BGR: the burger joint

BGR: the burger joint
106 washington street, alexandria, VA 22314 (there are other locations, but i happened to visit the one in old town alexandria)
tel: 703) 299-9791
hours: monday-saturday 11am-10pm, sunday 12pm-9pm

what was consumed: the wellington (roasted mushrooms, caramelized onions, garlic with a touch of mustard seed and blue cheese, served on a fresh, buttery-toasted brioche bun with mojo sauce) cooked medium (as recommended), the gold standard fries (thick cut, yukon gold potatoes), onion rings (thick cut, beer battered vidalia rings) ... others had the burger (served on a fresh, buttery-toasted brioche bun with lettuce, tomato, onion, pickle, mojo sauce options as well as cheese or applewood bacon, for an additional fee) and the southwestern (10oz burger infused with southwestern influences, like chipotles, poblanos, onion and chilis, topped with pepper jack and served atop our black bean salsa, served on a fresh, buttery-toasted brioche bun with our mojo sauce)

i love me a good burger. i've mentioned it before, and i'm sure i'll be mentioning it again. burgers are delicious.

m, j, and i head out to old town for a holiday party (of sorts), but wanted to grab a bite to eat before indulging in adult beverages. we didn't really have anything in mind and didn't plan anything out, so we relied on serendipity to take us to a good place. lo and behold, we run into BGR (i'd heard about BGR sort of in passing ... perhaps it was in some article in some periodical or something. ). i'm glad we did!

i decided upon the wellington (BGR, like many other hamburger places, gives you the option of creating your own burger (to order) or selecting one of their creations. i opted for the latter). i missed my standard overflow of lettuce and tomatoes that i more typically include on my burgers (the burger photo with the lettuce and tomatoes was m's), but the almost equal amount of roasted mushrooms, caramelized onions, and garlic atop my cooked-medium burger, made it totally worth it. i would say that the blue cheese was a bit overwhelming (i scraped some of it off, and then the flavor combination was much better) and the wet-ness of the mushroom concoction on top of the patty made the burger almost impossible to hold and consume in any lady-like fashion. but even with some of those downsides, i will say that my burger was delicious! the patty was cooked (and seasoned) well and meshed well with the mushrooms, onions, garlic, and cheese.

be sure to order fries with your burger! yes, it adds a few more bucks to your order, but who enjoys a great burger without some crisp fried potatoes? not me! they have a few fries options, and i can go with any of the above. the onion rings were cut wide, but fried thin (i.e., one later of onion). the batter covering the the onions was tasty, but i would've enjoyed a bit more cooking of the onion (but i don't really like crispy onions, so ...). the three of us shared one order of fries and one order of onion rings - that was definitely enough.

in my opinion, BGR is more along the lines of some of the more gourmet burger joints that are becoming popular these days - ray's hellburger, good stuff eatery, FO, counter burger (which i have yet to visit - can't wait!), etc. and while the cost of a burger is higher than more stereotypical fast food burger options, the freshness, flavor, and all around better taste is totally worth the extra cash. BGR? i whole heartedly recommend them! i want to go back and try some of their other burger combinations ... YUM.

online: http://www.bgrtheburgerjoint.com/