Harry's Bar & Grill - Allston, MA - 2007-12-30

Harry's Bar & Grill

I've always liked Harry's food. Great curly fries and pretty good sweet potato fries. The food always tastes fresh and is well cooked. So I found myself there last night for dinner with a few friends and got the veggie burger. It's a premade patty, but was different than the others I've had. It was heavy on the onion which was good, and had a slightly oblong shape. I got it with sauteed mushrooms and peppers with the steamed veggies on the side (though I highly recommend the sweet potato fries for those not watching their diet). The burger was nothing amazing, but it was tasty and well cooked, though slightly expensive, around $11.

Rating: 6.8

Boston Beer Works - Boston, MA - 2007-12-23

Boston Beer Works

Went last night to watch the Celtics game with a friend. We ordered some Buffalo wings which were pretty good. I also got their "Garden Burger". Basically a freezer box Gardenburger, well grilled, with tomato, lettuce, mushroom and a little honey mustard on a white bread bun. Problem, $10. It wasn't bad, it wasn't great. The toppings were nice, and for another $1 per item you can get some other toppings as well. But that just keeps driving the price up on what is basically a Gardenburger. So don't go for the burger, go for the beer, happen to order a "Garden Burger".

Rating: 6.6

Publik House - Boston, MA - 2007-12-22

Publik House

Went for dinner with some friends. As usual the service was bad, but the food was good and the beer selection was excellent. They make their veggie burger patty in house, and its very similar to the Grille Zone patty. Slightly smaller, and they didn't grill it quite enough (like is standard at Grille Zone), but it was quite good. The raw toppings weren't quite as good as Grille Zone but they can put mushrooms, grilled onions, etc. which Grille Zone doesn't have. The bun was also white bread but was a little better than the Grille Zone bun.

Rating 9.3

Lucky's Lounge - Boston, MA - 2007-12-20

Lucky's Lounge

Grabbed lunch here today with a couple friends. Not bad, came with tomato, pickles and lettuce and a side salad. The patty looked to be premanufactured, though the waitress wasn't sure as they make their own burger patties but had never seen them make the veggie patty. It was definitely well cooked and did not feel like it was pulled from the freezer, so at least they defrosted it before grilling, and well grilled it was. For the vegans in the crowd, it does contain cheese in the patty according to the waitress, so beware! The side salad was mixed greens, not just cheap cabbage. the bread was pretty good as well. Overall not bad. We also got some Rhode Island style Calamari which was pretty good, but nothing special.

Rating: 6.8

Lucky's Lounge - Boston, MA

Lucky's Lounge


Lucky's Lounge is classic 40's cool. No sign, just a rounding stair well that leads to a below ground establishment. Think the unsigned bar in Swingers.

Grille Zone - Boston, MA - 2007-12-13

Grille Zone
This review pulled from my personal blog...

Along with b.good, Grille Zone makes their own patties in house from fresh ingredients. The Grille Zone patty is about twice as “volumous” though. It's also a bit softer of a patty, I think it could use to be grilled a bit more than they do. I’ve been twice and while the second time it was a bit more manageable, next time I go I’m going to ask for them to cook it a little more than usual and see how it turns out. The patty is excellent, and the toppings (I usually get lettuce, tomato and pickles) are very good too. The bread, while good for what it is, is a regular white bun. I forgot last time to ask to see if they have any other types.

update 2007-12-14

Last night I went back. No whole wheat buns, but its been a big request so the employees there that night said they’re hoping it gets looked into. They also said they tried sweet potato fries but that they’d need another fryer cause it gunks up the oil a lot faster than the regular fries and so wouldn’t be good to use one fryer for both. No info on the farms they get their produce and meat from, but they’ll tell the boss that theres interest in that. I asked for the patty to be “cooked a little longer than they normally do” which they did, and let me tell you , it was *amazing*. I’d say it was at least 50% better than the first two times i had it. That little bit extra cooking gave a good caramelization to the patty as well as holding together better.

Rating: 9.2

Grille Zone - Boston, MA

Grille Zone


Grille Zone is the height of Earth Friendly restaurants. They are a member of the Green Restaurant Coalition, their goal being to produce a zero-waste stream. They also purchase all their food stuffs from local farms. They make their burgers fresh every morning and if they sell out, too bad! (so do your part for all the meat eaters and order a veggie burger!)

Pour House - Boston, MA - 2007-12-07

Pour House

Really this is only here for completeness. The patty tasted like a gardenburger patty. It wasn’t especially well grilled (little cold on the inside), the toppings and stuff were quite lackluster, definitely not fresh. I ordered it with a side of veggies instead of fries, which turned out to be string beans and they *sucked*. To be fair, the last time i ate there i got some Mexican and it wasn’t spectacular. For their Thursday half price Mexican night its probably worth going, but not regularly. So basically you go here for the cheap beer, nice atmosphere and relatively cute female waitstaff.

Rating: 1.8

b.good - Brookline, MA - 2007-11-16

b.good


As with Grille Zone, b.good makes their patties in-house. The b.good patty is much closer to the traditional style veggie patty in that it has that classic “burger shape”, much like the garden/boca-burger patties you can get in markets. It is also very similar in texture. The difference is the b.good patty tastes much more fresh than even with a well cooked garden/boca-burger. b.good also has two “styles“, the Southwestern and the Venetian. So far I’ve only had the southwestern as it jives more with my personal tastes. They use whole wheat buns which is great, since they taste soo much better than grille zones white bread buns. The toppings are really good and fresh tasting as well.

They also make the best fries, cause they’re baked. They also have milk shakes and fruit smoothies. They have a secret shake, chocolate and peanut butter that is awesome but not on the menu so just ask for it. The fruit smoothies are really good too.

Rating: 8.6

Zaftigs - Brookline, MA - 2007-09-22

Zaftigs

Zaftigs is a Jewish deli in Brookline. The food is amazingly tasty, but really expensive. They have a veggie burger that entails a double patty similar to the Boca/Garden style patty, with your choice of fixin’s. I don’t know if they make their own patty or where they get their patty from, but its pretty good, and you get two of them. The fixin’s are pretty much anything you want (they have a really good house mustard!). The bun it comes with is sorta lackluster. The first time i ordered i got it with their marble rye, the second time with the “stock” bun. I’d definitely suggest going with the rye bun, for two reasons, the stock bun requires stacking the patties, the rye bun is wide so it lets you sit them more or less next to each other which is actually a much better way to eat it IMNSHO. With the two patties its a big sandwich, theres no denying it, you’ll eat like you have a jewish grandmother (too much), but its pretty darn good.

Rating: 8.2

so what makes a good veggie burger? (in my not so humble opinion)

The point of a good veggie burger is not to “replace” or “emulate” a beef patty. Though that may have been part of the original purpose, those in the “veggie know” realize that the veggie burger can be even more flavorful and nuanced than the ol’ beef patty. Obviously this is on account of the plethora of ingredients available. Usually beans of some sort, lentil usually, as well as corn, soy and mushrooms as well as a protein source such as tofu or TVP are used. But that doesn’t mean other things can’t be used. Usually the lentil, corn, and tofu are ground together into a paste that acts as the combining agent for the other whole ingredients which then get mixed in. These whole ingredients can be sauteed, marinated, etc to add additional flavor (caramelization, etc).

After the patty has been made all thats left is to grill it! Obviously grilling can be done, over medium to medium-high heat for about 5mins a side. If your grilling a garden/boca burger from frozen it may take a little longer, and you’ll want to start at a lower heat or it won’t cook all the way through.

Another cooking option if your inside is to pan sear it. This method requires a small pan, hard anodized or cast iron (ie a skillet) work best as they do better to distribute their heat evenly over over the entire surface of the patty over the course of cooking it. From there, you heat the pan at high heat, place a dalop of butter or spray on some pan then turn it down to medium and throw the patty on top for about 2-3minutes. You want to get a good sear without totally burning the side. This will have the effect of lightly caramelizing the patty. from there another small dalop of butter or spray of pam and flip it for about the same length of time.

FIRST!

Welcome! In honor of the great "The Burrito Blog" I've started this, The Veggie Burger Blog. Same basic premise. Find, eat and review all the best (and worst) of the veggie burgers restaurants and pubs have to offer.

So like The Burrito Blog I will give some quick info on the restaurant, then meals in general, and information on the veggie burger itself. I'll also give it a rating. Ratings will obviously be pretty subjective at first and will evolve over time, so keep that in mind when you read older ratings.

Hopefully this is just a temporary home. I'd like to setup a better blog system to be able to customize things.