Delux Burger Bar Edmonton

I’ve been out to a few new (to me) restaurants recently.  I’ve been meaning to blog about them, but I never seem to get around to it.  I tend to find that I go to enjoy myself and forget to put my critical thinking cap on during the meal process.

I was out yesterday for a late lunch/early dinner between helping at the Sunshine Dreams for Kids Singers and Ringers events.  My cohort, Froggie, had me thinking about all the different aspects of the place.  She asked me all the questions so that I thought them through.  As a result I have a review to post for a change.

So we were at Delux Burger Bar (warning: annoying flash site with music) here in Edmonton.  I’d heard from a few people that they really liked this joint so I was quite interested in going.  Being a good carnivore, any place proclaiming a speciality in burgers has my attention by default.

We were at the restaurant in the late afternoon on a Saturday so things weren’t exceedingly busy, but there was one very large table that did add some buzz to the place.  The room isn’t huge by any argument, but it has quite high ceilings which gave it a very spacious feeling. 

Although we’re up here in the frigid, dark north during winter, it was still light out and the large windows at the front of the restaurant had sunlight streaming in.  Normally I would consider this to be a benefit, but it just didn’t feel like one in this room.  Froggie and I batted around thoughts on why we didn’t like the light and we decided that it was because the room felt worn.  It was just little things that made us think this.  Things like the bar having a bad chip in it’s laminated wood top.  The chairs looking like the finish had been abused by a thousand 2 year olds with baseball bats. 

True, the room was nicely decorated with browns and a teal/turquoise blue, but overall the room just didn’t feel new and hip like I had anticipated.  I’m sure that a lot of these imperfections disappear when the lights go down in the evening, but during the day it’s just not nice.

On to the food!  One of the nice things about the menu was that they have a Chef’s daily burger special.  I like the ability to have something that isn’t the same old, same old when I go to a place.  Once you read the menu you’ll realize that there’s a reason for the Chef’s burger of the day.  Other than it, there are only three other burgers.  Although those three looked very tasty, I was overwhelmingly crushed by the lack of selection.

Being the adventurous one, Froggie ordered up the Chef’s burger special (a chicken breast with caramelized onions.  I went for the namesake Delux burger.  We also decided that we needed to fully fuel up for the volunteering that we had ahead of us so we started with the Lobster Nachos.  One thing to note, which we would have missed if it weren’t for our waiter, is that the burgers do not come with fries, so we ordered up a batch of those to share too.

The Lobster Nachos were pretty much just your normal nacho fare with some canned lobster (was it even maybe faux lobster???) on top of it.  As hungry as we were at the time, it hit the spot.  The biggest disappointment was the fact that we were served up some bottled salsa.  Why is it that restaurants feel the need to use this shit?  It’s not like good salsa is all that hard to make.

Our burgers and fries arrived at the table in dishes that were a little different than we expected.  The burgers arrived in a basket that, in the end, was just a little too deep to reach into for my liking.  My burger was nicely sized, and cut in too simplify the eating logistics.  Froggies, however, was not.  As a result she had quite the time getting through it in a graceful manner.

My burger was quite flavourful and moist which was impressive.  By all accounts (including the mess being made) the other burger at the table was well received too.  Overall, neither of us had any complaints in this area.

We did, however, have some when it came to our fries.  First, they arrived at the table in a funky stainless steel miniature shopping cart.  While this was hip and cool when it first was set on the table, it proved to be damn near impossible to get the fries out of.  Like any good connoisseur of the deep fryer, I dove straight into the cart ‘o fries for a taste.  What a disappointment.  There was no crispness to them at all and they were bitter.  The only way to stomach them down was to coat them in any kind of sauce that happened to be on the table.  It was almost like the had been boiled instead of fried.  Definitely some of the worst fries I’ve had in some time.

While I sat and contemplated a nap, Froggie decided that having the ice cream sandwich from the kids menu was an appropriate way to finish the meal.  First, let say that the portion size was very generous.  So generous in fact, that I wondered if any child would ever be able to finish it.  Then there would also be the problem of eating the dish.  Although it had a nice air of authenticity by placing two large chocolate chip cookies around 3 scoops of ice cream, Froggie had some significant issues getting the cookies into bite sized portions.  They were crisp and thick which, when in combination, could have required a portable jack hammer to eat.  Although entertaining for me, not so much for her I don’t think.

Overall, I’d say that Delux Burger Bar is an adequate eatery.  It lacks menu options of the burger variety and it’s execution of french fries would make the most anglo of us cringe.  I give it a 2.5 out of 5.

Subway, if it wasn’t broken why did you try to fix it?

Manitoba is currently the test market for a new breakfast menu at subway restaurants. The minor addition is yogurt cups, but the two major items are meant to attract those arch-loving breakfast eaters to Subway: hashbrowns and no-cook eggs.

No cook eggs? Yes, no cook eggs. Before, Subway restaurants would have a single element device which they would cook liquid eggs on in a frying pan…just like mama would do. Now that’s a thing of the past. The eggs come in pre-cooked (similar to scrampled eggs at McDonalds from what I understand), which means that there’s less cooking time involved and faster service. From that perspective, its a good thing: if you had 4 people in line all wanting eggs, they were all waiting for the single pan to free up so the next order could be cooked. Fresh yes, fast no.

But from a quality point of view, the eggs are MUCH thinner than the freshly cooked eggs. They aren’t as fluffy either. One of the things I liked about Subway breakfasts was that it was close to the type of eggs that I would cook at home. That’s not the case anymore.

The second big addition to the menu is hashbrowns. Now, you might be thinking “how do they cook them without a deep fryer?!”. Well, a toaster oven has many, many uses. The hashbrowns are toasted in the convection toaster oven, which I was actually pretty happy about: toasted should mean crisp, dry…in a word, perfect. But perfection was not to be.

Taste wise, they’re seasoned very nicely. But for something cooked in a toaster oven, they’re greasier than Justice Gray’s hair after not washing it for three days (you need to understand the amount of hair gel this guy goes through). Instead of crisp, firm hashbrowns, they’re limpy and soggy. To boot, when I asked the Subway employee for ketchup packets she informed me they didn’t have any. How can you roll out hashbrowns without ketchup?!

So all in all, my breakfast routine might need to be changed somewhat. I still like that I can get a few servings of vegetables early in the morning, but the quality isn’t as good as the former breakfast offerings from Subway.

~Matrie De