Tag Archives: burgerporn

Beach Bunnies

Right on A1A in Las Olas sits this ocean-side burger and two-for-one giant margarita joint.

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The burger was apparently voted “best in Ft. Lauderdale,” but I’m hoping there are better options out there.

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The burger was good and juicy, but lacked seasoning on the patty itself. It could benefit from more cheese too, perhaps.

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Fries are sold separately, and you can cheese either seasoned curly fries, or sweet potato waffle fries.

The chicken tacos were pretty decent, despite the cheese being your standard bagged/shredded style.

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Teddy’s Bigger Burger

Teddy’s Bigger Burger

This is a Shake Shack / Smash Burger type of joint here in Hawaii. You can order your patties in three different sizes: 5oz (big), 7oz (bigger) and 9oz (biggest). Then you can go double on them if you want.

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For my 5th burger of the trip, I went with a biggest (9oz) burger with American, jalapeños and all the fixings. Take a look:

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It was slightly over medium, but not by much. I liked this burger a lot. It had a good bun (though not potato, or “King’s Hawaiian” as I might have expected), great cheese coverage, and quality toppings.

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On the side we tried the tater tots, which were awesome and crispy, and the garlic fries, which were really overloaded with minced garlic.

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Cheeseburger in Paradise

Cheeseburger in Paradise

Tourist trap? I don’t care. The food and atmosphere were awesome here. You’re right on the fucking pacific.

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In fact when waves roll in hard sometimes you can get sprayed if you’re at a table on the first floor in the back by the windows. There’s a little tiki bar on the second floor, along with a Jimmy Buffet-esque singer/guitarist playing tunes.

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I ordered the classic cheeseburger as my 4th burger of the trip, which came with pepperjack, lettuce, tomato, onion and special sauce on a salt and pepper bun. Really nice looking burger.

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It was cooked perfectly at medium, super juicy and good cheese coverage. The soft bun added a lot of flavor with the seasoning on top. I devoured this thing!

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Drinks were fun here too. I had a Maui lemonade of some sort, which was gin or rum, lemon, soda, and thyme, if I recall correctly.

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L&L Drive Inn

This was a kiosk at the Cannery Mall food court in Maui, Hawaii.

L&L Hawaiian BBQ is a fast food type restaurant that has locations all over the place. There even used to be a location down by NYC’s South Street Seaport, but that has since closed. Anyway, this place has a take on the ramen burger, called the saimin burger, which I tried as burger #3 of the trip.

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It was dry as fuck and hot as fuck, but it was a fun item to try. No cheese, just lettuce and a soy-BBQ type sauce drizzles on. I’d pass on this item unless you really need to try it.

Bully’s Burgers

Bully’s Burgers

This is pure roadside awesomeness. This little shack is an outpost for Triple L ranch, which develops 100% all natural grass fed beef.

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They use a special flavoring, perhaps teriyaki, worked into the grind that gives this shit a really awesome uniqueness. My second burger of the trip was a hit. It may look overcooked, but the cheese and flavor was enough to make it work.

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Check out my wife’s “grilled cheeseburger” as well. This was so gooey, buttery and toasty!

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Cow Pig Bun

Cow Pig Bun

What a fucking weird location for a reataurant. I can understand the brewery being there, as this area is an office park or business park. I suppose people hit this joint for lunch while they’re at work nearby.

The place is like something out of Williamsburg Brooklyn. The decor is corrugated metal, reclaimed wood, filament bulb lighting and industrial meat facility chic.

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The food is great. It’s a small menu, essentially a burger joint with fancy apps and lots of different whiskey and bourbon to sample.

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We tried a flight of flavored whiskey – one was just a blend, then coconut, chocolate macadamia nut, and coffee flavored whiskeys followed. Macadamia nut was my favorite. Sweet and strong.

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We also sampled some of their mixology style cocktails. My wife had an awesome tequila and pho broth based drink, called “Cannibalistic,” and I had a pineapple, lime  and Maker’s called “Butcher Town.” Good shit.

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I ordered the bacon jam burger. This was a potent and powerful burger. The blue cheese didn’t overpower the meat, nor did the bacon, but altogether it was super heavy. I liked it, but I could only put down half (I ate the rest a few days later).

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My wife had a poorly worded sandwich that was called banh mi, but was really more like a pulled pork sandwich. It had pork belly, pulled pork and really nice fois gras butter, but none of the pickled veggies, fish sauce or fresh leafy cilantro that you usually associate with the banh mi flavor profile. In short, it was still good, but not banh mi.

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Along with the drinks, I think the best part of this place is the pork rind chicharones that come with each entree instead of French fries. These morsels were real pig skin fried up to warm, golden, crispy goodness. Amazing.

Cafe O’Lei

Cafe O’Lei

Then it was time for lunch at Cafe O’Lei. This joint is nice inside. It’s on the second floor of a strip mall type group of storefronts right near S&Q’s. There’s a big bar in the center of the restaurant, and some interesting paintings by local artists on the walls:

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Here, I really wanted to try either the prime rib or the roast pork entrees, but they are only offered at dinner time. Instead, I had my first official burger of the trip. It was cooked almost correctly – slightly over medium – but the large helping of ooey-gooey cheddar cheese really took this burger up a notch.

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My wife and I shared a pair of crab cakes. These were sweet, using snow crab meat, fruit and avocado in the preparation. Very nice. Meaty and crispy.

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My wife had the Mahi Mahi fish and chips, which were expertly batter-fried to a light, golden crisp. The fries here were top notch, by the way. Really nicely done.

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Burger King’s Halloween Whopper

My wife and I pulled into a roadside rest stop on our way to a wedding out of town. I figured I would take the opportunity there to try the new Halloween Whopper, with the black bun and A1 sauce.

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You hardcore burger fans might remember that Japan had a similar burger in their Burger King chains recently as well. Anyway, here’s a quick video of my first impressions:

The Halloween Whopper is actually pretty tasty. Just like a regular whopper but with a pungent kick from the A1. And yes – the rumors are true: it actually does make your shit turn green! So I guess that makes it a trick as well as a treat.

Big Daddy’s

Big Daddy’s was running a special for National Cheeseburger Day (9/18): buy one get one free. My wife and I came to sample the wares. The place has a fun throw-back feel to it, with random memorabilia from the 80’s and beyond.

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We started with a Cookie Monster shake, which was vanilla ice cream blended with Oreo cookies. Delicious. It was a little too thick at first, but after about five minutes it was suckable. Just right.

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I had the Big Mac Daddy burger with American cheese. Essentially this has grilled onion, tomato, lettuce, pickle, and special sauce.

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It was cooked nicely to medium, just as ordered. The patty was good, though maybe could use a bit more seasoning. Perhaps one too many slices of tomato. Good cheese coverage, but they should swap out the buns. They were a little stale and crumbly, and my wife’s bottom bun was rock solid – an ass should always have some jiggle, even just a little bit.

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I ordered tots with mine, and my wife got fries with hers. Both were good, but I think we both liked the tots better. They were crispier and had a good crunch.

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BIG DADDY’S
2454 Broadway
New York, NY 10024

Burgers & Cupcakes

NOTE: This place is now closed.

This joint ran a Groupon special that got you two burgers, an order of tries, and two cupcakes for $15. Not bad.

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I went there with “Chicken Sandwich Sam,” a buddy of mine who insists on getting grilled chicken sandwiches on many occasions when we are going out for cheeseburgers. His looked good, but mine looked better:

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That’s beef, baby. With American cheese, lettuce, tomato, pickle and onion. While the bun was small, the burger packed a good amount of flavor. It was fired up correctly to medium and had a good crisp to the patty edges.

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The fries were natural cut steak fries. Not too doughy or greasy, with a nice crisp given the style (these usually aren’t as crispy for some reason). Course salt was a nice touch:

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For my cupcake, I went with marble cake (chocolate and vanilla) topped with a peanut butter frosting. The cake was dry, but the peanut butter frosting was nice, even if it was only just a smear of Jiffy. Not even close to Cake Dealer quality, but the place makes for an interesting concept.

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BURGERS & CUPCAKES
458 9th Ave
New York, NY 10018