Tuesday, May 15, 2012

Sis & Me: 3.6/5


Bacon Burger
$4.46
Score: 3.3

ChiliBurger
$4.46
Score: 3.9

Cheese Burger
$3.79
Score: 3.7


Burger Club hit the street for our 52nd and last week of our year long quest. I was waiting for a warm sunny day and it finally happened – right before and after lunch. During lunch it clouded over and a strong north wind blew in making it very cold, and tricky to keep your burger out of your neighbor’s lap. “Expect one hand on your burger and the other on a napkin” advised Stephanie.

One of Burger Club’s readers suggested the Sis & Me burger truck. Some of you may know Sis & Me from their restaurant, The Moonlight Inn, at Victoria Beach. I had a test burger a few weeks ago and decided it was worthy of a visit. On a sunny warm lunch hour Broadway is crowded with long lines at all the street vendors. It didn’t occur to me to let Sis & Me know we were coming en masse, but I should have. We arrived at 11:30 to beat the rush and caught Sis with her burgers half thawed. Only four of us got bacon on our burgers before it ran out, and after ten orders they were out of beef patties. They had more frozen, but no way to defrost them except on the grill which meant a long wait. A Burger Club first timer, Claire, even rated the server “Cute boy working! And fast service, but they can't get any service credit because they ran out of burgers!”

Scott observed “As in communist Russia, the first of the comrades in line get the freshest portions. The first rations to expire were bacon. Then they ran out of burgers. Much further down the line it may have come down to squirting condiments in each other’s mouths.”
For those of us that were lucky enough to get one, it was a pretty good burger. The first thing to catch your eye though, was the unusual visual texture of the patty. Dani observed “obviously the meat wasn’t worked much as you can still see the tracks of the meat grinder.” It was a coarse ground, thick and tasty beef patty. Mine was cooked a little to dryness today – my test burger was juicier. The cheese was a slice of processed, and if you wanted more, there was squeeze-cheese on the condiment counter. Bonus points right there! The fried onions were delicious and the bacon was leathery good. The bun had sear marks on top, but was still cold. That might have been the freezing wind though, that was sucking the heat out of everything. Stephanie had the chili burger and commented: “Messy, but what do you expect from a chili burger? Not too spicy, but had a nice zing.”

For some, this was a guilty burger and discussions of ethics arose. Mike, who took the last bacon cheese burger, is now known as the "Hamburgler." The first few got bacon and beef, sometimes double, while the last in line got an empty plate. Is it better to ration the available food, or make the burgers as they were intended but leave some diners hungry? A couple of restaurants we’ve been to, like the Jolly Friar Café obviously spread out what ingredients they had.

Five people headed off down the street to find a burger from another cart. They ended up at Mikky’s, another fairly well known cart on Broadway, but the official Burger Club rating system requires a minimum of six reviews before producing a rating. Unofficial results had Sis & me well out front of Mikky’s though.

April burgered at Mikky’s, but had the Sis & Me Poutine. “It was good. Came back to get it because they have cheese curds.”

Sis & Me (Food Truck) on Urbanspoon

8 comments:

  1. I like Scott's casual stance as he gets one of the few burgers available. I don't see any guilt on his face as he's enjoying his burger either. Is it fatherhood or his job that has buried his chivalry deep in the recesses of his soul? I think he was just hungry for a burger myself but one is left to wonder.

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  2. I have been following your posting for quite sometime now. This statement, "Burger Club hit the street for our 52nd and last week of our year long quest." has me concerned. Does this mean no more updates?

    There are so many places you have not been to I am certain you could go on for at least a second year. Some places that come to mind:

    Alexis Grill
    Rudy's Eat and Drink
    Black Sheep Diner
    Bistro 7 1/4
    Peppermill Cafe
    Nick's Inn
    Thunderbird
    Bugerbend
    Country Porch
    Baked Exceptions
    Tarven United

    I know your group is up to the challenge and I look forward to your future reviews.

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    Replies
    1. Thanks for all the good suggestions CoryB. I thought we were done, but here we are, still eating burgers!

      I want to be an Alexis Grill fan – I eat there often and they’re a real mom and pop shop – but burgers aren’t their forte.

      We visited Black Sheep but it was bit of a disaster. I didn’t review it. They’ve since closed.

      I’m curious about the Peppermill Café. I haven’t eaten there but it didn’t inspire me as a top burger contender. Have you tried their burger?

      There’ve been lots of suggestions for great burgers outside of Winnipeg and I put Nick’s Inn in that category. I eat there whenever I’m going that way. I’m not sure how the logistics of reviewing out-of-town burgers would work, but I may have to find a way!

      I don’t think we’re going to review Tavern United. The Burger Club regulars voted and rejected it as a contender. The short skirts don’t quite make up for the mediocre food.

      As to the other restaurants on your list, we’ve either been since you posted, or hope to get there still!

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  3. Please Please Please continue this blog

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  4. You also need to try Five Guys on Regent!

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  5. We went to Black Sheep diner and could not blog about it as they didn't have enough meat to get a quorum, and were quite rude about it. We even called a day ahead . . .

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