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Vancouver, BC, and Western Canada Burger Club


Ling

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I believe these are the rules :biggrin: :

The first rule of Burger Club is that no one talks about Burger Club

Burger Club does not does not allow toppings that detract from the burger. Cheese is allowed. Ketchup is allowed. Bacon is not.

Fries can be taken into consideration when identifiying the best restaurant but not the best burger. "Burgers are burgers and fries are fries.

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I have some interest in participating. My son (14 years old) also see's himself as a burger afficianado so he may be interested as well. Will we actually meat ( ha ha) somewhere and taste the offending sandwich or will we go it alone? I hope that lettuce and tomato are viable options.

Coops burger influences: In and Out still number one. Vera's

West Van, 70's Fresgo Inn and golf course bar burgers.

David Cooper

"I'm no friggin genius". Rob Dibble

http://www.starlinebyirion.com/

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These toppings are not Burger Club. Feel free to have a social club though, and have any toppings of anything off the menu for that matter. If you have a Burger Club, you must have a burger where the first thing you taste is the burger. Bison does not count, nor do turkey or veggie. Lamb is totally out of the picture.

If you want bacon or anything elst that detracts from the taste of the burger, taste the burger plain or with a low key cheese, make your notes if you like, and then pile of the stuff. :smile:

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Although I have never had a burger I liked at Burger Heaven, I think they are worth consideration, as I have heard others say they love the place. As for Wally's thier best days were in the 60's, I went there a few years ago and it was as bad as can be. Besides thier fame came from thier bacon burger which I believe is off limits. I agree with Elyse this should be a burger tasting otherwise the focus will be lost. If we allow Lamb then we must allow Tuna, follow me here people, it's a slippery slope, the thin edge of the wedge ( wow 2 cliches back to back). I do advocate swallowing after we chew though, there is no need to spit, we are not wine tasters.

Let's not let this loose momentum though, let's pick a place to start (Moderne would be my suggestion) and a date as well as some criteria and make it happen.

David Cooper

"I'm no friggin genius". Rob Dibble

http://www.starlinebyirion.com/

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Here's the 411 on Moderne

Moderne Burger - 2507 West Broadway,

Vancouver, B.C. (604) 739-0005

Hours: Noon to 9:00pm seven days a week

Closed holiday Mondays

www.moderneburger.com

Okay, burger ringleaders, pick a time and date! :cool:

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I beleive this thread is the Hamburger Club thread, it has some tradition within this board having started in New York. It seems like a good place to start for the Vancouver board. If it is truly to be a Hamburger Club we should set some parameters for thier comparison. My sons and I have had the Wagyu Beef burger at West, it is very good, is this the type of thing we are interested in? what about fish, and fowl, and lamb, and ostrich and tofu?

You can have a wine tasting of a sample of all the wines in the world, what conclusions could you draw? They are all wet. The truly successful tastings have some sort of parameters and limitations, so should we. Where they fall should be decided quickly and fairly. I vote for beef with traditional garnishs to include, mayo, ketchup, mustard, lettuce, tomato and traditional cheese.

David Cooper

"I'm no friggin genius". Rob Dibble

http://www.starlinebyirion.com/

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I vote for beef with traditional garnishs to include, mayo, ketchup, mustard, lettuce, tomato and traditional cheese.

I think everything you listed is fine, except for the cheese. I think the cheese would detract from the taste of the meat. (I vote for beef burgers only, too.)

Cheeseburger-lovers can always add on their cheese after the initial bite or two.

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Beef burgers only. Cheese like cheddar, American, Swiss, etc, can be moved over, but things like Boursin will seep into the meat and complicate the palate. Make sense?

There are no spit buckets in Burger Club. If there were, how would you know if you got food poisoning? :biggrin:

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Will anyone bring a digi cam so we can take some pictures?

On the evaluation form, there are spaces for the burger height, weight, and thickness. I guess we will be estimating those? Or should we bring a ruler and scale... :laugh: The NYers estimated the height, weight, and thickness of Molly's burgers as no one brought a ruler or a scale. I guess we could just ask the ppl at Moderne how many oz. their burgers are.

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Hello everyone, I just got back from tonight's Vancouver Burger Club (VBC) meet at Moderne Burger. It was nice to have met all of you. I thought that I would post some pictures of the night while Ling was tabulating all the score sheets :biggrin:.

So this is where it all took place:

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Located at 2507 West Broadway, (604) 739-0005

Here is the menu:

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This is the chef hard at work making the our burgers on the grill:

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Here is a picture of our burger platter:

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and the burger but in half:

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Here are a couple pictures of Ling eating away (perks of being the photographer is that no one can get candid shots of you :raz:):

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Well thats it for the pictures, well kind of, I have 2 more pictures. One candid one of Redhead and her husband and one candid one of Coop's son. I'll only post them after I get permission from them :wink:.

broken
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MODERNE BURGER

2507 W. Broadway

Date: Wednesday, October 29th, 2003

The average time it took for the burger to arrive after ordering: 15 minutes

Most of the burgers arrived medium-well/well-done.

Toppings include:

-sliced red onion

-sliced tomato (I had 3 on my burger)

-romaine lettuce

-mayo

-black olive (skewered onto the bun)

-special sauce

-some ordered burgers with cheese, some didn't

Bun: toasted portuguese roll

Burger diameter: about 5 inches

Burger height: about 4 and a half inches

Here are the tabulations:

BURGER

Juiciness 3.6

Freshness 4.3

Texture 4.1

Saltiness 2.6

Quality 4.7

Doneness 3.9

Browning 4.2

Molding 3.9

Greasiness 3.3

Temperature 3.1

BUN

Toastiness 3.9

Freshness 4.3

Quality 4.1

Seediness 0.3 (everyone rated the bun a "0" for seediness as it had no seeds, but one member rated it a 3)

TOPPINGS

Quality 3.8

Quantity 3.7

MISC.

Aroma 3.6

Sloppiness 3.3

Appearance 3.9

Value 3.4

AVERAGE SCORE 72.6

Edited by Ling (log)
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RANDOM COMMENTS FROM EVALUATORS

-somewhat expensive for a burger

-too messy to eat

-burger was well-done, juicy, unusually salty

-seedless bun (but a good thing)

-too many toppings

-warm on arrival (but not hot)

-way too many fries

-interesting smoky mayo hickory dip (for the fries)

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It was nice meeting you all! Thanks for coming out. Too bad they didn't have a bigger table so we could've all sat together though... :hmmm:

I liked my burger at Moderne, but I didn't think it was incredible. At 8-10% fat, the steak burger wasn't greasy or juicy enough for me. I wish they seasoned the meat, and I would have liked fewer toppings and more meat. I liked the fries and the mayo though. :smile:

Overall, I think they have a good burger at Moderne, but I think there are better ones in Vancouver. :smile:

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Thanks for the pictures Ling!

I have to agree with your assessment of Moderne Burger, good not great. Definitely should have had a little more seasoning, more grease, less fries, and was a bit expensive for what it was.

Overall I think the average we score we gave is pretty much on target (Mrs. 'A' and I both gave it a 67).

On a side note we both kind of smelled like smoky fry dip when we got home, which is not a good thing.

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Wow these pictures and descriptions make me feel like I was there. Wait a minute I think I was.

Ling and Dub thanks for posting everything so quickly. Coop jr and I had a great time. I agree with the overall assesment of the burgers. Oddly enough 3 out of 4 at our table came up with the same 67% score for the burgers. I did notice that there was a lingering salty flavour in the back of my mouth for the rest of the night. I think they were good burgers but nothing exceptional. The pricing seemed a little out of line, however they were busy so thier customers must feel it's fair.

One of the non posters came up with a good idea for our next night, find some where more unknown. I look forward to our next outing.

David Cooper

"I'm no friggin genius". Rob Dibble

http://www.starlinebyirion.com/

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I should mention I was very impressed by how accomadating the staff were at Moderne. They sat us quickly, were very helpful, and comfortably friendly. They seemed to enjoy the fact we were so interested in what they do. I will go back and try their Lamb Burger, with some non Burger Club toppings. I think one order of fries would suit a table of 4.

David Cooper

"I'm no friggin genius". Rob Dibble

http://www.starlinebyirion.com/

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Thanks Ling and Dub for the photos and prompt Burger Results. Although Mr. Redhead was enthusiastic, giving his Moderne Burger with cheddar and bacon a very nice 82/100, I was definitely in the skeptical camp with 69. We weren't asked how we liked the burgers done, and they arrived uniformly brown -- not enough pink in the middle, lacking some juiciness in my opinion. I thought they were a good size, however, and the meaty flavor sure beats your chain burgers by a country mile. Apparently J-Lo and Ben were fans during their Vancouver visit this fall, and I suppose their security detail too, since the tabloid couple sent their staff in to get take-out burgs. My cherry-lime soda was refreshing, not too sweet, floating on a mountain of chopped ice, and it came with a stemmed cherry (Mr. Redhead was disappointed that no one volunteered to do a Twin Peaks-style trick of tying the stem into a knot......) Meeting fellow e-Gulleters was even better than sampling the burger. Where do we go next?

Edited by Redhead (log)
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Wow Ling - thanks for putting this all on the site so quickly. I'm still feeling full & I barely made a dent in those fries! Glad we all seem to be in agreement about Moderne Burger ... I think the best is yet to come.

Was nice to finally meet a few of the Vancouver members, although I hope next time we can find a spot where we can sit together. This weekend I will scope out Red Onion in Kerrisdale to see if it is a worthy candidate.

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Hey,

Sorry I couldn't make it. : ( But two comments:

1. Red Onion = closed for renovations last time I walked by. I might be in the area tonight though, and if so, I will let you know if/when it is open.

2. Lamb burger @ Moderne. I like their steak burger (tried it once a few weeks ago), pretty tasty. Agree with most of the comments above; kind of well-done, lacking additional seasonings, and not nearly fatty enough. But it does have some je ne sais quois taste about it that I think is the beef itself, and I did enjoy that element. Not my usual preference, but good and different than a lot of burgers.

The lamb burger, however, Coop, I would recommend you skip. It is a magnification of the flaws of the steak burger: very dry, not fatty at all, comes quite well done. Pretty standard lamby flavour. All-in-all the steak burger is much superior to my palate. Plus the steak burger has that slightly crumbly, hand-formed feel, whereas the lamb burger was your typical burger brick: uniform, dense, etc.

One more note: their milkshakes are awesome, as is the Cherry Coke and Cherry Lime mentioned, and they have real malt, not the syrup stuff, if you're into that.

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