ruined the whole experience for me on that day. So when a new Five Guys location opened up in Dinkytown, I decided to return with a more open mind and attempt to give an unbiased review.

So, I made a lunch date with a friend and we headed to the Five Guys. I ordered my burger: a cheeseburger with lettuce, tomato, grilled onions, mayo, and ketchup. Now, at Five Guys, a regular burger is actually a double, with two meat patties (along with two slices of cheese for the cheeseburger) -- if you want a single burger, you'd order the so-called "little burger". With a side of fries and a soft drink, the total was about $10 -- the cheeseburger alone was $5. As an aside, a regular order of fries is a LOT of fries -- most normal people could split an order with no issues.

The burger arrived looking quite nice -- the two slices of American cheese, melted well, were between the two patties, the lettuce and tomato were placed on top with the nicely grilled onions below. The sesame bun was toasted nicely too. Cutting through showed the well-done meat, as expected and as clearly stated on the menu.

And you know what? This is actually a pretty good burger. The meat was seasoned decently, though perhaps a little unevenly, and having the cheese in between the two patties helped make sure that each bite had nice flavor. Certainly better than I had remembered. On the other hand, the tomato was bland, the lettuce was iceberg (meh), and the bun, though fresh, was not particularly flavorful. Still, overall, a really good fast-food burger, and I'm glad there's a location within easy walking distance of my office!

Does it best In-N-Out? The burgers are comparable in taste, and a Five Guys cheeseburger is a little bigger than an In-N-Out Double Double. Then again, Five Guys is a bit more expensive ($5 vs. $3). I'm personally still partial to In-N-Out (possibly due to nostalgia and pre-existing bias), but if you prefer Five Guys I won't look down on you.

Five Guys Burgers and Fries
1413 Fourth St. SE
Minneapolis, MN 55414

P.S. I know this isn't a french fry blog, but Five Guys' fries are hands-down better than In-N-Out's.

Convention Grill

I had been meaning to go to Convention Grill for a while, based on a good friend's recommendation, but I never seem to find myself out that way (I mean seriously, who goes to Edina?). But this past weekend I was hungry and craving a cheeseburger (as is often the case) and decided to make the trek out to the 'burbs and see if it truly lived up to the hype.

The decor in the place is distinctively retro, if not actually old -- fine dining this is not. But hey, it doesn't need to be, as cheeseburgers know no socioeconomic boundaries. The basic burger at Convention Grill is described as "lean ground beef cooked medium-well on a hearty bun" for $4.95. To this you can add cheese of one of a few varieties ($0.95), get it "California style", with lettuce, tomato, and mayo ($0.95), or with both as a "California cheeseburger" -- for $1.95. Indulge me for a brief moment while I complain: They're charging me MORE for getting two things together? It's only 5 cents, but...that's not how it's supposed to work. Ok. Breathe. Ok I'm good. On to the burger. I ordered the California cheeseburger with "smokey cheddar" and grilled onions.

When it arrived, I took note of the following: Two nice looking tomato slices, a big romaine leaf, and not-fully-melted cheese. As at Smashburger, the nicely grilled onions were placed underneath the cheese. I had thought I had escaped the dreaded pickles, but it turns out they were hiding underneath the lettuce leaf. For those who do like pickles, the three miniscule pickle chips provided would barely cover a third of the nicely-seared patty. The bun was sadly untoasted. Cutting it in half, I saw the patty was cooked to what appeared to my eye to be well-done rather than medium-well -- nary a hint of pink to be found. Not surprisingly, given the "lean" description of the meat used, it was not particularly abundant in juice.

On the flavor front, it was actually pretty good. The meat was seasoned quite nicely, and smoked cheddar really should be mandatory for any cheeseburger. On the downside, it was on the dry end of acceptable. The bun was soft and fresh but otherwise nothing special. And the lack of toasting in my mind really hurts -- why wouldn't you take the opportunity to add another layer of texture, flavor, and, ideally, butter?

Still, I enjoyed the burger. Not great, but the good seasoning and smoked cheddar was enough to elevate it from "meh" to "pretty good" in spite of its shortcomings. While I probably wouldn't make the trip just for it, especially given that I have what I consider to be a better option right in my neighborhood, if I were out there anyway I'd definitely consider it if I was in the mood for a cheeseburger -- as is often the case.

Convention Grill & Fountain
3912 Sunnyside Rd, Edina, MN
55424-1211
(952) 920-6881 () ‎

Stub and Herb's

Stub and Herb's is a sports bar on the East Bank (Stadium Village) part of the U of M campus. Besides a fairly extensive beer list, they also have pretty solid food. Their burgers are 1/3-lb of Angus beef, pattied when ordered, and cooked to medium-well. They offer a wide selection of burgers, from plain burger to ones with salsa, fried egg, bleu cheese, or BBQ sauce and onion rings. On this occasion, I decided on a simple cheeseburger with cheddar cheese. With fries, the cheeseburger basket was a mere $6.

When the burger arrived, I was surprised that there were none of the standard toppings with the burger, such as lettuce, tomato, or onions. Still, the cheese was melted nicely, the bun perfectly toasted, and the burger nicely seared. Cutting it in half revealed a medium-well cooked patty, as promised. The pickle chips, which were erroneously delivered with the burger in spite of my request, were removed with a quickness.

As far as flavor, this is a really good burger. Even though the meat was cooked medium-well, it was still fairly juicy, and seasoned perfectly. But the real star of this burger is the bun: It's a pretzel roll of some sort, sweet, slightly dense, chewy, and delicious. It might lack a little physical robustness, in that it starts to fall apart a little by the end of the burger, but the flavor more than makes up for it. A definite winner.

The only downside to this particular burger is that, for some reason, I found two little hard bits of something in my burger patty -- perhaps little bone fragments? I've had burgers at Stub and Herb's multiple times, and this was the first time I had experienced anything of that sort. I'm going to chalk it up to an outlier for now...

In the end, though, Stub and Herb's is still my go-to cheeseburger when I have a lunch craving at work. Recommended.

Stub and Herb's

227 Oak St. SE

Minneapolis, MN 55455

Get Directions

(612) 379-0555

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)

Buster's on 28th

Whew, it's been a while, hasn't it? Between work, music, and completing a triathlon, I have been pretty busy the past month or so. I have a couple burgers already eaten that I'm just now getting around to writing up, and this is the first.

Buster's on 28th is a neighborhood bar (not in my neighborhood, but in the Lake Hiawatha area) that claims to focus on "tasty and interesting food" to go along with their extensive beer list (if you're into that sort of thing).

Their burger is a pretty classic affair: a half pound of ground Angus chuck and standard fixings atop a fresh bun from A Baker's Wife, just around the corner. Typically the burger comes with a pickle aioli, which I nixed. I ordered mine cooked medium with a slice of Widmer cheddar cheese and a side of fries for a total of $10.

It looked good when it arrived -- the meat was seared properly, the cheese was fully melted, the bun was lightly toasted, and the fixings included thinly sliced red onion, a tomato slice, and a piece of romaine lettuce rather than the more common iceberg (blegh). I wouldn't object to another piece of lettuce and another slice of tomato, but I'll take it as-is. The section cut revealed meat cooked medium (perhaps edging towards medium-well) evenly throughout -- a good sign.

With the first bite, I could tell this would be a good burger. The bun was fresh and slightly sweet, and the meat was moist and clearly of high quality. My only beef (hah!) with it was that the seasoning wasn't even -- some bites were seasoned perfectly while others were a little bland. Whether they mix the salt in with the meat or apply it only to the surface after forming the patty, it could use some more consistency. Otherwise -- no complaints. This is a really good burger, and I wouldn't hesitate to stop in and grab one if I'm in the neighborhood -- or even to make the short trip just for it.

Buster's on 28th
4204 28th Avenue
Minneapolis, MN 55406-3123
(612) 729-0911

Addendum 6/6/2013: Last time I had this burger, the bun was dry and/or stale. Just FYI.

Lyndale Tap House

I'm going to say it at the beginning: This is a great burger, and one that I can unreservedly recommend. See addendum at end of review!

Lyndale Tap House is a relatively new establishment on the 2900 block of South Lyndale (duh) Avenue, near Lake St, occupying the former space of jP American Bistro. Their focus, in terms of food, is on so-called "pit beef", which is basically a hand-rubbed, long-marinated, and slow-roasted hunk of beef which is then sliced thin and piled onto sandwiches. I've had their pit beef sandwich before and it's pretty good, but on this particular occasion I decided to try their burger.

They have a few different variations around a basic theme, but I decided to go with their basic cheeseburger (cooked medium) which comes equipped with lettuce, tomato, and battered-and-deep-fried onions on a kaiser roll. To this I added white cheddar cheese and asked them to hold the pickles. Total cost, with the included side of fries: $9.50.

The burger arrived a short while later with a steak knife impaling the whole affair rather than something wimpy like a toothpick. The first impression was great: the burger was clearly hand-pattied, with an irregular shape that couldn't be replicated by mass production. The meat had a nice sear on it and the cheese was fully melted. Cutting it in half revealed a burger cooked perfectly medium all the way throughout. Impressive.

But the really impressive part was that this burger just plain tasted good. The seasoning was spot-on. I mean, perfect, and regular readers (all two of them) will know how fussy I am about that. And the fried onions: some places put onion rings in burgers, which is certainly delicious, but often causes problems with actually eating the thing. The thin fried onions avoid the logistical issues often inherent in onion rings on a burger (such as the whole onion pulling out from inside a deep-fried 'sleeve', uneven burger coverage, and construction-related instability due to the extra height, not to mention that it makes it harder to get in your mouth). In this case, the fried onions added a nice crunch and flavor without any of the drawbacks of full-on onion rings. The bun (actually a kaiser roll) was nicely toasted and had pretty decent flavor and texture, but it wasn't as remarkable as, say, the Common Roots sourdough bun. Still, that doesn't detract much, if at all, from an otherwise excellent performance all-around.

I'd say this is the best burger I've had so far. Go get one, you won't be disappointed.

Lyndale Tap House
2937 South Lyndale AvenueMinneapolis, MN 55408
(612) 825-6150

Addendum 6/6/2013: Last time I had this burger, it wasn't as good as previous times. It was overcooked and dry, and not nearly as well seasoned. Sad.

Vindicated!

It looks like my conjecture in my previous post about Smashburger is in fact correct: The burger is mashed down onto the flat-top right at the beginning of the cooking process, which means all the juices aren't squeezed out. Hooray for deductive reasoning!