Tag: burgers

Posted on by

Visiting White City for the “Jimmy” Burger

Jimmy Burger from Jimmy's in White City located in Shrewsbury, MA

Jimmy Burger from Jimmy's in White City located in Shrewsbury, MA

After my maiden foray into burgers, I wanted to expand my expedition to the area surrounding Worcester, and I ended up…in Shrewsbury. I know what you’re thinking; that I didn’t quite wander off the beaten path too far. However, with Worcester Foodies, we have been metaphorically handcuffed to having to choose restaurants in Worcester proper. So being able to stretch my culinary legs and expand to the surrounding areas in Worcester County, is slightly liberating.

With that being said, we are all guilty of having favorite meals, or favorite restaurants, or favorite drinks at certain places. I am as guilty as anyone else when it comes to this. One of my personal favorite places is Jimmy’s Tavern and Grill. Located where the old Bugaboo Creek used to be in the White City Plaza, this restaurant has always provided me with a comforting meal, while being a great value and always having consistent service and products…all things that make a restaurant great! If you haven’t been to Jimmy’s, you will find yourself in a comfy, warm environment that still has a similar feel as Bugaboo Creek, with a lodge-like feel with a massive stone fireplace in the dining area and other décor that is somewhere between log cabin and local pub.

With being one of my favorite go-to places, I am quite familiar with Jimmy’s menu and what is good. Honestly, you can’t go wrong with anything on the menu. Some personal favorites include the fried pickles from the appetizer menu, the Thunderbird chicken sandwich and their decadently rich, buffalo chicken mac and cheese (out of this world!). However, when I’m craving a burger, it’s tough to choose a better burger on the menu than the “Jimmy” Burger ($10.99). This burger is served with bacon strips, cheddar cheese and to top it off, a fried egg! All burgers are served with their house made seasoned fries.

The burger is a nice, thick, juicy patty which is cooked slightly past medium (a little bit more than I prefer). However, the patty was still juicy and contained plenty of flavor and texture. Bacon on anything is great, but when it’s on a burger, it provides a great smoky, pork taste to the dish. The cheddar cheese is neutral enough that it doesn’t take center stage over any other ingredients, while still knowing that you have a slice of cheese on your burger. The best feature of the burger in my personal opinion is the fried egg. With a slightly runny yoke that breaks upon your first bite, provides a smooth and unctuous nature to the burger. When it’s combined with the bacon, you have a cross between a breakfast sandwich and a delicious burger…the best of both worlds!

With only 6 full-fledged burgers on the menu, there’s not a ton of choices. However, from experience, I know that you can’t go wrong with any of them. Once again, the perfect burger can change your life, however so small it may be. It might simply bring a smile to your face, or raise your spirits from a funk that your work has caused, to having a fully life altering experience where you found the one meal you could eat every day for the rest of your life. Food in general makes us happy, but a burger can be comforting, memorable, and delicious. Where will my burger quest take me next? I guess you will have to wait to find out. Until next time…

Posted on by

BURGERS: The Rambling Wreck

Rambling Wreck from The Fix Burger Bar on Shrewsbury Street in Worcester, MA

Rambling Wreck from The Fix Burger Bar on Shrewsbury Street in Worcester, MA

What makes a burger so great? Is it the quality of the meat? Is it the seemingly infinite topping possibilities that you can add to your burger to make it a fully customizable creation? Or is there just an innate connection between human and handheld sandwich that makes it comforting and familiar to its consumer? It is probably a combination of all of these things. When the thought of the great American burger comes up, the first thing that pops into mind is probably grilling for Memorial Day or the 4th of July with friends and family; being surrounded by good times with your favorite adult beverage in hand with the promise of nicer weather and better things to come. This is what makes the burger so universally accepted and comforting. However nowadays, a burger is more than just a grilled patty with a slice of onion, some lettuce, maybe some condiment between two plain buns. Restaurants have begun to take the ordinary hamburger to new heights; creating exciting new flavor combinations using the freshest ingredients. Restaurants these days are not settling for some generic store bought patty, but actually grinding the meat and forming the patties by hand. Bringing in the freshest local produce to add the these burgers; having bakeries bake rolls specifically for burger-use only. People want variety without sacrificing quality.

With all of this being said, I figured the best place to start this burger expedition would be at a restaurant that I consider to have some of the best burgers in the area, and one of the most creative menus I have seen that just revolves around burgers… The Fix Burger Bar on Shrewsbury Street. A small restaurant front, taking over the old Mezcal location has transformed itself into part speakeasy, part antique, while still feeling modern and hip. With plenty of unique burgers to choose from, you can literally get your “fix” of whatever you are craving at the moment. What hit me right off the bat was a burger called the Rambling Wreck. This was a burger that had cheddar cheese, mesquite pork belly, house slaw, sliced pickles, whiskey BBQ sauce, served on a sesame bun ($13). I will be the first one to tell anyone that I am not a cole slaw fan…I just can’t get over the whole raw cabbage and mayo combination. It ends up being too crunchy and too bitter. It just doesn’t do it for me. However, all of the other ingredients just sounded so amazing that I decided to put my own fears aside to try it. I am glad that I did!

The burger was cooked perfectly medium (something that not a lot of restaurants get right). It was juicy and thick, exactly what you want in a good burger. The best part was the mesquite pork belly. For those of you who are unfamiliar with pork belly, this is the section of the pig that your bacon comes from, however, it’s usually trimmed of its fat and cured to create the bacon that we are most synonymous with. Pork belly is essentially bacon on steroids. Think crispy, thick porky goodness that tastes like bacon, but has the texture of a meaty pork chop. However, with it being more fatty than traditional bacon, it usually ends up being very rich. But this is where the house slaw saves the day. You really needed that crunch and acidity of the slaw to break up the richness of the pork belly, while giving it a really different texture and another layer of flavor. The cheddar cheese helps mellow everything out while the mesquite bbq sauce added a nice smokiness to the burger, while not being overwhelming. The sesame bun was a perfect vessel to hold the burger. With a plethora of toppings in addition to the burger patty itself, you need a bun that it going to hold up against those fillers. Job well done, sesame seed bun!

At the end of the meal, I enjoyed it so much and was comfortably full. Basking in the wake of the food coma that was beginning to come over me, I enjoyed the remainder of my ever-classy ‘Gansett and proceeded to finish the remainder of my girlfriend’s burger. Reflecting on my maiden voyage into the burger blog world, I am confident of positive things to come. It’s evident that the burger is being elevated to unprecedented heights and we get to reap the culinary benefits of this advancement. With the bar set high by the newest burger institution in the city, where will I visit next? Until next entry…