BURGER REVIEW: BGR (Arlington, VA)

I have been hearing about the burger chain BGR for a long time and took advantage of my proximity to a BGR outlet in Clarendon to finally check it out on a holiday. I ordered The Burger ($6.99) medium-rare on a fresh, buttery-toasted brioche bun with lettuce, tomato, onion, pickle, mojo sauce, American cheese (+$0.99), and applewood bacon (+$1.29) with regular fries ($2.29).

The burger was excellent, but I have discovered in my Quest for the Ultimate Burger that even though a "buttery-toasted brioche bun" sounds great, it is often too much bread and can overwhelm the patty. This was the case with BGR's bun and so I took off the top half and ate it as an open-faced burger. The combination of the crunchy bacon with the decadent melted American cheese and the perfectly cooked beef patty is the very definition of a transcendent burger experience.

The burger was well-matched with the fries. BGR has an interesting selection of items to pair with their burgers, including regular fries ("the gold standard"), sweet-potato fries ("the orange standard") and grilled asparagus spears sprinkled with parmesan cheese ("the green standard") and onion rings. The fries were definitely above average in quality (but not quantity), thicker than typical but piping hot and lightly salted. Again, near perfect.

Overall, the burger experience at BGR was surprisingly good. The quality of the food surpasses the product at places with much higher price points. I will definitely try to return there in the future, perhaps to try their ahi tuna burger with the asparagus spears.

Name: BGR The Burger Joint.

Location: 3024 Wilson Boulevard, Arlington, VA 22201.

Contact: 703-566-1446.

Visit: July 4, 2013.

AMBIANCE: B+

SERVICE: A-.

VALUE: A.

FOOD: A+. 

OVERALL: A/A- (3.83/4.0)

FOOD REVIEW: Vidalia (Washington, DC)

shrimp and grits
(anson mill’s grits, vidalia onion, spinach, tasso ham, tomato, shellfish emulsion)

jumbo lump crab cake
(english peas, apricots, pancetta, scallions, sweet pepper butter)

seared hudson valley foie gras 
(lemon marmalade, candied pecans, parsnip butter, brioche, apricot ice cream)

shenandoah lamb loin
(surry lamb sausage, ramp spaetzle, king trumpet mushroom, strawberry jam, vadouvan jus)

georgia pecan pie 
(bourbon ice cream, praline lace crumble, caramel)

interior of Vidalia

My plan to sample the food at the best restaurants in the Washington, D.C. area continues with a stop at Vidalia. (I have previously been to Fiola, Blue Duck Tavern, Corduroy, Zaitinya, Proof and Rasika, among others.) At Vidalia, we had the five course tasting menu. In order, I had the foie gras, crab cake, shrimp and grits, lamb loin and the pecan pie for dessert. The chef and owner at Vidalia is Jeffrey Beuben, a James Beard award-winning chef (1999), who describes his restaurant as "regional American infused with a heaping serving of Southern influence."

The food was uniformly excellent with one standout for me: the shrimp and grits. I am most decidedly not a fan of grits (they seem too plain to me usually and the texture usually brings flashbacks of negative experiences with cream-of-wheat breakfasts!). However, I was convinced by the excellent waitron to try the shrimp and grits since it is one of their most popular dishes. From Yelp I had read good comments about the lump crab cakes so I ordered that as well. The shrimp and grits at Vidalia were an absolute revelation to me, one of the best things I have eaten while living and working in DC for nearly two years. The grits absolutely melted in your mouth and combined with the substantial heartiness of the shrimp and the delicious sauce (called "shellfish emulsion" on the menu) it was one of those rare dishes that make you laugh out loud it is so good. If you eat at Vidalia you must order them!

You'll notice I didn't place the crab cake on the standout list despite the Yelp plaudits (so much for crowdsourcing). The crab cake itself was fine, although with almost too much texture (i.e. a bit rough in the mouth) but this was almost certainly because it was chock-full of crab. If you're a fan of too much crab in a crab cake, this is the one for you. No, the biggest problem I had with the crab cake were the peas. They were simply not done well enough, and to me the hard peas combined with the rough crab put me off slightly, (I understand this was probably a deliberate choice by the chef--some people like very firm vegetables, so do I, but these were a little too close to the nearly raw side for me). I must say that the sauce combined with the apricots were amazing, and really the best part of the dish.

The second favorite thing I had was the lamb loin, which was a splurge for me because I only eat red meat rarely these days. However, it was cooked exactly right (medium rare) and had immense flavor. The mushrooms were really well balanced with the meat and the little green ramp spaetzle were simply delightful. Absolutely an excellent dish, but not a rare transcendent experience like the shrimp 'n' grits were for me.

The foie gras and pecan pie were simply mistakes (on my part). The best dessert on the menu is the lemon chess pie, and I knew my error as soon as saw my neighbor's dessert. I picked the pecan pie because I generally like it and wanted to see what the chef would do with it. Sadly, it was just average, which after a meal that was decidedly not seemed like a bad way to end things. The foie gras was me being adventurous and that dish has a LOT going on. The apricot ice cream was yummy and an interesting counterpoint to the warm, very viscous foie gras but it reminded me a bit too much of eating marrow. Some people like marrow, and if you do, you should definitely try the dish but I should have probably ordered one of the salads to start with instead.

One unexpected pleasure of the dining experience was that they had a lovely cherry soda, called Cheerwine, also suggested by the lovely waitron when I asked about a no-alcoholic beverage. It was delicious and a great choice for teetotalers like myself who don't want to just drink water or ice tea with dinner.

Overall, Vidalia was an excellent dining experience, in the top echelon of the meals I have had. It was not better than my first meal at Fiola (but since my second meal at Fiola was a disaster, it's seems unfair to assign the top spot to until I have visited Vidalia a second time as well, something I hope to do soon) but on average I would say it was better than Corduroy, but at a higher price point than that restaurant. Really, at this level of dining it is almost attempting to split hairs to distinguish between them.

You will have a memorable meal no matter which of these restaurants you choose, I certainly still dream about those shrimp and grits at Vidalia!

Name: Vidalia.

Location: 1900 M Street NW, Washington, DC 20036.

Contact: 202-659-1990.

Visit: May 1, 2013.

AMBIANCE: A.

SERVICE: A+.

VALUE: A-.

FOOD: A+. 

OVERALL: A+/A (4.083/4.0)

FOOD REVIEW: Fusion Burgers (Highland Park, Los Angeles, CA)

Across the street from a new fancy Italian restaurant in Highland Park called Maximiliano's is an unassuming place called Fusion Burgers. My quest to find the best burger joint in America has long been a topic on this here blog, so I won't go into that again except to say that when I hear about an excellent burger place I do try and check it out.

So, that got me into the door of Fusion Burgers, which besides getting good reviews also happens to be within a 5-10 minute drive of my house.

As I said, Fusion Burgers is located in an unremarkable strip mall on the edge of Highland Park, very close to what is probably the most well-known restaurant in the neighborhood. The two are very different, however, with Maximiliano's succeeding as an upscale Italian joint that only serves dinner (and brunch on the weekends) and Fusion Burgers is a simple burger joint.

That being said, the focus should be on the food, and that is what Fusion Burgers does, and quite well, too. I ordered the "Classic Burger" (1000 Island, boston bibb, oven dried tomato, onions, pickles and white cheddar; $8.50) along with "Beer Onion Rings" ($3) and "Ice Tea" ($2). The burger was excellent, and well matched with the bun (which tasted like some kind of brioche). However, the burger was outdone by the Umamticatessen-style tempura-like onion rings which were absolutely extraordinary (and a great bargain at $3). I finished those first after taking a quick spot check bite of the burger. The burger was ridiculously juicy (a feature of having it cooked medium rare) and was a decent size as well. A nice feature of the meal was that even though it clearly not healthy food, one did not feel absolutely stuffed, as one sometimes does at other burger outings.

I would definitely recommend going to check out Fusion Burgers, yourself. It is probably a 10-15 minute walk from the Highland Park station on the  Gold Line Metro as well as having plenty of parking on York Boulevard. Fusion Burgers offers a different gourmet burger of the week, some of them quite inventive.

I intend to check them out again in the near future, and so should you if you (like me) are in search of an excellent burger experience for under $20.

Name: Fusion Burgers.

Location: 5933 York Boulevard, Los Angeles, CA 90042.

Contact: 323-257-8705.

Visit: April 27, 2013.

AMBIANCE: A-.

SERVICE: A.

VALUE: A.

FOOD: A+. 

OVERALL: A (4.0/4.0)

FOOD REVIEW: b. good (Boston, MA)

Last month I was at a conference in Boston for a couple days and while I was there I checked out a local burger chain which is getting good reviews: b. good. Happily, there were two locations within a 5-minute walk of my hotel so I went there twice.

On my first visit, I decided to try one of the special suggested burger combinations that b. good offers. The "ADOPTED LUKE"  costs $6.49 and contains mushrooms, caramelized onions, gouda, and homemade bbq sauce. In addition to the burger I also ordered the "real fries for $2.49 (which for some reason it came in a paper bag labeled sweet potato fries). You can have the meat in the burger as either beef, turkey, veggie or chicken. I went with beef, and was somewhat disappointed when I wasn't asked how I wanted my burger cooked.

I shouldn't have worried. The burger (which came out relatively quickly, with piping hot fries, was quite delicious. The burger was cooked at the "medium" level (I usually like mine cooked medium well but the flavors were very balanced. The bun wasn't great, and so I took off the top half and just ate it as an open-faced burger and it was very satisfying.

In fact, I enjoyed my burger so much that the very next day I went back to b.good and had the "COUSIN OLIVER"  (lettuce, tomato, onions, Chef Tony's homemade pickles) as a turkey burger.

This was the first Turkey Burger I have had as part of my Burger Quest and I was pretty impressed. It wasn't as delicious as a beef burger, but since I have been trying to reduce the amount of beef that I eat on a regular basis, I think that it is a reasonable compromise. Between the Cousin Oliver Turkey Burger and the Adopted Luke Beef Burger I think the beef burger was better.

If I were to go again, I would probably get the Cousin Oliver Beef Burger. If you're in Boston any time soon, I recommend you try a burger at b.good!

Name: b. good.

Location: (Back Bay Location) 131 Dartmouth Street, Boston, MA 02116-5134.

Contact: 617-424-5252.

Visit: March 21-22, 2013.

AMBIANCE: B+.

SERVICE: N/A.

VALUE: A.

FOOD: A. 

OVERALL: A- (3.778/4.0)