Friday, July 3, 2009

Spinnakers Gastro Brewpub | 308 Catherine Street | 250•386•2739 | www.spinnakers.com

Highland Beef Burger $12
w/the works
(bacon, cheddar, mushrooms) add $4


The burger at Spinnakers Pub is kind of like the girl next door; in a way—she's just like every other girl you've ever met. Yet something about her keeps you from brushing her off when she says hello.

The charbroiled patty, with its faint barbecue flavour and red pepper aioli/malt vinegar and tomato relish adornment, conjures up memories of a million chipotle mayo/BBQ sauce addled packages before it. It's not the same as those other pub burgers though—it's better. From the beer-braised onions, to the island raised highland beef patty—everything at Spinnakers is done just a little better than how its done at similar island pubs.

The aforementioned patty is juicy enough to allow a couple of grease globules to drip onto your plate, and is seasoned subtly enough to let you appreciate the superior tasting beef. The thing that really ties it all together though is the bacon; the wide-bodied slices offer the flavour needed to allow the herbed kaiser roll and its contents to live in harmony. The bacon is definitely an essential add-on here: the burger would be fine without, but you'd certainly sense it was lacking something.

VERDICT:
A step above the rest, and another sign that using Vancouver Island beef in your burgers is far from impossible.

Sunday, June 28, 2009

Information Needed: Big Bob Burger, Bob's Restaurant, Duncan

If anyone has a recent picture of the Big Bob Burger from Bob's Restaurant in Duncan, please leave it in the comments. I'm trying to figure out if it's worth a trip.

Thanks.

Wednesday, June 24, 2009

Victoria News "Best of the City" Not Quite as Infuriating as Last Year

Black Press has once again announced its "Best of the City" list, and "Best Burger" is once again a key category. Winners were determined via an open-ballot readers poll.

I now present the three best burger spots in Victoria (according to Black Press):

  1. The Pink Bicycle
  2. White Spot
  3. Red Robin
So Red Robin holds fast at number three, A&W (last year's number two pick) gets mercifully blasted off the list, White Spot falls to number two, and in its first year of eligibility—The Pink Bicycle storms to the top of the list. It's great to see an actual local restaurant get some reader props, but it's still pretty obvious that the average Victoria News reader still doesn't know shit about where to find a good burger in town. Anyway I bitched all about "Best of the City" last year, so I won't bother bitching again.

So Black Press has done their list, howzabout I do a little list of my own. Here's a sampling of my current favourite burgers in the Greater Victoria Area (not necessarily in any particular order):
  1. The Point Burger | Aura Restaurant
  2. Cheeseburger | The Pink Bicycle
  3. Bacon Cheeseburger | Brasserie L'ecole
  4. All Dressed Bacon Cheeseburger | La Belle Patate
And here are the best "cheap eats" burgers I've had recently:
  1. Burger | Pizza All Nite
  2. Cheeseburger | Carnarvon Park
  3. Cheeseburger | Gathering Place
Glo and the Loghouse Pub also remain two of the better burgers I've had in Victoria, but it's been ages since I've been to either place (thus they have been left off this current list). Heckler's Bar and Grill is also a notable burger spot.

There are tons of places I have yet to visit, and no doubt these lists will end up changing sooner rather than later. How about you? Agree/Disagree with the Black Press list or my lists? Let us know in the comment section.

New Vancouver Burger Blog Has Launched

I just noticed today that Vancouver's newest (and I believe only active) burger blog launched last month. Hopefully this new blog ends up having the same integrity of the dearly departed Vancouver Burger Snob Blog, and lasts longer than the Vancouver Hamburger Hunt Blog. The new blog (titled Burger Supremacy) has modeled its style after the Burger of the Month club that was recently profiled in the New York Times. Their first review is of Moderne Burger, a place that Helen and I made some comments on last year.

ps. Yo Burger Supremacy, let us know if you're ever in Victoria!

Gathering Place Cafe | 832 Cormorant Street | 250•384•6774

Cheeseburger (w/fries)
$6



Gathering Place Cafe is one of the more unique spots within the pantheon of the Victoria restaurant world. Convenience store/lunch counters may be a dime-a-dozen in Eastern Canadian capitals, but Gathering Place is probably the only place in Victoria that fits into the category. Up front you've got your garden-variety convenience store—complete with Arizona Ice Tea, narrow aisles, and maybe a toothbrush and some foot cream or something. In the back you've got a cluttered coffee counter, keno, seating for twenty, and a bunch of storage material stuffed away in the corner. If there is another place like this in Victoria, I've never heard of it.


The burger here is perhaps as much of an anomaly as the cafe itself. I was fully expecting an offering akin to that of Camosun or UVIC, but oh did I get so much more. Gathering Place defies the odds by serving up a home-made patty on a surprisingly fresh and squishy white roll. The patty is a thick and gelatanous little number that throws quite the textural curveball to your tongue. It's almost as if you're eating a jello-burger salad (albeit lighter on the jello end than your average jello salad). You think to yourself as you take the first bite, "Is this even a burger? Should I think this is disgusting, or awesome?" Well yes it's different, but when you overcome the oddness of the patty—this is a pretty satisfying burger for the price.


In fact, in terms of Chinese-Canadian restaurants, gelatanous patties are apparently quite commonplace. According to friend and colleague Miles Bissky, the vast majority of burger patties found at Chinese/Western restaurants have the same sort of tapioca-feel that the unit served at Gathering Place has. His theory (and I suppose mine as well) is that a little sugar is added to the beef to create the odd and slightly off-putting texture.


Gathering Place tops their patty with a slice of American cheese, a mixture of mayo and green relish, and the usual vegetable suspects. This mix, and the freshness of the white roll used to house everything, manages to downplay the bizareness of the burger patty. As much as I feel like I should hate this burger because the patty barely resembles anything remotely conventional... I just can't. This burger is weird as hell for people (like myself) who aren't accustomed to the anomalies of Chinese-style burgers, but fuck if it wasn't a pretty good tasting deal for six bucks.

VERDICT: The needle exchange is gone. The crazies have all moved a block over. Stop being a pussy and give this place a try: there's no other dining experience in Victoria like it.

ps. A quick note on the diverse clientele that frequent this establishment: no one else was in the cafe when we first sat down, but we were soon joined by a few other thrify diners. Most notable among the bunch were an ederly asian man and a 20-something effeminate looking dude who were dining together. The elder gentleman was waxing poetic about Tommy Douglas as the younger man looked totally bored. It was great people watching.

Monday, June 22, 2009

Island Burger News (Slightly Off Topic): Comox Considers Drive-Thru Ban

The City of Comox is having a little jaw-fest over whether or not to deny the chance of any new drive-thrus being built in the community. A drive-thru ban was recently rejected by North Vancouver City Councillors in March. Lots of other communities across the country have discussed drive-thru bans too. We're already pretty much bereft of drive-ins in most corners of the island. Losing drive-thrus (even though they are mostly attached to fast-food outlets) would no doubt have a negative effect on island burger culture.

Monday, June 15, 2009

Parliamentary Dining Room | 6 500 Belleville Street

"Assembly Burger"
$9.25


As Times Colonist readers already know: I recently took a trip to the Legislature Cafe. During said trip I experienced the joy of having a waitress hang over me like wet laundry—asking every 3.2 seconds, "how's the burger?" Well I'm about to tell you—but first let me mention a couple other highlights from my recent trip to the legislature cafe.

Highlights:

1) Listening to an excited waiter named Mur gush about his upcoming Fringe Fest play "L.U.S.T." (it's about love and school and the audience are all students at this love school). Word is "L.U.S.T." is going to blow the roof off Victoria, and give the local theatre scene something it's in dire need. If the kitchen staff at the Ambassador Cafe had a passion for burgers similar to this man's passion for risque theatre... well who knows what could happen.

2) The TC reporter I was dining with (Amanda Ash) must have dumped at least three tablespoons worth of ketchup on her burger. I think she actually put more ketchup on her burger than she did on her fries.


Review time now:

Not much to say here: you've got a frozen B&C patty which the cook envelopes in cheddar cheese, mushrooms and bacon to try and mask the dryness of the meat. The bun (a nice, simple, chewy white kaiser with crisp, buttery edges) is adorned with something called "Lass Sauce". I assume the "Lass" in the name is short-form for "Legislative Assembly": cute yah? I wonder if they have "Hansard Homefries" on the breakfast menu? Maybe "Press Gallery Poached Eggs"? Anyway; the "Lass Sauce" isn't very notable and doesn't really add much to the package. Bottom line: it's a cafeteria burger that tastes like a cafeteria burger.

VERDICT: You know what's easier than trying to cover up a lacklustre frozen patty? Using a good fresh patty.