The Hypocrite Burger – When a Veggie Burger Meets Bacon

For intrepid journalists, some tasks loom large. One of them isn’t going out to find the best burgers in the Northshire, but I’m up to the task. Still, compiling a list of best burgers brought risk: it threatened to supersize me into a new wardrobe.

There are many more great restaurants in the area with great burgers and great prices that my team and I didn’t get to. Here are just three: The Dorset Inn, The Copper Grouse, and The Social House (with a Buffalo Bison burger). Instead, we focused more on everyday spots with good food — places with reputations for hamburgers. (We were not disappointed. ) And we sought out veggie burgers, too.

And for your smart-alecky friends: no, a ham-burger doesn’t contain ham, and no, people aren’t confused. The name comes from the birthplace of burgers, supposedly: Hamburg, Germany. I say “supposedly” since food origins are not always clear. A “Danish,” for example, in Denmark is called Wienerbrød, or literally Viennese bread. Some Americans think of chop suey as the most authentic Chinese food, but you won’t find it on the menus in Beijing or Shanghai. It may or may not be an American invention. And don’t get started on pizza.

We tried three burgers at Bob’s. The Bacon Cheddar burger (80% lean, 20% fat; $13. 95 — with fries) is crunchy, crispy, fresh burger goodness (white onions, pickles, tomato, lettuce, brioche bun).

The Beefalo burger ($15. 95), at least 90% lean beef from Mount Brook farm, tastes denser, leaner and slightly gamey (like elk?). The health benefits allow you to forgo the guilt of the bacon, which comes along for the ride.

The veggie burger ($10.95) from Original Garden contains chickpeas, mushrooms, and carrots: it has a good, burger-like texture.

As we were leaving, two owners of another local restaurant were popping in for lunch. People, your restaurant may look like a nice, shiny old-fashioned diner from the outside, but if other restaurant owners come to you for advice, you must be doing something right on the inside.

The Depot Burger ($8. 50) is Middle Eastern beef that is ground fresh every day and is half chuck and half brisket. It is served on a brioche bun with lettuce, tomato, thinly sliced red onion, and sauce. Think of stands full of Little League parents cheering on their kids as they play baseball, and that’s about how the Depot Burger fans in town feel about these burgers.

The Dutchman’s Tavern is a down-home, local hangout with a friendly staff. The 80/20 lean hamburger meat comes from Ginsberg’s in Hudson, New York, and the brioche buns are made by a family bakery in the area. The Russet potatoes for the fries are fresh-cut in house. In addition to the cheeseburger ($12. 65, including fries), Dutchman’s Tavern serves a Beyond Burger ($10. 25 with Thousand Island dressing).

With the Bacon Burger, the Rodeo Burger (BBQ sauce and onion rings), the Cajun Burger, the Gouda Burger (bacon and Dutch cheese, because the Dutchman’s needs it), and the Dutchman’s Burger (bacon, onions, Thousand Island, but wait, how did Swiss cheese get in there? What about Edam?) there are a lot of options.

There are 25 beers on tap, such as Fiddlehead IPA, Zero Gravity, and a nice dark Rutland Beer Works Swamp Donkey on tap.

Haig’s is a sports bar — for those over 21. It has a smashburger ($17) with two 4-ounce patties smothered in American cheese, lettuce, tomato, a brioche bun, and tater tots on the side. You heard me. Tater tots, rescued from your childhood, fried into deliciousness. Outsmart your diet principal — who needs a stinking hall pass? — and dive into a taste treat.

Do you know what a smash burger is? It’s a burger that has been smashed into the griddle to start the Maillard reaction. The grillmaster just yells “Maillard!” and smushes the burger. The result is a burger with more flavor and crispy edges. If you smush a burger, some purists say it makes it drier, but we didn’t find that to be true at Haig’s. (Try at home. ).

Extra: Haig’s has a special program: “We dare to care. ” For those too happy to drive, Haig’s has a car dedicated to getting bar patrons home safely. Seriously, just to applaud the program, Haig’s is worth a visit. Some places talk about customer service; Haig’s customer service might be life-saving.

If burgers can be a spot for destination dining, Honeypie is it. And if you’re skiing or en route to Brattleboro, pull in.

Burgers are 2. 5 ounces of short rib and chuck ground at home from the NorthEast Family Farm Collaborative. It was ground, weighed, and shaped by hand. We ordered the O. G. $9): a double burger with sambal ketchup, melted American cheese, lettuce, tomato, and a tasty spicy sauce made with Kewpie mayo and tomato sauce. The menu does not call these smashburgers, but they taste like they are.

People! This was cheesy, beefy goodness on a potato bun. If food could transport, we’d be in orbit right now.

The house veggie patty ($11. 25) has pickled onions, cabbage, beets, and chickpeas mixed with garlic, onions, and spices. A tzatziki sauce is put on top. Even to carnivores around the table, this was a tasty burger.

Extra: milkshakes (16 oz. : $8): creamy goodness (but the vanilla shake was lightly flavored) and, of course, honey pies.

Madison’s burgers are made with ground beef from Ginsberg’s. The burgers are served on brioche or pretzel buns and are 8-ounce patties that are char-broiled.

The Garlic Parm Burger ($17. 99, including fries) features Bulliard’s Premium Cayenne Pepper Sauce, parsley, garlic and parmesan cheese, with balsamic glazed onions. Its spicy deliciousness nudged it from being an occasional special to taking a permanent place on the menu.

Big Mike’s Steak Burger ($17. 99) features onion rings, A1 Steak sauce, bacon and cheddar cheese. Normally served on a pretzel roll, but ours came on a brioche bun (perfectly acceptable).

For the Veggie Burger ($14. 99), the patty is a California burger made with soy and corn kernels, and it has vegan avocado aioli and lime juice on top.

Madison’s serves regular and truffle fries, and sweet potato fries. The homemade Russet potato chips were crispy and delicious.

Extra: Beer, of course. Try the Sucker Pond Blonde. Nearby Sucker Pond was once the source of water for Bennington. The beer, which goes well with the burgers, is named after the pond. ).

The Raven’s Den is a steakhouse. The 8-ounce patty of ground brisket, porterhouse, and certified Angus beef is the star of the Raven’s Den burger ($22, or $24 with cheese). This is not a surprise. Crisp red onions, lettuce and a juicy tomato play strong supporting roles. When you bite through the firm bun, which is shaped like a cowboy hat, the crisp onions and lettuce give way to the smoky, char-grilled goodness of the steak. Ah!.

The fries, which are included, are thicker than shoestring and taste like home fries. They are a good mix of crispy and meaty, and the potato flavor is what stands out.

Extra: Some people come for the beef that has been dry-aged for 28 days, but they come back for the swordfish, tuna, and other fresh fish from Earth and Sea.

Seasons is located at the same address as Haig, but is not the same business. For its burgers, it uses the same 80/20 mix of lean and fat beef from Black River Meats, a wholesaler. (Sometimes it orders meat from Rhinehart’s in upstate New York or Henry’s in Bennington). Its $8-ounce cheeseburger ($17 with fries) is char-grilled to a default rare to show off the meat’s juicy texture, which my tasting partners and I agreed with. (Obviously, if you don’t like a rare burger, Seasons will char grill to your choice. ).

It has a burger of the day for $23, which on the day we went was a bacon and apple-topped burger with sweet potato fries and a sweet dipping sauce. Seasons also serves an Impossible Burger. All burgers are accompanied by housemade pickles, made with dill, vinegar and a hint of maple syrup —delicious. The beef burgers were especially tasty, the smoky flavor, the brioche bun, the cheddar cheese harmonizing happily.

If you go to Union Underground in Manchester or now Bennington, you can get char-grilled Black River’s special blend ground beef on a brioche bun. The Smoke House Burger, which costs $19 and is their signature burger, and the Build-a-Burger, which costs $16. Ours came with cheddar, avocado, and grilled onions.

Both burgers have nice smoke from the char-grilling. They come with lettuce and pickles (tomato and onions optional). Pepper jack cheese, pickled jalapeños, and a BBQ sauce made with maple syrup make up the Smoke House burger.

The veggie burger is made in-house and has black beans, quinoa, carrots, and corn kernels on top. There are also local microgreens, roasted peppers, and pickled onions made in-house. The taste was satisfying, but the burger didn’t want to hold together.

We also tried three fries. The truffle fries were the best (and worth the extra $4). The regular fries and sweet potato fries were fine, too. These fries were just regular at first, but they became hall-of-fame after being tossed with grated Parmesan and “the highest quality truffle oil” the chef could find and served with a delicious garlic aioli.

Extra: Twenty-four taps provide challenging choices for beer drinkers. For example, the BBCO Barista Double Coffee Porter is smooth, dark, and full. So is the Four Quarters Phaze IPA, the Zombie Dust APA from 3 Floyds, or… an Altbier from Ten Bends. Could you play something from Weird Windows? Is it too late for the Von Trapp Oktoberfest? (Okay, I’ll stop now.) ).

Zoey’s ground beef has been coming down from Burlington “since day 1.” It’s the main ingredient in about a dozen burgers on the menu, such as the Zoey’s Big Blue Burger, the Philly Cheese Burger, and the Barbecue Bacon Burger.

Along with the cheeseburger ($13), we had to try the Holy Moly Burger ($17) to see if it made us say, “Holy Moly!” This burger looks like the Eiffel Tower of food; it’s made up of a burger layered with cheese and coleslaw and stacked with onion rings. The Piantedosi flour roll has the word “HEX” branded on it, and a steak knife is stabbed into the top of it to keep it standing. What could we say but, “Holy moly?”.

We squished the burger down because none of us have the jaws of a T-Rex. This made it very tasty. The burger’s tangy, not-too-sweet coleslaw went well with the onion rings, the perfectly char-grilled beef, and the bun. Together, they made the food dance on the plate and in our mouths.

The cheeseburger wasn’t as great after eating the Holy Moly Burger first, which was a bad idea. However, it was still a great, juicy char-grilled burger.

Zoey had two vegetarian burgers, and we chose the portobello burger ($11), which had a nice smoky taste and came with a vinaigrette dressing.

Steak fries (included with the burgers) have a slight crispiness that yields to soft inner potatoness. If you prefer crunch, opt for the homemade potato chips.

As an extra, onions are served in two ways as starters: fried onion strings with a chipotle aioli dip that are tasty, crispy, and sweet; and French onion soup with bread and Swiss cheese on top.

As a public service, my brave team and I have to say that veggie burgers are in a pretty bad state right now. It’s good that restaurants try to make vegetarians and some of us are kind of vegetarians feel welcome. Still, mushy, soggy burgers that collapse in a heap or cardboard tasting wedges aren’t really gastronomical delights. (And one of us doesn’t like how corn kernels keep popping up like little teeth smiling back at us.) Yes, she will be taking this up in therapy. ).

Honeypie’s veggie burger was the only one that stood out in terms of taste and texture. Zoey’s portobello option was also great. We see a marketing option here for some aspiring veggie chef.

Really, I’d love to hear your thoughts, and we will look into other great burger places—either in Vermont Country magazine or another Vermont News publication. Email me at: GDossett@manchesterjournal. com.

Gordon Dossett traded the traffic and urban ugliness of Los Angeles for the Green Mountains. He lives with his teenaged children, a cat and a dog, packing urban sprawl into one home. He likes making to-do lists and losing them.

Cheap & Easy Vegan Bacon!