I love hamburgers and I have been trying to locate the best hamburger in Calgary. I had known about CHARCUT's alley burger phenomenon for a long time but I was never able to attend due to my work hours. For those not in the know, CHARCUT is a restaurant across from the Calgary Tower and offers a "local chef driven, uban rustic cuisine". With all those ambiguous buzz words, you know the foodies are all over it. Whereas the everyday Joe I talk to has never heard of it. The alley burger was something you had to hear word of through twitter or facebook. You had to line up in an alleyway in back of CHARCUT at the designated time with droves of foodies and wait to be included in the head count so that you may get your $5 hamburger. Luckily, with the repressive food truck bylaw removed, CHARCUT has brought the alley burger to the streets. With all the hype I had absorbed from the foodie community concerning these alley burgers, I set forth on a mission to see how they fare amongst the hamburger kingdom.
 |
| The original Alley Burger. |
I first tried the original alley burger, since that is what the original hype was all about... before the advent of the food truck hype. I am still skeptical about the food truck hype. "Hype" apparently has a price tag on it, and there is a lot of it when it comes to food trucks. Fortunately, I was impressed with my alley burger. A local garlic and pork sausage patty, with bacon, cheese curds and chimichurri aioli. The flavours worked together really well, and it was a very tasty burger. My only mistake was getting a double. Props to you if you can handle a double... there was a little too much sodium and fatty meat for me. But one patty would be delightful. I also ordered some fries, which came in a paper bag. There are various flavours of salt offered, which you can dump into your paper bag and shake up with your fries. Very good.
Now, my thinking was this: if AlleyBurger makes such an awesome novelty burger, then their regular hamburgers are probably awesome too. They refer to them as "whole truck burgers", and you can pick what toppings you want from the order sheet provided by the window. Basically you select whether you want an alley burger or a whole truck burger, how many patties, what toppings, and which sides. This time I went for a single, and to hold the bacon. I wanted cheese, mustard, chimichurri aioli, pickles and tomato.
When I got my burger, it was a mixed blessing. I guess the option to circle or not circle bacon is a rhetorical question... as my burger came with bacon anyway. Also, circling mustard will do you no good. There is mustard and ketchup on the counter that you can apply for yourself. So what is the point of the order sheet?! The only real freedom of choice I felt I had was the addition of tomato and pickle to a burger that was otherwise dressed exactly like the original alley burger. I was expecting cheddar cheese but got cheese curds. The lonely strip of pickle was lost in the sizeableness of the burger. But it was a sizeable, structurally sound burger, and the flavours played together quite well, just like they did with the alley burger.
The burger was a nice package, requiring a two handed grip. Very comforting. There was one problem. And this is a very big problem, in my opinion.
The patty.
The circumference was plenty. It was a little thin but completely passable. The problem was the texture. I could swear this patty was frozen and machine pressed. I can just tell by the texture of the ground beef in a patty whether or not it has been made fresh and lovingly by hand. There just wasn't the texture and flavour that I expect from a patty when I've paid 8 dollars for a hamburger. I would have enjoyed a never-frozen patty from Wendy's over this patty. I think Wendy's patties will be my new standard for patty criteria. If you can't do better than Wendy's, why should I eat you? Unfortunately, the originally unwanted bacon stole the show. I could have just eaten the perfectly cooked bacon with the rest of the toppings and been happy.
 |
| See the texture? So what I want to know is.... why is CHARCUT providing such a quality burger as the alley burger, but selling it alongside the mediocre whole truck burger? If I am going to pay 8 dollars for a burger, I would much rather go to Rocky's, Boogie's or 5 Guys to get some real juicy meat. I don't mean to slam Alley Burger. As I said, the original alley burger was epic, and the fries were great. The toppings worked together to make a very flavourful overall package. I would go back to eat this simply because the flavour package was supurb. But when I crave a hamburger, I want meat. Even if the beef is AAA Alberta beef, it doesn't matter when it when it's been overly processed. I think most people are so caught up in the hype that they will keep paying top dollar for something that is actually mediocre. I believe this is a plague that many Calgarians suffer from, but it can be avoided by a little experimentation and critical thinking. Am I being too judgemental? I would love to hear your honest opinions about the alley burger vs. the whole truck burger. What do you think? Alley Burger It's best to follow on Twitter or Facebook to find their location. @AlleyBurger CHARCUT 101 889 Centre St. SW Calgary, AB 403-984-2180 |
No comments:
Post a Comment