yum on bun
by
ever since metblog’s post about the Red Onion and now talking about EAT!Vancouver, I’m so totally craving a burger. Big ol patty o’meat on a bun. Yeah, I’m so NOT a vegetarian – don’t think I ever could be. Anyhoo, the best burger I’ve ever had to this day was at Bartley’s in Cambridge, MA. Mr Bartely’s Burger Cottage has been a fixture in Harvard Square for over 40 years.
Great burgers and the best onion rings in the world make Bartley’s a perennial favorite with a cross section of Cambridge, from Harvard students to regular folks. The 40-plus-year-old family business isn’t a cottage, but a high-ceilinged, crowded room plastered with signs and posters (there’s also a small outdoor seating area). Burgers bear the names of local and national celebrities, notably political figures; the names change, but the ingredients stay the same.
I’ll definately be going back at some point in my life – but until then, I’ll have to try out the Red Onion in Kits. I haven’t been too overly impressed with Vera’s – so if you have any other suggestions, I’m all ears 🙂
(flikr photo)
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Thanks for the reminder on the Red Onion. I’ve been meaning to make it there to try out the burger.
Overall the state of the burger in Vancouver is sad. Most places huck a frozen beef puck on the grill and call it a burger. I won’t eat a burger anywhere that it hasn’t been made. Preformed ones are not food.
That said, a few good burgers can be found. The Templeton on Granville St. downtown (between Helmcken and Nelson) serves a handsome organic beef burger they call the 777, with strong fries. Burger Moderne on W. Broadway (around the 2600 block) serves a fine burger as well, with shoestring fries. Both places are often packed and keep short hours, so call ahead to ensure satisfaction.
The best burger I’ve discovered in Vancouver, or at least the one that stands out most in recent memory, is at The Smoking Dog bistro in the heart of the neighbourhood we call Rodeo Kits (W. 1st at Cypress). That’s no ordinary burger, I thought to myself when I saw it on the menu. It’s a $14 burger, and comes with excellent, fresh toppings, sauces, cheese and grilled onions, and a candidate for the best frites in town. The meat patty is wonderfully rich and flavourful, and you just know some culinary witchcraft went on to make it just so. To paraphrase that scene in Pulp Fiction when John Travolta and Uma Thurman are talking about the $5 milkshake, it’s a fuckin’ good burger.
The Smoking Dog bistro is indeed a wonder (had the best leek tart I’ve ever had there and have vowed to return to make sure I wasn’t dreaming). Nice to know they also serve a good burger. They also have a beautiful round bar.
Not to change the subject too much, as a transplant from Cambridge to Vancouver, I have to say what I miss far more than burgers is the pizza at Emma’s. Did you ever have that? Mrs. Bartley’s may have that Harvard Grad Student Charm Award all sewed up, but they don’t hold a candle to the pizza at the little place on Hampshire in Kendall Square (conveniently kitty-corner from the Cambridge Brewery and only a stone’s throw away from the Kendall Cinema, an artsy movie theatre to die for).
Much as I can tolerate some of the bizarre slices served around Vancouver, there doesn’t seem to be a place where you can get one of those elegant and ever-so-thin crust pies with the perfect and not-too-salty sauce and toppings.
Ah Ha! I’m not the only one who isn’t impressed with the burgers from Veras. I don’t understand what all that hype is..there’s plenty of better burger joints.
James already mentioned Moderne on broadway which I find very tasty.
There’s also Fatzo’s just down the street from there as well I think at Macdonald & Broadway.
Although I would definitely suggest Moderne over Fatzo’s and even a Whitespot burger over Vera’s.
The best burgers I’ve had at a restaurant in Vancouver have been at Hamburger Mary’s on Davie and Tomahawk Restaurant in North Van.
And, just to be picky, The Red Onion is in Kerrisdale, not Kits 😉
ah cool – see i dont pay that much attention to detail. hamburger mary’s is awesome, although we’ve only ever been there for breakfast :p
i disagree about vera’s they make their own patties and they aren’t like other places that just put meat on a grill, they actually put flavour into them (if i want pur beef taste I’ll have a steak)
love the red onion.
we go to veras a lot and have never had a problem cept maybe a ‘bad’ night here and there but you are the second person in under a week that is not feeling too keen on them…other person her and her man got sick twice so they don’t go at all now.
knowing me/us we’ll keep going till we barf and then change ;0)