Jeremy Chase

I haven’t been to Publick House in a year, but I used to go frequently. Their food was always great so I had high hopes that their burger would come out as the top of Boston Burger Review. Emily also ordered a burger so I’ll include her thoughts as well.

The Publick House in Brookline has a strong beer selection and I grabbed a great English Pale Ale. I had hoped they would have something out of a cask, but nada, and the EPA I got was out of a bottle. In any case I loved it.

I ordered a medium rare burger with lettuce, tomato, and mayo. Not long after I was greeted with a handsome plate with a mound of steak fries and a nice looking burger. I was happy to see they put the mayo on the side. The fries were thick and hot; I loved them. Emily felt they were “burnt”, and I must concede that they were cooked pretty dark. That didn’t affect my enjoyment, however.

The bun was toasted perfectly, and I loved the flavor. The lettuce and tomato were both sub-par looking, but in fairness to Publick House we were dining at 10:15pm on a weeknight. Still, the veggies did bring the overall effect of the burger down considerably.

The burger itself was fried perfectly to a medium rare, and the flavor had a rich buttery flavor. While the patty wasn’t grilled I felt this patty represented the pinnacle of fried burger perfection. Emily disagreed and she felt the meat didn’t have great flavor and that the buttery essence was too strong.

I wanted the Publick House burger to really shine, but their execution kept them out of the top echelon. The wet vegetables, fried patty, and questionable service all detracted.

I rate Publick House:

Jeremy Chase

I’m not sure any burger review can be complete without sampling from good old McDonalds. On second thought I’m sure that any self respecting burger lover would avoid such a burger, but I like food too much.

I ordered my Big N’ Tasty medium rare, but I think that detail was lost on them. Before long I was greeted with a familiar cardboard box in a paper bag. I dove into the fries and was pleasantly met with hot salty goodness. These fries were better than B-Good, Sunset, and IHOP. Unfortunately for McDonalds the fries don’t really factor into my star rating.

The burger itself was fresh out of the microwave, and the toppings were appropriately wilted. The tomato and lettuce had no flavor and no crunch. The patty was well fried, 2 hours earlier. The bun may have been 20 years old, but it tasted just as fresh due to it being more than 95% preservatives.

I rate the Allston McDonald’s Big N’ Tasty:

Jeremy Chase

PS: I didn’t actually order it medium rare..

Today I made a quick trip to b-good to see what they were all about. They have more burgers than I knew what to do with because I prefer the standard burger. It took me a minute to figure the menu out but I ordered and moved on.

I ordered the usual: a medium rare burger. My burger came medium-well, but with a good flavor. The bun was decent, and the fries were good and hot. The tomatoes were not up to par however, and overall I wasn’t that impressed with the burger. It was good, but nothing to write home about.

Overall I rate the Brookline b-good:

Jeremy Chase

This burger review moves significantly up the food chain; to a restaurant with “Grill” in the title. The Sunset Grill & Tap has 112 beers on tap, and I somehow managed to order something that came in a bottle. Fate? I think so, because the Viking something or other Imperial Stout was great.

Ok, so onto the burger. The price was very reasonable, but they up sell you if you want fries. I choose the fancy sweet potato fries, and I wasn’t disappointed. They came warm, not hot, but very tasty.

As always I ordered my burger medium rare, and I found the burger cooked to perfection. I say cooked because despite the advertised “grill” in the restaurant title the burger was absolutely not grilled. I’d say it looked fried in some way, but they say it is “steamed” (pending investigation), the burger was still very good. The toasted bun had a great flavor, and the lettuce and tomato were fresh. The meat was quite juicy, and had a rich flavor. Unfortunately the juice did seem to take its toll on the bun, and I found that the bottom was a little more than moist.

I even have a photo courtesy of Emily House:

All in all I had a great experience at the Sunset. The service was perfect, and I was more than happy with the burger. I’m not going to rate this burger as high as it could have been because the burger wasn’t grilled, the fries weren’t blistering hot, and the bun was a little juicy.

I rate the Sunset Grill & Tap burger:

Jeremy Chase

OK.. If you know me in real life you know I love burgers. I’ve often thought about making a Boston Burger Review blog, but I have trouble keeping up with one blog, let alone two! So I’m just gonna post away

So I’m starting this out with an unlikely choice, IHOP. For those of you unfamiliar IHOP stands for International House of Pancakes, and they are known for their breakfast ‘food’. Normally I’d get pancakes but last night I was in the mood for something more substantial, and I spotted some other food goer eating one. I quickly ordered a medium-rare cheeseburger with french fries.

Fairly quickly a fine looking plate was put in front of me, good enough looking that I wasn’t jealous of Emily’s pancakes. I always start with the fries because I like them hot, but unfortunately these fries were already lukewarm. They also were dry and reminded me of the bad fries you buy frozen at the super market. I would have preferred the super market ones, certainly if they were tatter tots.

So, on to the burger! I was feeling frisky so I ordered it with mayo and cheese, which I normally find excessive. Anyway, the burger was more medium-well and of the pan seared variety. Not particularly juicy nor flavorful but decent in both regards. I must say I fully enjoyed the burger.

I guess I am going to use a scale of 5 stars, and I rate the Harvard Square IHOP Cheeseburger:

Jeremy Chase