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| - OK, let's cut to the chase:
I don't like well-done burgers.
Burger Bar only makes well-done burgers.
I don't like too much bun on my burger.
Burger Bar burgers have a 2:1 ratio of bun to burger.
However, I love saag paneer and french fries.
Burger Bar has saag poutine ($9)[1]--saag paneer on top of french fries, a combination so brilliant, it makes me wonder why haven't all the Indians in Quebec thought of this before??
And I love fresh-squeezed grapefruit juice.
Burger Bar has the "Paloma" ($6)--a delicious cocktail of mezcal, pulpy fresh-but-not-freshly-squeezed pink grapefruit juice, topped with soda and garnished with a chile-powder-dusted dried pineapple strip.
Read for more details if you want the long version[2]:
My first visit was with the 22 other Yelpers to kick off Decemburger. I had The Gaucho ($9), an Argentine-inspired beef burger, with chimichurri sauce, onions, and lettuce. The beef patty was so wee, and completely overwhelmed by the massively doughy bun. I get that Burger Bar offers different patty sizes but The Gaucho description on the menu didn't say, and when you throw around the word "gaucho," you'd better have the bovine machismo to back that up, ya hear?
By the time my teeth penetrated two inches of sturdy bun on either side of the meat, I got to a dry well-done beef patty. Like I said, I don't like well-done burgers. The Toronto Food Safety Gestapo regulates that burgers made from meat not ground on site must be cooked to 71 degrees C which is waaay overdone for me. I can understand that Burger Bar does not want to face fines and possible billy-clubbing but if your specialty is beef burgers, why wouldn't you grind your meat on the premises and let customers have burgers how they like it?
Anyway, I did get to try a bite of Dennis "Mr. Christine C"s crisp, delectable onion rings and Will W's communal bowl of saag poutine which more than made up for my puny, dry burger.
Not long after my first visit, I went back to Burger Bar a second time, specifically to snarf a bigger share of saag poutine with Kat F. and Nicole B. (Yeah, it's THAT good!) I had the wild salmon burger ($9) as my entree this time. Even beyond the overwhelming blast of onions (two raw onion rings plus onion in the tomatillo-avocado salsa), I could taste a little too much fishiness in the salmon. So the rest of the night, I was assaulting those nearby with my fishy-onion breath.[3] Mmm...
The Vibe: I like the mish-mash of incoherence in this place; fancy infused alcohol, kitschy influences from Latin America and Asia[4], dimly lit sexy-mild ambience, all in a wacky saloon setting with knick-knacks from Blue Banana Market across the street.
The Service: Much improved when 19 other Yelpers aren't vying for the poor waitress' attention. The Paul Giamatti look-alike bartender could be more attentive and crack a smile once in a while, though.
Bottom line: Go for the saag poutine, creative mixed drinks, well-done burgers if that's your thing, and with a max of 6 in your party
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[1] Another reason why I will not trust those "other" reviews out there on "other" sites because that "other" reviewer said this dish was not good, but I would put it on my list of The 10 Most Delicious Things I Ate This Year.
[2] aka "The Dale M. version"
[3] Big apologies to Kat F, Nicole B, and Vivek S.
[4] kimchi, uni butter as burger toppings
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