Vancouver, BC, and Western Canada Burger Club

[D. Peckham]

I had a Vera Burger on Monday and it was great as it always is and I could go for another one right now if I wasn't concered about my weight.

[Mooshmouse]

Even though the lamb burger was pretty much cooked all the way through, the patty was thick and juicy. Delicious!  (I actually think this is the best burger I'd ever eaten in my life!)

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I cannot say enough about how incredibly delicious today's lamb burger was at the HSG. Though I usually eat at the speed of continental drift, the burger disappeared in what seemed like 2.2 seconds flat... and I wanted to bring a second one home for dinner this evening.

Hands down, one of the best burgers I've ever had. You can bet there'll be many more of them in my dining future. Thanks again Neil!

[Vancouver]

I might as well chime in on this one as well. It was a lovely introduction for me to HSG. It will not be my last visit. Delicious lamb burger!!!

Neil, what type of peppers were those mixed into the burger by the way?

Cheers!

[*Deborah*]

Ha, I guess it was an unofficial Burger Club meeting, after all!

My first lamb burger, certainly not my last.

[nwyles]

I might as well chime in on this one as well.  It was a lovely introduction for me to HSG.  It will not be my last visit.    Delicious lamb burger!!! 

Neil, what type of peppers were those mixed into the burger by the way? 

Cheers!

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We just put diced red peppers in there so we can tell them from the beef burgers. Once they are cooked, they really all start to look the same.

N

[Vancouver]

They made a nice visual surprise when biting into the burger.

Cheers!

[jhiroshi]

For those of you contemplating a career change, here's a chance to eat fatburgers everyday:

the last great hamburger stand

James

[montrachet]

For those of you contemplating a career change, here's a chance to eat fatburgers everyday:

the last great hamburger stand

James

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Or at least at their parent company, Ricky's...

[Vancouver Lee]

My apologies, everyone, for taking so long to post. My quick trip to Regina turned into a "leave early, stay late" adventure, and kept me from posting my comments about our evening at Red Onion. The posts above pretty much summed up the experience for me, so I won't waste space repeating what's already been said.

By the time we got to HSG for dessert, I was so full I could hardly even dig into (let alone finish) my gingerbread pudding. I had to take home most of it. But that's OK, my wife was very happy about that.

So, on to Round Two: Vera's on Denman.

Date/Time: April 3rd, 7pm

My understanding is that Vera's isn't the sort of place that one can make reservations - can anyone confirm that? I'll get in touch with the manager there and let them know we're coming, but I'd like to make the event "come one, come all".

Please PM me to let me know you're coming so I can give Vera's an idea of numbers.

[canucklehead]

On FTV's New Classic's - they featured Feenie's burger. And it looks INSANE - chuck burger on top of short ribs meat and topped with Foie Gras!! Plus they had crazy poutine.

I will join the burger club when it hits Feenie's

[butter]

Took me a long time to read this thread to find out if the club had been to Feenie's yet. It looks like it ended at Vera's on Denman??? Anyway, I had the Feenie's Burger on Monday for lunch and like HK Dave, really enjoyed it. Unfortunately, I didn't think my order through...I only have the use of one hand right now and when the burger came, it was huge and definitely either a fork and knife burger or a two-hander. Cut in half, I could see it was raw only in the very centre, about the size of a top of a BIC pen. My husband had to cut it up for me into bite size pieces so each bite didn't always consist of lettuce, tomato, bun, and meat. 4 different condiments are served with it along with fries. It was the juiciest burger I have ever had. The only complaint was I found it slightly salty, but I tend to experience this a lot with restaurant food, and after a few bites I got used to it, the salt didn't overwhelm. The fries seemed similar to the fries at Go Fish, but I would have to compare them side by side to know for sure. I didn't eat very many of them b/c I think I got the bottom of the container as it was mostly bits. I was full anyway. With the warm red of Feenie's, location, good service, huge meat pattie, I thought $12 was a very reasonable price. Burger club could easily meet here and reserve the seats along the wall opposite the bar.

[Vancouver Lee]

Took me a long time to read this thread to find out if the club had been to Feenie's yet. It looks like it ended at Vera's on Denman???

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Vera's is where we're going next, April 3rd at 7pm. And yes, Feenie's is on the list for a future visit.

Glad to hear you aren't letting a little thing like only having one servicable hand getting the way of eating!

[jamiemaw]

Took me a long time to read this thread to find out if the club had been to Feenie's yet. It looks like it ended at Vera's on Denman???

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Vera's is where we're going next, April 3rd at 7pm. And yes, Feenie's is on the list for a future visit.

Glad to hear you aren't letting a little thing like only having one servicable hand getting the way of eating!

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For many years the best hamburger in town was at The Vancouver Club. It was served medium rare with a very juicy centre and the buns were crusty chaps made in the basement bakery. But even private clubs have suffered the increased potential of liability issues (and more expensive insurance premiums) and now it's served medium.

The best hamburger I've had recently in Vancouver was at Heron's at the Fairmont Waterfront. The beef: crusty surface but oozy interior, not unlike superior women.

[Vancouver Lee]

The best hamburger I've had recently in Vancouver was at Heron's at the Fairmont Waterfront. The beef: crusty surface but oozy interior, not unlike superior women.

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Jamie, have you had the portobella mushroom burger at the Fairmont YVR?

[jamiemaw]

The best hamburger I've had recently in Vancouver was at Heron's at the Fairmont Waterfront. The beef: crusty surface but oozy interior, not unlike superior women.

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Jamie, have you had the portobella mushroom burger at the Fairmont YVR?

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No, at least I don't recollect it. Is it a whole portabella in lieu of beef, or is the mushroom sliced and added as a topping? Before you respond though VL, I'd better 'fess up that in our household, we pretty much use portabella/os as replacement hubcabs for our fleet of vintage Fiats.

[Vancouver Lee]

The best hamburger I've had recently in Vancouver was at Heron's at the Fairmont Waterfront. The beef: crusty surface but oozy interior, not unlike superior women.

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Jamie, have you had the portobella mushroom burger at the Fairmont YVR?

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No, at least I don't recollect it. Is it a whole portabella in lieu of beef, or is the mushroom sliced and added as a topping? Before you respond though VL, I'd better 'fess up that in our household, we pretty much use portabella/os as replacement hubcabs for our fleet of vintage Fiats.

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No hubcaps on the "Airport Burger", Jamie, they slice it up and use it as a topping.

[Vancouver Lee]

I'll post my review of Vera's shortly, but before I do, guess what movie my wife was watching on TV when I arrived home? Super Size Me.

After the G-Burger (double meat, double cheese), fries, 2 Boylan grape pops and a double scoop of Mondo gelato, I can not bear to watch.....

[*Deborah*]

My first solid meal after suffering with the flu for five days, and it was a humdinger!

Double double (what the heck was I thinking?) with fried onions and mushrooms, and onion rings, batter-dipped. Delicious, juicy burger, what the doctor ordered, although about twice as much as I was capable of eating

I did manage to squeeze a tiny bit of gelato in across the street at Mondo though

Edited April 4, 2005 by *Deborah* (log)

[Vancouver Lee]

The latest installment of Burger Club visited Vera's on Denman last night. Deborah (with friend - Shannon, I think?), HKDave, Butter, and the Mooshmouse family were in the house.

Just like Deborah I, too, ordered WAY to much food. I had a G-Burger. which is a double patty of meat, two slices of cheese, and a double order of mushrooms. It's a huge burger, but quite good. The patties were cooked a little past where I would have done them at home, but were still just slightly pink in the middle which left them juicy enough to be tasty. The cheese was excellent - nicely melted but still thick enought to taste. I topped mine with ketchup, mustard and relish, and regret not choosing pickles as well - all that meat and 'shrooms needed something sweet to balance them.

Fries were exactly as I like them - nice and soft (that's not to everyone's liking, I know). The onion rings that I sampled from Deborah's order were fantastic, although they did have me scanning the room for a portable defibrulator.

Here's what it looked like:

I washed everything down with two Boylan Grape sodas, and topped the meal off with gelato from Mondo.

Many thanks to Olivia and Matt from Vera's for their hospitality.

For next month's burger club, we're heading to the North Shore. Sunday May 1, 7pm, at Brown's on Lonsdale.

[butter]

I had a G-Burger. which is a double patty of meat, two slices of cheese, and a double order of mushrooms.

Why doesn't Lee's burger have any tomatoes or lettuce? Because, as he replied to me, "I want a burger, not a salad." I ordered the Vera's Burger with hot sauce, tomato, lettuce, pickles, ketchup, and mustard with a side of heart clogging onion rings (very delicious). I should have taken a photo b/c I think mine looked more delicious than Lee's, less sloppy with more colour. My bun wasn't torn up like his was. Charred on the outside and slightly pink inside. For the price ($5 something) I would rate it better than Feenie's although the patty was smaller. I also like the way they wrap the burger with paper so you can eat it holding onto the paper instead of the bun. The place was full and service was fast. I'll let Dave tell you about what made us laugh before leaving Vera's. BTW, Lorna, where were you?

[Ling]

^I had a paper due today. So sorry I missed it!

[Daddy-A]

^I had a paper due today. So sorry I missed it!

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OMG! You mean there's something in this world that can drag Ling away from the dinner table??

Why doesn't Lee's burger have any tomatoes or lettuce? Because, as he replied to me, "I want a burger, not a salad."

Ha! A burger NEEDS some form of vegetation. It's a Ying/Yang thing. Balance ... that and the juice of the tomatoe adds to the moisture of the patty IMO. And no Lee, onion rings do not count as veggies

A.

[Mooshmouse]

I'm finally getting enough blood flow through my carotid arteries to make a post.

Here's a couple of shots showing last night's dinner: a Vera Burger in all its glory. Provalone, bacon, fried onions and BBQ sauce. But, because I'm a toppings freak, I added ketchup, dijon, lettuce, tomato, pickles, roasted garlic and fried mushrooms. I'm no burger purist, but I'm not a hypocrite about it!

Before

And After (the first few bites, that is)

Burger nirvana. Juicy, flavourful, decidedly unmessy with the paper wrapper as noted by butter. One of the best burgers I've had anywhere. Though I didn't get a shot of it, Ian declared his Lamb Burger with blue cheese to be outstanding. And our Boylan's Grape Sodas were the perfect nostalgic pairing.

There were three baskets of fries and two baskets of beer-battered onion rings floating around the table. Both were great. Fries were a shade under-browned for me, though the ones at the bottom of Lee's basket were perfect, with just the right amount of salt. Not too high on the grease quotient either, but the onion rings compensated for that. As I overheard one of the counterstaff saying to another customer, I'll have to try a side of Vera's Sauce as dip on my next visit.

Somehow managed to shoehorn in two scoops of Mondo Gelato to top off the evening's cholesterol festival. What the heck. Go big or go home!

On behalf of these fine folks, signing off until the next installment of Burger Club at Browns.

[Vancouver Lee]

Why doesn't Lee's burger have any tomatoes or lettuce? Because, as he replied to me, "I want a burger, not a salad."

Ha! A burger NEEDS some form of vegetation. It's a Ying/Yang thing. Balance ... that and the juice of the tomatoe adds to the moisture of the patty IMO. And no Lee, onion rings do not count as veggies

A.

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I agree, but I've usually gone for pickles or lots of relish to provide the Ying to the meat-cheese-bun Yang. But my bite of Moosh's AWESOME BBQ burger got me thinking I'll try having a salad on my burger next time.

If I can eat horse, surely I can give lettuce and tomato a shot!

Onion rings don't count as veggies???? Sheesh - next you'll try and tell me that ketchup doesn't count as a vegetable, either.

[Zucchini Mama]

Rink Burgers

An article in the Globe and Mail last week described the hangover that Greece is suffering after hosting the Olympics. Many of the buildings were made in such a rush that they are already falling apart, and need tons of cash to make them functional in the long term. The bottom line is they are left with a lot of ailing white elephants and one person wishes they used all that money to plant trees instead. Buyer beware I say. What are Vancouverites going to do with buildings like a mega-curling rink? I love curling as much as the next prairie gal, but when it come to the choice between throwing a few rocks and walking around the seawall, guess which form of exercise I'm gonna choose? I may stop by for a rink burger, though, which is where Vancouver's best burger may just be hiding. I don't know.

All I know is when I was in high school every time I went inside the heated part of the rink to tighten the laces on my figure skates, the smell of frying burgers and caramelized onions made me drool all over my blades. After reading the burger club thread I became a bit nostalgic for the rink burgers of my past. I don't eat beef burgers much since I spent a year in England and Scotland during the mad beef crisis, and also since burgers have become less and less tasty in recent years. I grew up with hangar beef (if you call my neighbour's yard a hangar), and the industrial grain fed stuff leaves me cold. I' m also nervous about e-coli, BUT let it be known that the worst case of food poisoning I ever had was from a VEGGIE burger eaten in Vancouver, (and if you buy me a glass of bubbly, I'll tell you which bar it was). I suspect it was e-coli from improper handing of raw meat on the countertop. I was really sick.

Anyway, today I saw a lovely burger on page 84 of Jan. 2004 Bon Appétit magazine, and I decided tonight was burger night at Chez Zucchini. Inspired by BA, I decided to make a jus out of the leftover duck bones from yesterday's duck rissotto which my partner made. I bought 3 giant buffalo burgers ($6.60) from Windsor meat. I notice less people seem to be promoting the old "beefalo" mix. According to the last issue of Canadian Geographic the majority of buffalo has been kissin' cousins to cattle for so long, there are very few "pure" bison left in Canada. After I left the butcher shop I bought Uprising Bakery whole wheat burger buns from Mainly Organics, and $2.25 worth of portabelllo mushrooms from EastWest Market. Tognina's Deli had a chunk or gorganzola for four bucks, so I was set. I always just bake our burgers, turning them once or twice, in a high oven until the juices run clear. I toasted the buns, topped the burger patty with the gorgonzola, caramelized onions and fried mushrooms and poured some of the duck jus on top. The side dishes were what I call no-brainers: baked sweet potatoes and salad. We had been given a lovely gift of the Bonny Doon 2003 Vin Gris de Cigar (P calls it "The closest thing to a Tavel that is not a Tavel"), so that was our wine. The verdict? Skip the jus-it was lost in the mélange, but otherwise, a decadent, satisfying meal. My partner became misty-eyed for the cafés around Broadway and Main that used to sell good burgers. "That was before the coffee shops took over". Well...seems burgers are served with a side of nostalgia at our house. We usually go Greek and eat the lamb burgers from Choices about once every two weeks-served with tsatsiki, feta, and tomatoes.

Some day soon I've got to strap on my skates again and do a Dutch waltzes to work off all that meat!

Happu Hunting, Burger Club!

Zuke