something of a ROYAL feast

we have been hearing about the inimitable bobby flay's gift to the philadelphia burger scene in various blogs and newspapers for weeks. and since BOBBY'S BURGER PALACE opened its doors this past tuesday (4/6), foodies and fauxdies alike have been all atwitter.

supposedly the wait time has been averaging somewhere around 1 hour this week, i was fortunate enough to have a quiet day at the office this afternoon and decided to take the trip up to university city to try this newest burger creation out.

:: bobby's burger palace ::
address: 3925 walnut st, phila
what: dallas burger, napa valley burger, B&W milkshake, onion rings, sweet potato fries 

so officially, the line was out the door and equated to about 50 minutes to order food. it was probably <10 minutes for the food to arrive. they give you a number card and you place it in front of you and a server will bring you your burger. fountain soda machine, so that means free refills (and they had fresca!!)

geo and i split the dallas burger and the napa valley burger, onion rings, sweet potato fries, b&w milkshake.

overall, i was a bit disappointed! the meat on the burger itself was great; very flavorful and a good size, but the toppings (at least that we ordered, weren't stellar). important note: here they say the default temp on the burger is "pink in the center" and boy do they mean it. unlike 500 degrees where their medium rare is really a medium temp, at bobby's burger palace be prepared for an authentically medium rare preparation unless you tell them otherwise.

dallas burger: burger + bbq sauce + coleslaw + monterey jack cheese + pickles
i was sooooo excited for this burger. this was the reason i wanted to go to bobby's burger palace, but the toppings were just all MEH. the coleslaw, while providing good crunch, was flavorless! the pickles were the brightest flavor and despite my love for pickles, that is not ideal. i didn't really taste too much of the bbq sauce either. though disappointing, i'd try this again. after i try others.

napa valley burger: goat cheese + meyer lemon honey mustard + watercress
i normally love love love goat cheese, but did not like this burger. at all. didn't eat more than a few bites of it. it was heavy on the goat cheese, light on the watercress and who knows what the actual ratio of honey mustard is normally.
what i mean is, when they say watercress, they mean like 2 sprigs of it, so it may as well have been left off. AND as it turns out, they did leave the honey mustard off of our burger. sigh. i guess since their staff is still new, they are experiencing some growing pains - they completely forgot the mustard. which we didn't realize until a few bites in. i wouldn't recommend this.

*sidenote to the growing pains part, they accidentally brought out 2 to-go orders of sweet potato fries so we had those too. fortunately, that gave me more than enough to bring back to the office to share with soopah and chiho.

sweet potato fries with horseradish honey mustard
hands down, best sweet potato + condiment combination i have ever had. fries were crispy but substantial enough to have good tension. the horseradish honey mustard is AMAZING. i want to have this with me ALL. THE. TIME. it was just so interesting with that spicy kick and very slight hint of sweetness.

black and white milkshake
i only had a few sips of this, but it was made from real hard ice cream so it tasted really really good.

beer battered onion rings
HUGE rings. and THICK. these were like an inch high! that is crazy for an onion ring. but the batter tasted good and was not too thick. crunchy delish.

sante fe burger: queso sauce, jalapenos, crushed blue corn tortilla chips
brought one of these back for soopah. i will let him comment. i only took one bite of this, but it was better than either the dallas or napa valley burger and that says a lot, especially considering it wast eaten about 30-40 minutes after initial preparation. the good thing for take-out orders is that they wrap the burger in foil so it stayed warm. the queso sauce was TASTY. cheesy and just salty enough. jalapenoes gave much needed kick. and the CRUNCHIFIED-NESS was great. (ps- bobby flay servicemarked that term, crunchified SM).

just as a point of reference, the total cost for 3 burgers, 1 milkshake, 1 soda, 1 order sweet potato fries and 1 order of onion rings was: $38.20.

i would go back here. i have heard others say that the bobby's bleu burger and the miami burgers are unbelievable. definitely go because it's worth a try, but just wait til the hype dies down a bit and you won't have to wait in line for over an hour.   

2nd Round of Goodness

Unfortunately the Trifecta was broken up today due to office distances, but the best part of us breaking up for the day, you get double the pleasure! mmmHHHmmmm! Yeah, that's right!

Sooooo...Here we go...

Location: Franklin Square, 6th & Race

What: Square Burger

Long line...umm....

crap! fuggit!

Two ppl = line waiting FAIL. They ended up bailing bc they had to get back to work by a certain time. boofriggittyhooo!!

Jake and I decide to stay...SUCKAS!!! When we finally get a little closer, we decide we're gonna split everything up and just get one of each bc when we look at the menu we want to try everything.

FINALLY(!!!) we get to place our order after a lil over half an hour of standing in direct sunlight! (I better not get a farmers tan!) The sun was beating down my back making me 'pit out' (not happy)

And now onto the food...and the people who made our food

classic cheeseburger - american cheese, pickles, onions, ketchup and mustard

overall rating - it tastes like a regular burger - absolutely NOTHING special about it whatsoever!

:sadface:

i really think i can make better burgers than what just went into my mouth....actually i KNOW i can....

philly dog - kosher dog wrapped in kosher salami, plum tomatoes, pickles, onions, cherry peppers, mustard

Have to admit that we weren't really excited about it...but then thought about it and we were both like...if we waited this long and for it being our first time...let's go balls to the walls!!!!I am so glad we got this...it really made up for the sad burger that I had just consumed. Salami to hot dog ratio...never tasted anything like it...the salami became one with the hot dog and it seemed like it was a new breed of 'dog!' (haha) Pickles had us confused for a bit that Jake had to go back up to the menu to see what it was that we were tasting. These were bigger chunks than what was in the burger...it was quite pickled garlicky goodness and that "vlasic' type of crunch! haha!

Overall rating - lets go get one right after work!!

Fries - the skinny ones...nothing great..would have liked for them to come out hotter.

"Cake Shake" - We were contemplating on whether or not we should get this...gave in and said fuggit...so the fatties that we are...we get ONE (2 straws..haha)

nice dollop of whip cream on top.....OMNMN!! There were bits of tastycake cake in this friggin shake.......for those of you that know that i'm not a big fan of sweets...umm..i probably may have finished the ENTIRE shake MYSELF!!! I KNOW, right??? The bits of cake were such a pleasant surprise that it kinda just made my day....also, an ENTIRE shake may not have done a pretty one for my tummy!! HAHA (tmi??) Yeah, I don't care!

I would return just for the dog and cakeshake...that's about it....too many kids running around that I wanted to pick them up and throw them in a damn strapped down seat and electric tape their mouths shut!

It's a beautiful day out guys!!

Happy Easter!

raindrops on roses and whiskers on kittens

oh wait, no. raindrops on noses and bacon on burgers. YES, that's better. burgers are one of my FAVORITE things. so, despite the torrential downpour and gusting winds, my band of downtrodden, corporate drones will be trudging over to 500 degree burgers for a tasting of the rouge-inspired burgers and truffle fries.

pics and review to follow.

:: 500 degrees ::
address: 1504 sansom st, phila
so we arrived and quickly scampered into 500 degree burger, seeing shelter from the unrelenting rain. the space is on the small side, with only only 2 wooden rectangular tables that could probably seat about 8 max, each. additional seating available with wooden shelf-style ledge along the far wall and along half of the front window.

we arrived at 11:55am, and apparently JUST missed the lunch rush because as soon as we put our orders in, a line formed behind us, 17 deep. (i would have snapped a pic of that too, but i was too busy chomping down on my first bite of deliciousness).

okay, now that those details are out of the way... onto the MEAT of this entry:

burger:
what i like so much about burgers is the wide range of flavors and textures that are possible even when using basic burger parts - ground beef, cheese, bun, various veggies. size-wise, this was the perfect burger. i know there are food reviewers lamenting over the portions given, but i thought it was just enough.

   
i ordered the 500 degree burger: bib lettuce, tomato, cheddar, bacon and special sauce. pickles come on the side. the bun was probably about 4-4.5 inches in diameter, and the burger itself was round and about 1.5-2 inches thick. the special sauce seemed to be some sort of infused truffle oil + mayo type concoction. i surprisingly enjoyed this (obvs a surprise since i dislike mayo). added the pickles and a bit of ketchup and went in for the first bite.

the meat was well seasoned and the cheese added nice creaminess. usually lettuce doesn't to much for me, but bib lettuce was a nice, clean, crispy touch. the tomato added a nice slight sweetness, and the pickles added an extra layer of tart to the mix. i ordered this at medium rare temp, which is what is recommended. from the pic, it truly does look medium rare, but i would say that it actually was cooked more to the medium end. 

if i had to criticize this burger, i'd say that the bacon was a bit lost. the burger meat was so thick that the burger to bacon thickness ratio left something to be desired; you almost forgot there was bacon in the thing. also, you usually expect the bacon layer to exhibit either crispiness or chewiness, but i found that this bacon did neither. it may have been because it was so subtle that it was hard to notice, but whatever the reason, i say, MORE BACON, please. 

i am undecided about the bun at the moment. in theory, i liked it... with its fluffy airiness, but thickness that was substantial enough to support this creation. but, if i had to be honest, it wasn't particularly memorable. 

fries:

of course i got the truffle fries. i was expecting these to be very similar to the ones at rouge. however, they weren't identical. for one thing, they don't include the grated parmesan that rouge's offering boasts. but, they were thin and mostly crispy, with that awesome truffle flavor. there were quite a few soggy-ish fries, but i kind of enjoyed the mix of crunchy and soft fries - made it a bit more interesting. but that's just me.

my coworker ordered the spicy fries, which are accompanied by a spicy sauce that tastes very much like a spicy chipotle remoulade. i liked - it is definitely worth a try - assuming that your friend or burger devouring partner in crime orders the truffle fries and is willing to share those with you. 

milkshake:

i did not order this because i dislike shakes. HOWEVER, they have vanilla, chocolate or black and white shakes and the good thing is that they are made from real hard ice cream, not soft serve. i have been told this makes all the difference. so i will defer to the milkshake experts on this. 

OVERALL

all in all, i'd say 500 degrees is totally and definitely worth a, or many, return visits. the burger establishment i'd say is the most comparable alternative would be five guys - these places clearly fall in the same category of burger purveyors. the 500 degree burger is meatier and i'd say it feels more "made to order," whereas sometimes five guys burgers can tend to feel/taste mass produced. the five guys burger feels greasier than the 500 degree burger. and definitely, 500 degree fries ftw over five guys. 

let's go again!