Max and Louie's

Max and Louie's

Mid July

Geoff and I left dinner #1 un-satiated.  A disappointing showing at EZ's left us with little room for recourse.  I turned to Geoff and asked, "Bang, bang?"  Made famous to me by Louis CK's FX show Louie, the bang, bang is when you eat a meal, turnaround and eat another meal.  With approval from our company including my wife, and coworkers - Jonathan and Vaidehi - we walked to the closest restaurant also serving a burger.

Service and Setting
A very nice environment taking some of the nicer features of a New York style diner, but cleaner.  A big counter to eat at for singles and small groups, plenty of booths and other open tables.  Large photos of popular New York streets adorn the walls. A glass display with meats and desserts pique the appetite.  Our waitress had a little sass which was endearing despite mediocre execution.  The parade of food coming from the kitchen will have you changing your mind from frequently as each item looked more delicious than the next.  I was legitimately tempted away from burgers to consider pancakes, brisket poutine, and a cookie monster sundae before refocusing on my task.

Menu

Classic diner menu that has you covered anytime of day, with any kind of hankering, aside from maybe something light.  The prices are high, but the portions are large, and truly everything looked great.  Most people could make two meals out of most entrees.  We went with the "B.F.S!"  Which was a $20 burger, fries and shake.  That costs more than the items a al carte, but I was reassured that a presentation element made it worth the extra dollar.  We added cheese for $1.  We declined an egg which would have been another $1.50.  I'm not sure the accompanying photo does justice to the magnitude of the half pound burger, cone of fries, and around liter of milkshake.

Beverage

Lots of shake and float options including the Cookie Monster shake which needs to be seen to be believed.  They have Dr. Brown's sodas which is a necessity for a diner experience.  Plenty of beer and liquor options, though for me personally, it seems strange to have a beer in a diner.  Maybe I'm missing out.

Patty

We were asked how we wanted out 1/2 lb burger cooked.  We went with medium-rare.  It was cooked appropriately.  Very good juiciness.  Unfortunately, the flavor lagged behind the appearance and the juice.  It improved with kethcup and mustard, but for the second consecutive burger, the strongest flavor was burnt grease.

Dress and Bun

A very good bun, appropriately sized for the assembly.  The produce was good enough to make the vegetarian at our table coo and tasted as good.  Crisp lettuce, and a couple nice slices of tomato.  Their pickles lean more toward cucumber than pickle and are a little strange.  I was very pleased with the construction of this burger.

Sides

Fries were seasoned well. Could have had a softer inside.  The lone half of pickle was a little stingy. I suppose as ordered the shake was a side as well.  It had good flavor, but tasted more like milk than shake.  I think a good milkshake should have you reaching for a spoon for fear of bursting a capillary trying to draw it through a straw.

Geoff's take 2: Exciting presentation, bland burger

The Verdict
There are plenty of reasons to visit Max and Louie's, and every item a server carries to a different table will have you considering a different page in the menu.  The burger did a lot of things right, with excellent toppings and a big juicy burger, unfortunately, the overall flavor fell a little short.  I'd say it's worth heading to Max and Louie's reasons aside from the burger, but if you are really hankering for a beef, it is reasonable to order the burger while you're there.  It earns a respectable 3 spurs.

EZ's Brick Oven and Grill

EZ's Brick Oven and Grill

Bitters location
Mid July

For a Sunday night dinner we were looking for something quick with a broad menu.  One of my co-workers, Vaidehi, announced her intention to come along to one of these outings to give a veggie burger rating - we even made a 1-5 broccoli florets scale for her.  Unfortunately, the quality of the ingredients in EZ's veggie patty fell below her standards, so we will have to wait for another edition for a veggie burger review.

Service and Setting

Standard counter operation. Looks a little bit like The Max from saved by the Bell with neon details throughout.  There are lots of paintings of fish that look like the Ballast Point brewery labels that are pretty serene.  Plenty of crayons and coloring sheets for the little ones.  Service was fine.

Menu

A diverse menu with burgers, pizza, salads, and pasta.  They had several burger meat options including beef, bison, turkey, and veggie.  They will swap any patty into of their burger constructions.  Unfortunately, they were out of bison.  Also, for a half pound burger they didn't ask how we wanted it cooked.

Beverage

A bit of a weak beer selection in bottles and cans.  Pepsi products in the soda fountain.

Patty
We went with the poblano burger and the bean burger with beef as they were out of bison.  Again, we weren't asked how we wanted the burger cooked; they both came out medium-well.  As you can see in the photo, the bun and the wax paper are totally dry.  The burger didn't really drip at all, indicating a sub-standard level of juiciness.  It managed to not be dry at least.  Flavor was rather bland.  It had that burnt grease flavor of the griddle.

Dress and Bun

The menu default for both of the burgers was a gluten-free wheat bun.  It was awful.  You have heard me rant about wheat buns in the past, and why they have no place in burgerland, but I guess I'll just have to do it again.  A wheat bun does not turn something that is inherently unhealthy into something that is good for you.  Hamburgers are meant to be eaten on occasion, and when you do decide to have a "naughty" meal, don't mess it up by putting it on a wheat bun.  My wife had the classic burger, and said the white bun wasn't much better.  Otherwise, toppings were fine. Geoff doesn't like Fritos on burgers.  I thought the beans were fine, but keeping in the theme of things, were low on flavor.  The poblano peppers were just ok as well.

Sides

We got the sampler basket. Excellent sauce options ranging from Thai chili oil to Lea and Perrins Worcestershire.  I thought the sweet potato fries were a little too thin.  The onion rings and curly fries were good.

Geoff's take: It has the flavor of backyard cookout with a bunch of grilled frozen patties and the cheapest buns in the grocery store.

The Verdict

It is a fun restaurant with nice things to look at and a large menu.  But being a burger blog, Geoff and I couldn't get over the dry and flavorless patty, mediocre toppings and an awful bun.  Unfortunately, we have to give both burgers we tried 2 spurs.  In fact, we were so poorly satiated, we needed something else to salvage the night.  We left and walked immediately over to Max and Louie's and split a third hamburger.