Vancouver, BC, and Western Canada Burger Club

[mamacat]

The good news is that there's no need for special arrangements to get a sample of the new burger.  Is there still enough interest to plan a special Weeknight Edition of Burger Club before Christmas?

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If it is after Dec. 12th, I'm in!

[canucklehead]

Cut to V, C and D walking down Broadway and entering Cactus Club. Seated by a lovely hostess. Order and receive food - everyone is obviously starting to shed their office stresses. V takes a bite of his burger, goes into Burgasm routine, pauses to wink at the camera, returns to Burgasm.

Cut to Meg Ryan staring at V, then turning to waitress and saying:

MEG

I'll have what he's having.

And starwipe... and scene!

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Dude

It was tough enough to sit through his burgasm in person - I don't need to have it immortalized in celluloid. Now - in my movie I am being fed little bites of the burger by Nigella Lawson...

[Daddy-A]

Y'all have Way too much time on your hands!

So are we actually getting together to try this Turbogasm?

A.

[peppyre]

Wow! You spend the day working and this is what everyone else is doing Thankfully, I really needed that laugh.

All kidding aside... I think it is time that Burger Club reconvenes one more time. This girl needs a burgasm!

edited because my brain was moving faster than my fingers

Edited December 2, 2005 by peppyre (log)

[Vancouver Lee]

I have an idea for something special I'm cooking up....please stand by.

[appreciator]

Fear not, however, as I'll be trying to contact the folks at CC tomorrow to arrange a Burger Club visit for some group burgasms.

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Hmmm. That CC has a "test kitchen" behind it on Ash. Perhaps we can get them to give us the entire test kitchen for a group rate so we don't scare the other patrons

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On the other hand...just think of the marketing opportunity: "if it makes these food snobs THIS happy, just imagine what this burger can do for you!"

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Here's the ad that just ran in my head. Picture if you will...

VanLee cast as an executive who is berating his minions in the board room.

Minion 1 played by Canucklehead leans over to Minion 2 played by Deborah.

CANUCKLEHEAD

Geez, someone could really use a good [sound FX] doing! cookoo! [/sound FX].

DEBORAH

Or maybe just a good Burgasm!

Cut to V, C and D walking down Broadway and entering Cactus Club. Seated by a lovely hostess. Order and receive food - everyone is obviously starting to shed their office stresses. V takes a bite of his burger, goes into Burgasm routine, pauses to wink at the camera, returns to Burgasm.

Cut to Meg Ryan staring at V, then turning to waitress and saying:

MEG

I'll have what he's having.

And starwipe... and scene!

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Heh..... you're missing out on the other major burger fanatics.....

You need to at least have a guest appearance by COOP who was a major player in burger club way back when....

Then of course you've got the whole Mouse Clan..... they could traipse on in just prior to the burgers being served. In keeping with your theme above, perhaps they could all be dressed in leather.

Then..... who could miss out on.....

THE ULTIMATE BURGER CHOW DOWN FACE OFF STARRING Ling and Thoughtbox.

Ding, Ding!

And, someone better try to get a copyright on "Burgasm”, otherwise it’s only a matter of time before that’s snapped up elsewhere.

Edited December 2, 2005 by appreciator (log)

[Vancouver Lee]

Burger lovers everywhere are likely aware that The Rodeo Drive-In is closing in February. "It's just a lousy burger joint", says the owner in today's Vancouver Sun. As you may recall, The Burger Club paid a visit to the Rodeo and our impressions were, well, let's just say I won't be disageeing with the owner's comment.

Moing to the other end of the quality spectrum, as you have probably figured out by now, we're not going to be visiting Cactus Club en mass before the holidays. My apologies for not getting something set up, but my life has been rather upside down of late and organizing a Burger Club outing fell through the cracks.

I will arrange something for January, I promise.

[fud]

At Diner over the weekend one of our group ordered a "burger" but stuffed inside a grilled cheese.

The result was pretty marvellous. The patty is HUGE in comparison to the bread and the size is just right for your mouth. Plus you get that classic grilled cheese flavour mixed with the burger and bacon. Yumm!

Since I didn't really know him that well I refrained from asking for a 'bite' but I will go back to try it. It sounded intruiging and well worth a visit for 'research' purposes.

[cnspriggs]

I just got back from lunch at the CC at Broadway and Ash, and confirmed with them that the Turbo Burger, Burgasm, whatever you want to call it, has now officially replaced the old burger on the menu.  Any burger that is ordered there now is one of the new ones.

Unfortunately, quality control seems to have slipped a bit already.  My bun was not warmed and the burger itself lacked crust and (relatedly) wasn't nearly as juicy as before.

Am I the only one to find that the second time isn't as good as my memories of the first time? 

The good news is that there's no need for special arrangements to get a sample of the new burger.  Is there still enough interest to plan a special Weeknight Edition of Burger Club before Christmas?

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I just got back from a burger dinner at the Cactus Club at Broadway and Ash and I'm pretty sure the regular burgers on the menu are nothing 'turbo' like. I ordered the jd bbq burger and was very disappointed. The patty was less than 1cm thick and was cooked past well done. It was slathered so much tangy smokey bbq sauce that numbed your tongue that there was no taste of beef at all. The bun was ok. White seedless and lightly toasted. Other toppings were pickle, cut lettuce, tomato and mayo. The fries were the thin style nicely salted and mine came hot. I can't say I would be recommending the CC burgers as a must-try burger.

Cheers!

[Daddy-A]

Burgers, Etc. on Hastings @ Gilmore in North Burnaby.

<SNIP>

Only downside ... not open on Sundays.

A belated Christmas present ... Burgers Etc, is NOW OPEN SUNDAYS!

Is it wrong that I'm excited about that?

A.

[makanmakan]

Burgers, Etc. on Hastings @ Gilmore in North Burnaby.

<SNIP>

Only downside ... not open on Sundays.

A belated Christmas present ... Burgers Etc, is NOW OPEN SUNDAYS!

Is it wrong that I'm excited about that?

A.

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a wholeheartedly absolutely not!! i'm with you there!

next question is.....when is the club doing a barge in?

[11son]

Not soon enough.

The place is seriously excellent.

[thoughtbox]

my 2 bits..... ;-).

1. Count me in on the next burger club meeting. I'm on a stomach stretching diet as we speak, and would love to pound back a burger, not to mention everybody elses leftovers. :-). My vote is for Burgers Etc.

2. I'm a tad skeptical over the whole Cactus Club thing. I don't wanna sound like a hater......BUT, I find it hard to believe anything tastey could come outta that franchise joint. I could go on for hours about how I loathe that CC joint(but this is not the time nor the place) Lets give it some time, if the burger is good, we will continue to hear about it, then we can decide to make a trip. But as of right now, I'd rather wolf down one of the burgers at my works cafeteria, and trust me, those things are terrible.

3. FUD....you make a good point about the grill cheese burger. I personally, and it may sound a little off the top, but I think burgers on bread is fantastic. Rare juicey meat, a thick chunk of semi-melted extra aged cheddar, and some delicous fresh bread. Count me in. Plus the bread can hold way more toppings, allowing for the ability to properly layer all your components. I see it right now, square patties. This is a great idea, anybody wanna open a burger shack with me?

[BCinBC]

I see it right now, square patties. This is a great idea, anybody wanna open a burger shack with me?

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I think Dave Thomas beat you to it.

[Vancouver Lee]

Happy New Year, fellow burger lovers!

It's been a while since our last outing, and I wanted to get the word out about the first event of 2006.

As you know, there has been much discussion here about Cactus Club's new burger. As I live literally a stone's throw away from the CC location that is testing this burger, I've managed to try it 4 or 5 times since it first became available. It is truly a thing of beauty.

Final details are still being hammered out, but Cactus Club Executive Chef Julian Bond has offered to host our group at their Braodway and Ash restaurant. Chef Julian will be our host, and will talk about the new burger, the philosophy behind it, ingredients, etc. We'll also be given a tour of the test kitchen and the restaurant kitchen, following which we'll sample the new burger.

We haven't nailed down a date yet, but it will be a Thursday evening between 5 and 6pm, probably in early February. With any luck we'll have the date and time firmed up by the end of this week.

Cactus Club has offered to host this event for us at no cost, and consequently space is limited to 6 people. The only fair way to decide who attends is to draw names at random from those who are interested. We'll do the draw sometime next week (I'll let you know here when the draw is held). Given how few spots are available, we'll put spouses names in the hat seperately. Please PM me if you want to attend, and I'll be sure your name goes into the hat.

With lots of promising new burgers to try, it looks like 2006 is going to be lots of fun for the Burger Club!

[D90]

Could you toss my name in the hat =) pleassse

And why have they limited it to 6 ppl?

[*Deborah*]

[snip]

Cactus Club has offered to host this event for us at no cost, and consequently space is limited to 6 people. 

[snip]

Please PM me if you want to attend, and I'll be sure your name goes into the hat. 

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[Vancouver Lee]

Could you toss my name in the hat =) pleassse

And why have they limited it to 6 ppl?

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Your name is in the hat.

I believe the 6 person cap is due to space limitations in the test kitchen.

[chocomoo]

I went to Fiction on Saturday for my "best burger ever" craving & was utterly disappointed that they had just changed the menu on Monday!! However, they now have "sliders" on the menu, a selection of 3 different mini burgers (so cute!) for $15. I was worried that I wouldn't be full enough from the burgers, but they made for a very substantial meal. There are 3 burgers to choose from: the Classic (my previous favourite, short rib with aged cheddar), the Go Fish (crab & tiger prawn cake with leek & caper aioli), & the Gamer (venison & lamb, double-smoked bacon with sweet jalapeno). Oh and they all came on little grilled brioche buns, with leaf lettuce & roasted tomato.

The Classic

This was actually my least favourite of the three. So different from the last one I had - it was overcooked & kinda mealy.

The Go Fish

Really really good. Nice & moist, with chunks of crab meat in the cake. There were also mustard seeds in it (or some other kind of small round dark-coloured seed).

The Gamer

Also really good! This was the first burger I tried out of the three - at first bite, I couldn't taste the game-y flavour much, but when I compared it to the Classic, what a difference!! The bacon was also sliced nice & wide too Also, regarding the sweet jalapeno & my not being able to handle spicy things:

Me (with tears welling up in my eyes): WOW, this is hot...

My friend: Um, yeah, your face is turning really red...

[Little side note: My friend got the short ribs & was pretty disappointed with them - we're used to short ribs that are robustly flavoured, so these very lightly-flavoured short ribs weren't what we were expecting. The meat itself was very tender though.]

[Vancouver Lee]

Here's the promised details:

Thursday, February 16th, 5:00pm ('til about 6:30)

Cactus Club Cafe

575 West Broadway (at Ash)

Cost = $0.00

Chef Julian will be our host, and will talk about the new burger, the philosophy behind it, ingredients, etc. We'll also be given a tour of the test kitchen and the restaurant kitchen, following which we'll sample the new burger (and a few other items from their menu).

We'll do the draw on February 2nd, so be sure to PM me and get you name in the hat (if you haven't already).

The following people are in the hat (so to speak)

Pez

Fud

Thoughtbox

LemonCurd

ElizR

Mooshmouse

SnackyCat

Canucklehead

300rwhp

Limited time offer. Not available in stores. May cause excessive salivating. Burger may be addicitive - always eat in moderation.

Edited January 20, 2006 by Vancouver Lee (log)

[Vancouver Lee]

The draw for a place at the Cactus Club Burger Tour is being held the day after tomorrow. If you haven't put your name into the hat, send me a PM as soon as possible.

The following names are already in the hat:

D90

Pez

Fud

Thoughtbox

LemonCurd

ElizR

Mooshmouse

Canucklehead

300rwhp

butter

mamacat

BCinBC

Winners will be announced here on Thursday afternoon. Good luck to all!

[jamiemaw]

Lee,

Wonderful of you to organize the Advanced Burger Seminar at CC. Chef Julian Bond is one of the best development and teaching chefs in the business; I was delighted to see him join Cactus Club, which is one of the top CFD chains in the world. He joins the ranks of Michael Noble at Earls (who are rolling out significant menu changes and additions this week), Chris Mills at Joey's Global, and Stewart Fuller at Saltlik. Both Noble and Mills represented Canada at the Bocuse d'Or competition in France.

Before you attend the seminar, may I suggest that you read this? I'm also going to strongly recommend that the six lottery winners for the seminar buy the magazine. In it you will see a colour graphic (not available on the website) that breaks down the costing of the hamburger, ingredient-by-ingredient. From it, I think you'll gain a sense of the fastidious detail that goes into menu item design, and in turn, make your discussion more interesting. Costing, as you'll see, is run to four decimal places.

thoughtbox  [EDIT]  2. I'm a tad skeptical over the whole Cactus Club thing. I don't wanna sound like a hater......BUT, I find it hard to believe anything tastey could come outta that franchise joint. I could go on for hours about how I loathe that CC joint(but this is not the time nor the place) Lets give it some time, if the burger is good, we will continue to hear about it, then we can decide to make a trip. But as of right now, I'd rather wolf down one of the burgers at my works cafeteria, and trust me, those things are terrible.

With respect, I disagree with thoughbox's statement on two fronts: first, Cactus Club restaurants are not franchised; and second, criticizing something you have not evaluated does not make for a qualified opinion.

In writing the article that is linked above, I spent about a year reading service training manuals, wine lists, menus and attending menu test evaluations. I ate in several dozen CFD retsurants in Western Canada, the UK and the US. Over time I developed an enhanced respect both for how meticulous the chains cited in the article source ingredients (Earls has had an organic greens program for over a decade; their wine list is one the best value lists I've ever seen, anywhere). Ditto for local CFD's service and and cook training programs, cleanliness and design, among the other requirements for running retail operations that now regularly rack-up over $5 million in per-store sales.

My end opinion is that many of the chains incubated in Western Canada, especially Earls, The Keg, Cactus Club, Saltlik, Joey's, and Milestone's, lead their category worldwide and for good reasons: nobody who does it faster does it better, and the reverse.

I can also report, however, that I'm not as excitied as you might think about eating another chicken wing again, ever.

Edited January 31, 2006 by jamiemaw (log)

[Vancouver Lee]

The lucky winners are:

Pez

Mooshmouse

Butter

Tarteausucre

Mamacat

ElizR

And I drew a 7th name in case someone has to back out at the last minute - that's BCinBC.

A reminder:

Thursday Feb 16th at 5:00pm

Cactus Club Cafe

575 West Broadway (at Ash)

Please don't be late. If you are, we'll have to start without you as we have to be out of the kitchen before the dinner rush.

[Vancouver Lee]

Before you attend the seminar, may I suggest that you  read this? I'm also going to strongly recommend that the six lottery winners for the seminar buy the magazine.

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It was the first article I read after the issue arrived in my mailbox.

Jamie's right - it's excellent background for our visit to Cactus Club.

[eatrustic]

Might I suggest that at least one of the fortunate six drops by CC for an incognito version of the same burger as a reference point before the special night. ....just to see the difference between the burger made by a $10hr guy vs a six figure exec. chef bent on impressing.

Is seems that there has been a fair amount of up and down in the quality of the new burger since Jamie first waxed poetic about it and I wonder if they have managed to straighten things out a bit. This goes to the heart of the discussion about training and more training that is supposed to be the hallmark of CC, Earls etc.