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| - The best thing about an unpretentious restaurant is that you can walk in without expectations. The Burger Shack, on that basis, far exceeded mine and made an excellent kickoff to my Decemburger.
On a colleague's suggestion, I hopped off the Avenue bus at Oriole and Eglinton Ave. W. instead of taking my usual subway home. The bus doors opened and before foot hit ground I was met with the glorious, primal aroma of seared beef. The restaurant is unassuming, tucked in the corner of a very small plaza, and the tow truck parked out front gave the place a roadhouse feel despite the fact that we were barely a mile from my home in midtown Toronto.
This place has the kind of old-school decor that defies the notion of an update - backlit brown and yellow menu lettering on slide-in strips, booths with flip-up seats and an ancient high-chair tucked on top of the drink fridge. At 9PM, the place was better than half-full of Average Joes hanging out and grabbing a bite.
I had had the "homeburger" recommended, added cheese and bacon for kicks and sprung for onion rings and a can of Nestea to round the order out (~$12). My cashier shouted at the man on the grill, who looked like he'd been running the place for thirty years, and he hopped to it. The topping station reminded me of Harvey's the way it used to be when I was a kid - same toppings, same glass-windowed counter, same bowls even - but the Shack had a more family-run feel to it. Inspired by a fellow yelper whose name I can't recall, I asked for a few of my onion rings on my burger along with the obligatory lettuce, tomato and mayonnaise.
What a delicious, homestyle burger! It's nothing fancy, nothing special, but this was a great "everyday" burger for sure. Flavour was great, bun was fresh and unobtrusive and the onion rings added a nice crunch. The rings themselves were tasty, but lost their lustre as I worked through the ones that didn't make it into my burger. They're big, beautiful rings, but the batter is the sort of thing you'd see on half-decent Chinese food. Still, worth a try if you're in the neighbourhood.
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