Tuesday, June 15, 2010

Ah the wonders of tourist attractions...


Hurricane Burger
Originally uploaded by jaceman4
Not to say that this place is one, or that I would go out of my way to eat here. But rather, this place was located in a tourist attraction and frankly, there's no other food to be had within like 20 miles of the place. This burger (which I believe their menu calls a cheeseburger but the register calls a hurricane burger) can be found at the snack bar at Hurricane Ridge in the Olympic National Park. Yes, I even am reviewing this burger.

The meat quality was fairly fresh, and by all the tourists there, I could tell that the staff was backlogged so, there must have been some prep work done beforehand. Nothing here is out of the ordinary, and if previous burgers have been like the picnic BBQ burger this is probably the epitome of it. I think I ordered my burger with pepperjack cheese and got cheddar instead, but I'm not really going to complain a whole lot about that. Anyways, the meat, as I said before was fairly fresh. The fixings also were fresh, and I enjoyed how they used romaine instead of iceberg for their lettuce, adds a nice touch to it. The bun was a straight forward kaiser roll, no frills, probably straight out of the packaging, generally I prefer it grilled, but hey, it's a pretty no frills burger, so this wasn't outside the norm. Finally, in regards to the condiments, well, like burgers I've previously had, this burger was condiment free, there was a tub of ketchup that came with it, so we'll say that the ketchup was the condiments, truly, your no frills burger.

The fries were actually an pretty good, they seemed a little different than your run of the mill fries, can't quite put my finger on it. I liked the crispiness though. I'm not a fan of the price tag on this burger, I believe the burger in and of itself (with fries no drink) is about $6.50, not really worth it to me, but hey, it is a tourist spot so I can't really say I blame them.

Rating of the Burger:
Meat: B-
Bun: C+
Fixings: B+
Condiments: C
Sides: B
Price: $6.50-$10
Overall Rating: C+
Recommended Burger: Hurricane Burger

Friday, June 11, 2010

Poor man's royalty


A1 Steakhouse XT Burger
Originally uploaded by jaceman4
Incidentally, I went to the Burger King in Castle Rock on my way back from Portland (yes across the street from the gas station) not because it was intentional on my part, but rather, it was the most expedient place to eat. I found out actually, that Exit 49 is one of the exits for the 504 which takes you to Mt. St. Helen's which my dad and I decided to "stop by" on the way back.

Anyways, I wasn't really expecting a whole lot when I came here, but I have to say this time I was somewhat pleasantly surprised by the XT burger. The original XT burger really was nothing to talk about, it was bland and unassuming to the point of being not good. Maybe people in Castle Rock just know how to make burgers. Anyways, my impression of this burger ran pretty much into the realms of something I'd slap together super quick at home. The patty doesn't taste awesome, but it's not super processed, it's roughly the equivalent of a decent pre-frozen patty you might purchase for a family BBQ from say like Costco. The bun is your run-of-the-mill French style roll, and the fixings weren't super fresh, but passable. The A1 tastes pretty much like the bottle of A1 Thick 'n Hearty I used to have in my fridge, which I like, but it really isn't something that stands out, and certainly not something worth paying extra money for.

As for the sides, Burger King does get bonus points onion rings free of charge, but not a whole lot as the onion rings aren't superlative by any means, but still, they are onion rings. However, my beef is that the boxes are puny.

Rating of the Burger:
Meat: C+
Bun: B-
Fixings: C
Condiments: B-
Sides: B-
Price: $4-10
Overall rating: C+
Recommended Burger: A1 Steakhouse XT Burger

Wednesday, June 9, 2010

The McWhopper... sort of... I think...

It's been 3 years since I've been to this place, and for good reason, because it's out in the middle of nowhere (no offense, but off Exit 49?). It left a pretty good impression, a lot of it I think was the dipping sauces for the fries, they had something called Fry Sauce, branded Chadalee Farms. It's essentially the same as the Campfire Sauce that Red Robin serves with their onion rings. I like it. The burgers are made fresh, though the patties might be of the bulk order, pre-made variety, I know the fries are. This burger joint really isn't a burger joint, but rather a grill inside of the food mart of a Shell gas station. Yeah, I know, how good could gas station food be? But this place was good enough to be memorable. Probably the fry sauce.

Anyways, the patty was a mite on the thin side, essentially, it was a pretty good Whopper with something equivalent to McDonald's special Thousand Island sauce from their Big Mac. The meat quality was not discernibly good or bad, probably because it was so thin, but from what I could tell, it was fairly decent. The bun was a typical sesame bun and the fixings weren't super fresh, there was a good variety though. The sauce was pretty good too, I liked the tang, went well with the pickles. If you're ever driving down to Oregon, it's not a bad place to stop by. Probably something with bacon might've been a good touch.

The fries are kind of run-of-the-mill frozen cringle cut fries, which are good. Ask for fry sauce.

Rating of the Burger:
Meat: C+
Bun: B-
Fixings: C+
Condiments: B-
Sides: B
Price: $4-10
Overall Rating: B-
Recommended Burger: Bacon double cheeseburger

Tuesday, June 8, 2010

It's a place to go to say you've been there


Dick's Deluxe
Originally uploaded by jaceman4
This place supposedly has the endorsement of Bill Gates, which kind of just leads me to believe that Mr. Gates should stick to computers, no offense. Anyways, Dick's Burgers is something of a staple in the Seattle area. You can find them all around the area, so most people around here will know what you're talking about. The nice thing about this place, besides it's kind of old-school, local, drive-in kind of vibe is simply that it's relatively inexpensive, but I really have to say that's about all it really has going for it. On the plus side, you can't really go wrong, but then again, you can't really go right with Dick's.

The meat quality is alright, the burger in and of itself was on more of the insubstantial side, so it's easy to see why people go in ordering burgers in pairs. The meat isn't anything to write home about (if you're visiting) but it's better than the run-of-the-mill fast-food joint but nothing out of the ordinary. The bun is your typical enriched white bun, In terms of fixings, there isn't much, just some shredded lettuce, maybe some relish type stuff. The condiments is a kind of house-sauce, a sweetish kind of Thousand Island sauce, which is pretty good, was kind of watery when I had it though.

Fries were decent, of a soggier nature, but it's pretty good. Works well with the meal as a whole.

Rating of the Burger:
Meat: B-
Bun: C
Fixings: C-
Condiments: C+
Sides: B-
Price: $1.50-$7
Overall Grade: C+
Recommended Burger: Dick's Deluxe

Sunday, June 6, 2010

Is the burger supposed to be high tech?


iBurger 1/3lb Cheeseburger
Originally uploaded by jaceman4
If I heard correctly, iBurger was originally a burger-joint that was opened in Snoqualmie area and they just opened in Lake City this past week. It's in a rather interesting location, does look rather like a drive-in kind of place, but there's not much parking. Anyways, they have some seafood, chicken, there're some interesting things. I think I'll have to come back and try one of these specialty burgers, and of course a shake.

The burger looks to be well-made, it was thick and juicy, the fixings are fairly fresh, I like the sweet pickles, which I believe that they also use in their house sauce, which is sort of a Thousand Island kind of shindig. Additionally, there was some ketchup and stuff so that was good. The bun was a nice toasted sesame bun, the only problem was that the bun was a little too wide for the burger patty, so that was a kind of a bummer.

The sides were okay, the fries seem like a mix of frozen stuff they throw in the deep fryer, so it's hard to get wrong.

Rating of the Burger:
Meat: A-
Bun: C+
Fixings: B
Condiments: B+
Sides: B-
Price: $6-$10
Recommended Burger: 1/3 lb. cheeseburger