Let me first say that I was never a big fan of The Good Knight. I never ate there (though I heard the food was excellent) but I did not like the service. Sputnik, on the other hand, was a welcome change. The bartender/waitress was AWESOME! Friendly, helpful, checked on us often. She did, however, have to run out to Rio Rita every once in awhile to get things…and they didn’t have Tito’s. This blog is supposed to be about BURGERS, so we won’t hold that against them…too much.

As usual, I ordered the Bacon Cheeseburger and added jalapeños. I asked how they cook the burgers and they said they were cooked on a flattop and were a little pink in the middle. Just my style. I added an order of Chili Cheese fries.

When the burger was delivered, it looked great. They don’t put any condiments on the burger. They leave that to you. They bring squeeze bottles of mayo, mustard and ketchup to the table for you. I like that. I can put as much mayo and mustard on my burger as I want to. This burger was juicy and well seasoned. Since the bar/restaurant was dark, I couldn’t tell if it was pink in the middle or not. I didn’t care. The burger was great! The bacon had great flavor, too. Can a burger be too juicy? Maybe. Some friends with me ended up with buns a little on the soggy side. I didn’t allow that to happen. Man, was it tasty!

Now onto the chili cheese fries($3.50?). Too much chili for my taste. Don’t get me wrong. I ate every last one of them. But I probably won’t order them again. I’ll go for the regular side of fries (I ate a few that Diana left). A side of fries runs $1.50 and were on the small side. They were seasoned well and I wish there were more.

I’m so glad this place is open and very near me. I will definitely return. Hell, I want to go back RIGHT NOW!

http://www.yelp.com/biz/sputnik-austin

I don’t know, it’s really hard for me NOT to like a burger…and this place is no exception. I ordered the Old Fashion Cheeseburger with Cheddar, added Bacon & Jalapeños for 50 cents/each. Since the fries just looked average, I went for the Buffalo Chips for another $2 (basically potato medallions with buffalo seasoning on them). Holy Crap! This was a big burger. All burgers are DOUBLE MEAT and pretty tasty, too. Nothing overpowering on it either. This may be my new hangout for watching sporting events. But shhhh, don’t tell anyone. I don’t want it to get too packed.

So we went to Freddie’s Place on South First for some $1 Margaritas and Half-Price burgers. Thought I’ve been there several times before, this was the first “official” BC visit. I, of course, got a Cheddar, Bacon & Jalapeño burger with a side of onion rings. I’ve had the fries and like them, but I couldn’t remember if I’d had the O-Rings before. Well, it doesn’t really matter. Both the burger and onion rings were excellent…and the cheap margaritas weren’t bad either.

I know I’ll return soon, but since the weather’s cooled off a bit…probably no cheap margaritas.

We decided on TenOak because they had a Monday $5 burger, $5 beer special. Thing is…they didn’t know about it. We told them it was on the website. Well, the manager looked it up and was good enough to honor it. BTW, they’ve updated their website and now have a $10 burger/beer special.

We decided to split the special burger (cheddar and BBQ sauce) and their Original House-Stuffed Hamburger (blue cheese and bacon stuffed super-fresh, hand formed chuck served with a tenOak smoked-shallot sauce. served on moonlight bakery wheat bun for $9.95).

To tell you the truth, there was very little difference in the taste of the burgers. My half of the stuffed burger did, however, have a good amount of blue cheese…I like that.

The Truffle Fries (golden fingerling potatoes, truffle oil served with aioli dipping sauce) were a little pricey at $6.95 but were so tasty, we had to get another order.

So I reviewed the menu several times and saw a lot that looked interesting. I decided, however, to build my own burger. The standard Bacon, Cheddar & Jalapeño. This was actually pretty decent. Juicy, bacony. I give it a thumbs up.

I returned about a month later to play trivia and use a Groupon. I decided to try The Big Lebowski Burger. I ordered the 1/2 lb. burger stuffed with cheddar and pork belly with wasabi mayo on a brioche bun “pink”…which as you can figure is not well done. This one was not so good. How is that possible? I have no answer for that. Maybe it was the fact that it was pink. I like burgers cooked medium, but this was just more “raw” and on the cold side. Kinda weird.

I may give them another chance, but it will probably be a regular burger and not a stuffed one.

Contigo is a new place (less than a month open, I think) on the Eastside that ALREADY has tons of business. Possibly due to the fact that it’s so close to Mueller. I met a few friends there for our monthly burger outing and I’m glad they got there early. I’ve only been there twice, but both times it was packed. Our waitress informed us that it would take about 45 minutes for us to get our food. Wow. Is the kitchen that small? Well, we were fine with that. It gave us enough time to catch up on things.

They only offer one style of Burger and fries with the option of adding Cheese & Bacon for $1more. Not sure if it’s $1/each. I’ll have to look for my receipt. Of course, I added jalapeños.

When our food finally arrived, the burger looked a bit small. It’s more “tall” than “flat”. Thick, if you will, and came on a homemade Challah bun with house aioli. Oh, my! The first bite was delicious. It got even better with every bite. The bacon could have been a little smokier, but the Texas Cheddar was pretty darn good. Mild and creamy. The burger was buttery and juicy throughout. My last bite was actually only bread and cheese…and it was GOOD. Neither the bacon, cheese nor jalapeños were overpowering (I heard that most jalapeños aren’t hot this year). The fries were shoestring and crisp. I think I could eat a pound of them. I will definitely make this place a regular stop and recommend it to anyone. Wait…nevermind. It’s terrible. Don’t go there…or at least save me a seat if you do.

Side note: I saw someone’s Grilled Cheese sandwich and I WANT ONE. And here’s a crazy storm cloud that was about 30 miles away in the Bastrop area.

Today I tried the Grilled onion, cheddar, bacon and added jalapeños, of course. I’d have to say that this is a pretty good burger. Hot, juicy and flavorful. And for a total of $7.49 (add 50 cents for jalapeños and $1 for fries, tots or onion rings) you can’t go wrong. They even grilled the jalapeños! The bun was soft and warm and I scarfed it all down pretty quickly. They have 10 different burgers on the menu and with add-ons the choices are limitless. Next up will be the Blue Cheese & Bacon.

Not all Spec’s have a hot deli section, but I’m glad the Arbor Walk and Brodie locations in Austin do. I definitely recommend this place and can’t wait to go back soon.

specsonline.com

Curt’s Bday (Taken with instagram)

Back in the day when my friends would come in town with their boat, we frequented Ski Shores Cafe often. Loved it. Wanted to come back. Was it the fact that we were on a boat the whole day? Was it the sun? The beer?

Well, I ventured out on a Sunday…about a 35 minute drive towards Emma Long Park. It was a little chilly, so I sat inside and checked out the menu…again.
I couldn’t decide between the Bacon Cheeseburger and the Scooter Burger…oh, how I remember the Scooter burger…plus BACON. Ok, I’ll just settle for the Bacon Cheeseburger w/jalapeños with a side of fries.

Hmmm…at $9+, I thought the burger would be of a little better quality. It seemed like frozen patty. I could be wrong. I mean, it was a decent burger, but not a great one. I’d have to say I was a little disappointed. I don’t know…I remember this place being so much better. I WANTED this place to be better. Alas, maybe it WAS the friends, boat, Sun and beer.

Bright Light Social Hour at AMP