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| - A burger is a burger is a burger, and I'll always be hard pressed to believe that any burger joint can offer a "fine dining" experience. Gordon Ramsay BurGR understands this, and while a meal there is not "fine dining", it is most definitely "fun dining".
I've visited twice already. Once to sample the burgers and then a second time, because the crazy list of appetizers and sweet treats on the menu caught my eye and lulled me to come back sooner than later. Both visits were a hit.
The menu is clean and simple and offers eight burgers and three "dawgs" as mains. There are also three burgers that come "stacked" with a meat patty and a meaty extra like shaved prosciutto or duck bacon.
I had the delicious Char Siu Burger served with a beef patty and a slice of roasted pork belly, cucumber, radish, cilantro and a honey-hoisin sauce. The Asian-inspired extras were a nice touch, but the star was the medium rare beef patty that was succulent and juicy, and one of the best burgers I have had on the strip.
The missus ordered the Fresh Roasted Chili Dawg that was smothered with roasted fresno peppers, jalapenos, and a touch of chipotle ketchup. This was also a smash and was so much better than the hot dogs served next door at Pinks.
On our second trip in almost as many days we tackled the "snacks" section of the menu and tried three of the six appetizers.
The Fury Chicken Wings play off the Hell's Kitchen theme that is somewhat overly branded here, with flame decals popping up everywhere. The wings are served eight to a plate -- four tangy hot Buffalo style wings that again proved to be superior to most pub wings I have had, and four honey wasabi wings that provided a different flavor profile and fondly reminded me of the Shanghai Wings once served at a now defunct restaurant in Montreal that was my go-to spot for wings and things.
We also indulged in the four Five Spice Chicken Sliders that were breaded with Cornflakes and were kind of like yummy mini schnitzels in a bun. And while the spices and siracha mayo gave them some kick, I felt they did not need the cheddar cheese melted underneath. That said, I would love to see a BIGGER version of this burger added to the mains.
The Honey-Pig Bao Buns were just OK, and this was really the only miss on our second evening simply because we have had better elsewhere. While I liked the addition of pork belly on my burger, it was a bit too much of a good thing and slightly tough on its own, but that did not stop us from finishing it.
The menu also features two specialty fries that we tried on different nights. I preferred the Truffle Parmesan Fries that were crunchy and doused with liberal amounts of shredded parmesan, while the missus liked the Sweet Potato Fries that included a honey jalapeno mayo and vanilla powdered sugar as a condiment. This will definitely be a problem on a future visit as each portion is more than enough for two, so I hope they add a sampler of some kind to the menu that lets guests indulge in both styles.
Speaking of two people, I have to give props to the our two servers (both named Alex) who made some wonderful suggestions after listening to our tastes, and made us feel so incredibly welcome. We cut past the 30-minute wait on both nights by opting to sit at the back counter that offers an open view of the kitchen, and is where both Alexi (my pluralization of Alex) can be found dashing back and forth as they place orders and pick up plates. Yet not matter how busy they were in that very controlled kitchen chaos, they always popped past us to chat for a couple of seconds, check up with us, and almost made it feel like were were attending a very busy dinner party at a friend's place. What's more, while Alex 2 was our principle server on our second night, Alex 1 acknowledged our return visit and engaged us in conversation while Alex 2 was away working the front of the house.
They also introduced us to Benji, BurGR's evil genius of all things beer, who made some great suggestions and introduced us to the wonderful apricot flavors of Magic Hat #9 after carefully consider of our tastes in ales and Belgian beers.
I also managed to down one of the five "sugar fix" shakes with my appetizers. I opted for Shake #5 following Alex 2's suggestion that its Nutella like composition of chocolate hazelnut pudding and some coffee ice cream had to be tasted to be believed. Oh so decadent! I believe!
Nothing completes a meal like a great dessert and the über fun Sticky Toffee Pudding Push Up Pops, served to us with a smattering of Alex 2's nostalgic impersonation of Bill Cosby shilling for Jell-O and arguing with wife Camille, were simply to die for.
We took these babies to go and I felt like I was in Lord of the Rings. These pops mesmerized all those who saw them. "That looks so so good," strangers said hoping to covet them, but there was NO WAY we were going to share this pretty precious delicious dessert. MY precious pudding push up pops!
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