What's with Seattle and the color red?

The Jack Daniels BBQ Burger
Originally uploaded by jaceman4

Seriously... what's the deal? But I digress. I had actually heard about Red Door before, but as my forays into the Fremont area are rather sparse to begin with, I didn't really have an opportunity to go there. However, I managed to get out recently to meet up with a friend that worked in the area and grab some grub, 'twas good. The place looked like a good old-fashioned sports bar, a place where a lot of locals gathered to grab food and beverage and just enjoy a meal in a fairly chill atmosphere. The actually dining area being smaller than the 21-and-over bar area kind of gave me that sort of impression, that and the fact that it was relegated to the back corner of the establishment like the smoking sections of restaurants in the 1990s. Maybe that's not an entirely fair assessment, but it didn't really take away from the dining experience, so I won't make any more of a fuss about it, just go, you'll like it.

The menu was pretty typical of a typical American restaurant/sports bar type of establishment. Sandwiches, salads, appetizers and some burgers. Obviously, I came for the burgers. After a quick perusal of the selections, I decided to go for the Jack Daniels BBQ Burger, it sounded good from the menu. The menu boasted a 1/3 lb burger, but after seeing and experiencing the 1/3 lb post-cooked weight burgers at The Counter, I can't say I was exactly expecting a whole lot out of it, still, I suppose it's something I'll just have to get used to, as I'm pretty sure the only way I can something close is if I get a full pound burger somewhere else, I guess. Anyways...

The burger overall was good, though as expected, the patty wasn't all that big. The meat of the patty was good, it had a full beefy flavor. I really enjoyed also the fixings, of course you can't really go wrong when you have bacon. The lettuce didn't seem too fresh, but the tomatoes and onions were a good addition. The bun was also well managed, toasted but not too dry or tough, mixing well with the burger as a whole. Finally, I actually really enjoyed the BBQ sauce, but the problem was that it wasn't really well spread across the burger. My general impression of the burger was good, but the overall eating experience was... well, "uneven" for lack of a better term. What I mean by that is that there were parts of it where I was like, this is a good burger, but other parts where I wasn't really sure what to make of it, I wasn't sure what exactly I was eating. Like there were patches of the burger where I got a lot of bacon, parts where I felt like there was a fullness of onion flavor, a place where I thought I could taste some of the BBQ sauce, but it was inconsistent, there were parts where I wasn't really sure what I was eating, it was just kind of like, bun and stuff, since honestly, the meat while nice, is fairly nondescript.

That being said, the fries definitely had a very nice fresh cut and fried kind of flavor. That definitely adds to the experience.

Rating of the Burger:
Meat: B
Bun: A
Fixings: B
Condiments: B-
Sides: A
Price: $9-$11
Overall Grade: B+
Recommended Burger: Jack Daniel's BBQ Burger