#9, BGR (in DC)

To my few but loyal followers, please accept my delay in reviews!  It has been a crazy few weeks for work and my husburger has been out of town so much that I have been pretty focused on work+slider+fun for myself when I can.  Speaking of, I spent a few lovely days in DC for work...well, technically work. I was there for the Teach for America 20th Anniversary Summit.  (tfa20years.com)  It was inspiring, and would have by itself been an amazing weekend, but there was icing on my cake.  Since the summit took place in DC, I was able to stay with Natburger and Mikey (no nickname, he is just Mikey) at their place, and BeeBurger, who came to visit from Philly.  Friday night, we went to this amazing new spot (well, new since I moved away) called ZenTan.  That slaw was off the charts delish.  I still crave it.  Saturday night, however, was a different story!  We went out with my cousin L, who has a great blog (www.lucyactually.com) and my BFF since childhood, K.  Natburger and L went to Estadio to reserve us a table (it's a total scene), and when I arrived an hour later...we still had an hour left to wait!  Ridic.  Natburger is usually VIP'd, and this was the opposite of that...check out her review on yelp for a laugh.

While in DC, we visited Bgr, after trying to go to Commissary but seeing an hour long wait (as per usual) was out of the question.  It was me, Mikey, Natburger, and Beeburger.  We had 3 veggie burgers and one non (Mikey, obvi).  And the result was really good!  The place is pretty low key and unassuming, tucked right across the street from the Starbucks in Dupont Circle.

Grade: A

What I liked: This burger had everything.  Yum.  It was totally BBQy in taste, with all of the goodness baked into it. It was so tasty that you probably didn't even need that mojo sauce, but I did, and it was awesome!  This burger had really amazing flavoring and it was so hearty.  Natburger even said it was one of the best she's ever had.  It didn't try to imitate beef burgers, it just stood on its own and I wish I could go get one this weekend. We also went with a family favorite, extra extra pickles.  And tested out all of the fries.  Yummm, the fries.  


What missed: Nothing, really.  I guess that if I had to say something, it might be that this burger was a tad bit heavy on the rice.  It had noticeable texture like that, and I prefer a bit more mushroom/soy, but this still stuck together well.


What the fam liked: Fries, absolutely.  And both sisters were really satisfied with the burger.  Beeburger still claims that the best veggie burger ever is in SF, so I'll have to go there.  Overall, this burger is in the running for favorite overall!

#8 (am I really only on 8?), 24 Diner

I write from a hotel room in a fabulous local resort...Husburger and I are taking a stay-cation!  As I was telling a friend recently, I used to hate that word.  Remember when the economy tanked and the news was talking about how we all were taking staycations instead of going away over the summer?  But really, I'm on one, and it's fantastic.  The best part is that my parents are in town and taking care of little Slider (who I do miss!) to give us some adult alone time.  Their first night in town, we stayed in and ordered from 24 Diner.  Pamburger has eaten the veggie burger there before.  She is like me and once she finds something good, she can eat it over and over and over.

Grade: A-/B+

What I liked:  I love eating the 24 Diner veggie burger primarily because of its unique flavor.  This isn't a pickles, tomato, and lettuce show.  Nope, this veggie burger comes replete with goat cheese, roasted tomato (ick), and arugula.  Fancy shmancy.  I think those are shredded beets that give the burger that nice magenta color and lentils that let the flavoring take hold so completely.  Brussel sprouts as an option for a side, or


What Missed: The food at 24 Diner is delish but it's super rich.  From the mac'n'cheese to chicken and waffles, it is yummy.  The veggie burger is definitely something special and unique to any other burger I've had.  It's just that all of that goat cheese and the roasted tomato (I am not a fan) make it a little too rich for me.

What the (Grand)Parents Liked: Pamburger and Husburger liked their veggie burgers.  I think Husburger thought it was a little too much bread...we went sans bun, so I can't comment.  But it is a lot of bread.

#7, P. Terry's

This past week little Slider got sick..again.  We don't really know if he was sick or it's just his teeth, but either way, you know what it means: mucho late night wake-ups, crazy days trying to work and care for him, and absolutely no normal meals.  Which brings me to P. Terry's.  Even though his appetite was almost nonexistent, Slider still loves him some french fries.  Who wouldn't?  So my loving Husburger gave me a break, and the boys went out for some burgers and fries and brought me one home.  This isn't my first time eating a P.Terry's burger, but it is since I started the blog.  In fact, when we first came to Austin, I used to ask people where they liked the veggie burgers and almost without fail, they'd recommend P. Terry's.  Actually, our first interaction with P. Terry's came back when we lived in the 'Burgh.  One of our neighbors in Regent Square was a Texan and former Austinite and told us about his friend being a big success story and opening a fabulous local burger chain called P. Terry's.  Who knew we'd be .5 miles from one and that it would be good, relatively healthy (as burger joints go), and have a drive through....essential for when we used to have to drive Slider around to get him to sleep!

Grade: A-

What I liked: This is such a go-to veggie burger.  The first time I ever tried it, I thought, "why does everyone love this so much?"  It seemed good, but not great.  The thing is, I now crave that burger on a regular basis.  And no, I don't always get the fries, so that's not the reason...although they are good.  I think it's the consistency, the way it kind of mushes up with the cheese and shredded lettuce and special sauce.  With extra pickles and a wheat bun, you can't lose.  It's not super fancy but it does do the trick and I don't really get bored of it.

What Missed: I actually don't think much misses with this burger truly except that, as veggie burgers go, it's a tad bit without a distinct flavor.  That's probably why I don't get tired of it.

What Slider Liked: The fries, as per usual!  I tried sneaking in pieces of my veggie burger but it didn't go over well.  Rejected....but he was sick, I'll try again next time...

#6, JFK

You might think that a snow storm could keep a girl from getting out of JFK on time, but thanks to reliable Jet Blue, I was out 5 minutes early and home in no time.  One of my favorite things about JFK's JetBlue terminal are those awesome touchscreen stations where you can charge up, order from the screen, and in about 5 minutes, someone delivers your food to you.  Voila.  In theory, it's great.  And in the past I have done this without problem...it's great because I can charge my many gadgets and even video chat with Slider while he eats.  I guess the snow storm also impacted wait staff and technical ability though because half of the touchscreens were broken and it took waaaay too long to get my veggie burger.  To be honest, I was surprised by this burger, it was not at all what I expected for airport fare.

Grade: C+

What I liked: This is a hearty burger and the first few bites were great and very surprising.  I ended up just eating the burger (no bun...I can't have this little project packing on the pounds!) which was more than enough food by itself.

What Missed:  Tooooo potato-y!  This reminded me a lot of something that Dr. Praegger (sp?) would make.  He has those potato and spinach cakes, you know?  It reminded me of that.  I started to get really tired of such a distinct taste after a while.  But it is an airport veggie burger, and as they go, I would have to say that I am impressed.  So, on an absolute scale, a C.  On a scale with other airport veggie burgers, probably more like an A-...I'll have to do more research before I make that final!

What Slider Liked: Nothing at all!  The wireless was ridiculously slow because everyone was on, waiting for their delayed flights....so we couldn't video chat after all.

#5, New York New York, Tiny's Giant Sandwich Shop

This week I was reminded of what it is like to live on the East Coast during the winter.  My my my, New York was snowed in, but thankfully I had enough time to go to dinner with my good friend from grad school, P.  She lives LES, so I figured we should order from someplace near her.  P swears that Otarian is the best, but their West Village shop shut down, and they wouldn't deliver from Midtown.  And with impending snow, it's like the whole city was shut down.  Kind of magical, actually, but I was definitely not headed to midtown.  So we hit Yelp along with recos from P's other friends and came up with Tiny's Giant Sandwich Shop.  This burger sounded amazing...with the works, even fake bacon.  I have never had a veggie burger with fake bacon, but that sounded good.  I accidentally deleted the photo from my phone, but I promise you that it looked incredible.  Thick burger, layers of goodness and toppings...not to mention that P and I were two hungry working girls!  Probably all of that chatter (it had been way too long since we last saw each other) got our appetites going...

Grade: B
What I liked: Toppings galore!  Who wouldn't like fake bacon (well, if you already like veggie burgers).  I mean, the thing is called the "Big Mack Daddy," yes, spelled with a K.  The special sauce, whatever is in it, was awesome, and there were a ton of pickles, something I really appreciate.  Everything that was not the veggie burger was awesome!  Can you guess where I'm going?
What Missed: The burger itself was way too protein-y for me.  It definitely stuck together, but it was far too Boca Burgerish.  All protein and no veggie.  That is not for me.  Also, they didn't serve anything but that owl-brand of chips.  That's kind of ridic.
What P liked: I think we are in agreement here.  P, weigh in if you have other thoughts on this.  And let people know what is so fabulous about Otarian's burger...which I will try next time I'm in NYC.

#4, Whole Foods (Austin, TX)

My cousin wrote me the other day to tell me about an amazing veggie burger she had from Trader Joe's, the marsala burger, and sadly, we don't have a TJ's here in Austin.  Can you believe it?!  When I was in grad school, that was my only walking distance grocery store, so I definitely OD'd on it, but I sure do miss that one down the road from us in the 'Burgh.  Maybe Pamburger can send me some of them from the new store at home...don't laugh, she did send me oodles of those Indian veggie meal starters, and they're good!  Although I do feel bad that TJ's basically just stopped selling Tasty Bite and started making their own version.  I digress.

As I've mentioned before, I am a working mom (we all are, but the kind who goes to an office), but I have Fridays off to hang with Slider.  Yesterday, the two of us hit up our neighbor and second home, Whole Foods, to test out the veggie burger.  Believe it or not, even though we spend like every other day there and almost every dollar of our paychecks, I hadn't ever tried the veggie burger.  Pamburger is obsessed with the grain burgers in the Florida Whole Foods, which I agree are good....kind of dry and gross but good in that weird vegetarian way...but these are different.  They serve 'em up at the Grill (the Whole Foods here is HUGE) "restaurant," where I ordered mine to go.  Sorry, no picture for this one.  This is their harvest walnut field burger.

Grade: C

What I liked: Pickles!  They were so awesome and cut thick, that was a crowd pleaser.  I also think that when I'm in the mood for veggie burger junk food, I would probably hit this one up again, but it felt pretty not good for me, which is one of the bonuses I actually enjoy about eating veg.  Fries were pretty good too.


What Missed: I touched on it above.  Just too fried and thin for me.  It was frozen originally, so that explains it, but I guess I was just disappointed.  Doesn't it just stand to reason that Whole Foods should make and AMAZING veggie burger?  This was definitely not it.  Crispy and not terribly flavorful, save for those awesome pickles.


What Slider Liked: He was into the swiss cheese on this burger.  He kept pointing and making his signature "huh" noise until I'd give him more.  He did take a few bites and liked it...and apparently he's not allergic to walnuts, so that is good news too.  Fries.  He ate a bunch on the walk home.

#3, Hopdoddy (Austin, TX)

At this rate, I won't eat 100 veg burgers in 2011.  As my husburger pointed out, I would have to eat one every 3 days, and I have been delinquent.  I started this blog with so much gusto, I have to keep the momentum going!  First and foremost, I promised a set of basic criteria for judging.  Here are the elements of a veggie burger that matter most to me...followers (few but mighty) and friends, please comment if I'm missing something important to you:

- Flavor
- Texture
- Consistency (grainy, fall-aparty vs. stick to-edness)
- Does it satisfy?
- Uniqueness
- Extras/Toppings (if restaurant)
- Bread (if restaurant)
- The intangible: will I crave it again?

Last weekend, we took a family trip to Hopdoddy.  It's a fancy new burger joint South of Congress that is in the tradition of Shake Shack.  The line was soooo long, but it's the second time I've tried to go, so we waited it out, even though Slider was breaking my back!  During the 30 minute wait to order, we decided against the beers that everyone else in line ordered, and shared a chocolate shake (mostly Slider's) that was delish.  The ambiance at Hopdoddy is really cool too.  Sleek, minimal, greens and browns, a nice bar in the center.  And not for kids.  High tables only = no high chairs.  The line made me think that I must be waiting for the best veggie burger in town, or had better be...

So, I ordered my oh-so-Austinite named Janis Joplin burger and we were escorted to a nice booth.  They do have a good system going on there.

Grade: B-/C+

What I liked: 
Presentation - I love the parchment paper on the silver tray, and a bunch of fries thrown on there.  Speaking of, I did like those fries.  The burger was unique for sure, and I did like the hempseed idea, and haven't ever tasted a veggie burger quite like it.  I also liked the sprouts they put on without my asking, and the avo.  Those definitely added to the experience.

What Missed:
Too grainy!  Little Miss Janis was falling apart the minute I lifted that (huge) veggie burger up.  Also was just too sharply mustard-y tasting, and just not the right mix of seasoning for me. Pickles at the restaurant were not dill, they were like bread and butter or something gross and gaggy.

What Slider Liked: 
Fries, big time.  I agree, they were that perfect fresh-cut, hot and flavored salt. Yum.  Rejected the veggie burger after multiple tries.