Sherman's Food Adventures: Burgers Etc...

Burgers Etc...

I had first visited Burgers Etc. over a year and a half ago. Back then, I had stated that I would love to return to try their BBQ meats since Viv and I only tried the burger and brisket sandwich. Funny how it took us so long to pay them another visit! Looks like other food got in the way first... Well, we really didn't plan on a return visit actually. However, after a full day of my daughter's birthday, we were not wanting to cook or take care of the kiddies anymore. Lucky for us, the grandparents took 'em and we could go out for a bite. Since Rich Guy was at the party already, he had initiated the idea of eating out. Originally, I was thinking of Indian food; but Viv wanted BBQ instead.

Burgers Etc. is a really small joint that slightly resembles any Memphis Blues location. In fact, it serves up many of the same items including sharing platters. Yet, their one claim to fame are there burgers which were voted as the best by CTV News viewers. With that in mind, Rich Guy was determined to give their "Best" Burger a go. As described, it consists of a 6 oz ground chuck steak cooked medium well with the usual condiments. It comes with a choice of corn niblets, potato salad, coleslaw or baked beans. From past experience, stay away from the niblets, it's just boiled generic corn. Much like last time, the burger was pretty good. The homemade patty was moist and had good beef flavour. All the ingredients were fresh, not much to complain about. Is it the best? It's up there; but there is better.

Burger, been there, done that. We were here to try the Etc. Platter which is comprised of Beef Brisket, Pulled Pork, BBQ Chicken, BBQ Ribs, Spicy Italian Sausage and Spicy Chicken Wings with a choice of 3 sides. We decided on the Potato Salad, Fries and Baked Beans. The best part of the platter is the pulled pork. It's actually quite moist while still retaining a slight chew. The BBQ sauce is more tangy tomatoey rather than smokey. Unlike Memphis Blues, the brisket here is not fall-apart tender. Rather, it very much resembles the brisket you'd get in Vietnamese Pho, except chewier. I personally prefer the one from Memphis (dry, burnt parts withstanding) over the one here. To me, the spicy sausage was fantastic. Meaty and easy on the fat, the sausage was moderately spicy with great meat flavour. The ribs are very similar to the ones at Memphis. Slightly dry with most of the moisture provided by the sauce, these are moist, just not juicy. As for the BBQ chicken, we got 2 portions of white meat. For me, that means dry and chewy. Yup, that's how it turned out. I fully expected it to be so though. The spicy chicken wings were not really that spicy (but we have a high tolerance for that). They were your typical BBQ wings.

Previously, I thought the fries here were not very crispy and generic. Well, they are still generic; however, they were very crispy this time. We liked the texture of the potato salad, too bad it was bland. The baked beans also had good texture as each kidney bean retained its shape. Mostly sweet and lacking depth, the baked beans were not that impressive. As for the coleslaw, that was a real winner with thinly shredded cabbage in a light tart mayo dressing. Much like last time, I'm not sure if the burger is the best in town; but it is indeed solid. As for the BBQ items, I have mixed feelings. Some were good, some were not. But definitely a good value in terms of portion size. Bottom line is - I would come back.

The Good:
- Reasonable pricing
- Solid burgers
- Decent portion size

The Bad:
- Some sides need work
- Some of the BBQ items are pretty average

Burgers Etc. BBQ House on Urbanspoon

2 comments:

Anonymous said...

Local joint, I love it. Could use more variety in the burger toppings too, cant be too hard to have some spicy mayo or guac ready to slap on for 1$ can it?

Sherman Chan said...

You're right, it needs something different to change things up a bit.

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