Magazines » May/June 2010 Issue » The Best Burger & Beer Spots
South Beach, Fla.
Where to start at this three-in-one foodie haven? In its upscale diner-style restaurant, hungry locals construct custom burgers with fixings like horseradish cheddar, grilled pineapple and lobster tail. If you can’t decide, helpful suggestions like Hotel California (any burger topped with salsa, avocado, cilantro and sour cream) and Turning Japanese (a tuna burger with cucumber-jalapeño salsa and spicy garlic mayo) make things easy. B&B’s adjacent sports bar is a loud, friendly spot to catch a game, pouring 99 beers including American microbrews and international names like Tucher, Belzebuth and Otro Mundo. And its upstairs lounge starts shaking late at night -- not that you’re going to want to move after all that beef. 1766 Bay Rd.
Kansas City, Mo.
There’s a sense of whimsy about this little burger joint in Kansas City’s Westport neighborhood. It’s in the vintage architecture, originally built to house a White Castle restaurant in the 1930s. It’s in the sweets on offer, including a handful of “grown-up milkshakes” and 28 bottled sodas. And it’s certainly on the menu, with inventive burgers like Au Poivre, a pepper-crusted burger with green peppercorn sauce, or the $100 Burger, topped with foie gras butter and stuffed with red wine-braised short ribs (and which will not, in fact, cost you $100). Complementing such playful dishes is a list of 110 beers that’s heavy on old standbys like Guinness and Harp, as well as out-there picks like Boulevard Long Strange Tripel and Hitachino Nest Sweet Stout. 4710 Jefferson St.
Austin, Texas
Billy Forrester is something of a foodie legend in Austin, having opened two of its locals’ favorite hangouts, Waterloo Brewing Co. and the Dog & Duck Pub. His latest creation, Billy’s on Burnet, doesn’t vary too much from the others -- and that’s a good thing. High-quality pub food here includes eight different burgers like The Ends Burger slathered in hot sauce. With 26 beers on tap (think Live Oak, Stone and Chimay) and a rotating bottle menu, there’s plenty here to quench that fire. Hey, if it ain’t broke... 2105 Hancock Dr.
Cleveland
Which Iron Chef’s burger reigns supreme? Michael Symon’s, according to popular opinion. Competing against fellow Iron Chefs Bobby Flay and Masaharu Morimoto, the B-Spot chef took home the People’s Choice Award at this year’s South Beach Wine & Food Festival. Try the winning Fat Doug burger (loaded with Swiss, pastrami and coleslaw) for yourself at Symon’s Cleveland restaurant, or any of the 16 custom-blended beef burgers on the menu -- you’ll likely enjoy them even more than the South Beach voters did, because you’ll be eating them with a cold beer in hand. B-Spot’s wide-ranging list hits every tastebud, from light pilsners to hoppy IPAs, tart lambics and dense stouts and porters. 28699 Chagrin Blvd.
Los Angeles
Hormone- and cruelty-free beef, cocktails made with organic herbs and homemade mixers, and eco-friendly décor? Yep, you’re in California. Happily, the food and drink at the original 8 Oz. Burger Bar live up to the restaurant’s carbon footprint. Start with unique sides like mini-kobe corndogs or fried Wisconsin cheese curds, then dive into one of its massive signature burgers like the Cali-minded Melrose, topped with arugula, garlic-roasted tomatoes and red-onion marmalade. A slightly less gluttonous option: the Suds & Slider Sampler, pairing three baby burgers with three 5-ounce drafts. When the beer list contains a full roster of California microbrews on draft plus 17 more varieties by the bottle, that’s a great deal. 7661 Melrose Ave.
Las Vegas
Set well off Sin City’s flashy main drag inside the Red Rock Casino Resort and Spa, LBS fancies itself a traditional American burger joint. Expect a saloon-style atmosphere, with red brick walls and an ornately carved bar. But this is still Vegas; there’s also a neon-lit glass bull head on the wall. That down home/worldly dichotomy is evident in its burger-and-beer pairings, too, including the patriotic Steakhouse burger paired with Lone Star beer, and the fancy-shmancy Frenchie turkey burger served with Blanche de Bruxelles The Pissing Boy. 11011 Charleston Blvd.
Portland, Ore.
What happens when punk rock grows up? For one, it starts eating better. Former punk kids Rob Hemmerling and Michael Banash grew bored of Portland’s lowbrow cuisine, so they started Slow Bar. Soon, a legend was born: The Slowburger, a half-pound hunk of local beef topped with gruyere and onion rings. Add a lineup of beers ranging from Hamm’s to Spaten Optimator to Terminal Gravity IPA, and you’ve got a scene everyone can enjoy. The proof: the throngs of hipsters -- and even a few punks -- who crowd the place nightly. 533 S.E. Grand Ave.
Pittsburgh
Ask a crowd where to find the best Belgian beer bar in the country, and Pittsburgh wouldn’t be anybody’s first guess -- unless, that is, there’s a Sharp Edge loyalist in the bunch. Its four Western Pennsylvania locations stock an incredible lineup of Belgians on draft (think Ename, Grimbergen and Bornem), 74 in bottles, plus more common imports and microbrews. And the burgers are exactly what you’d expect from a town that’s turned tailgating into an art form: grilled-to-order beef, ostrich and even a blend of lamb and sirloin, topped with just about anything you can imagine -- banana peppers, ancho chili aioli, olive tapenade, and Ayinger Celebrator-braised leeks included. Various locations,
Atlanta
Whether you’re at the trippy, skull-adorned location in Little Five Points or the tamer, pinup-plastered sister site in Midtown, you’ll find a full roster of burgers and brews in this Dirty South hangout. The 16 burgers in the Vortex Signature Series include patties stuffed with ground chorizo, blackened in Cajun spices and glazed in teriyaki. The taps are stocked with domestic microbrews including a few from local favorite Sweetwater, plus popular imports like Newcastle and Stella Artois, and the two-page bottle menu serves up just about anything else you’re craving. Various locations
Seattle
Located in a former hardware store in Seattle’s hipster Ballard neighborhood, this taxidermy-decorated tavern claims you “Can’t beat our meat!” -- and really, you can’t, especially between the hours of 5:00 and 7:00 p.m., when its organic beef burgers are a dollar off. Highlights include the Billy Burger, topped with roasted garlic, red pepper and goat cheese, and the After School Special, a bacon burger slathered in gooey peanut butter you simply have to taste to believe. There are a few other things about the place you can’t beat, either: the skee-ball games that host regular tournaments, the barbershop connected to the dining area, and the eclectic beer list with options from Rainier, Big Al Brewing, Maritime Pacific and European breweries you’ve never heard of. 5225 Ballard Ave. N.W.
Chicago
Hungry Belgian beer fans, meet your mecca: a round brick building that houses everything your tastebuds crave. The Bad Apple’s beer list is stuffed with Belgians, from Tripel Karmeleit and Lindeman’s Framboise on tap to 19 more by the bottle. Pair one with The Frenchie burger, topped with brie, spinach and truffle oil, for the ultimate Euro experience. Or simply let your cravings be your guide -- after all, you have 15 award-winning gourmet burgers to choose from, and a grand 96 beers to pair with them. After your meal, you can balance those grown-man portions by playing like a kid at foosball, shuffleboard and pinball. 4300 N. Lincoln Ave.
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This article originally appeared in the May/June 2010 Issue of DRAFT Magazine
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