That's between me and my cardiologist... a review.

Oh yeah.

OH YEAH!

That up there is a craftburger and fries, taken with my iPhone camera. What's a girl to do when she goes to the cardiologist and is told she has old man veins and needs to drop some weight? She goes out for the best burger in Toronto... Craftburger!!!

As you can read in the Toronto Star, there are a bunch of new gourmet hamburger places springing up around the city. And no, I haven't tried them all. This little lady only has so many points on her WW plan, so there aren't many hamburgers in my days and nights right now. But, the last hurrah of good food was this lovely craft burger dinner. (Actually, on second glance, this might have been the one before the last hurrah. Regardless, it's the point of the matter not the facts of the matter, so I am sure you understand.)

Craftburger is GREAT. The meat is the perfect thickness, the buns just the right amount of give, and the toppings are fresh and tasty. It's truly the best hamburger I have had in my more than five years of living in this city, and it's the one I dream about. (Not that I am a girl who dreams about hamburgers... oh no no no no... that would be weird.... okay, maybe one dream a year...)

We did recently have a lunch and dinner (at one time) at the Gourmet Burger Company. Not nearly so good and a really unpleasant Burger King-esque repeat all night. NOT GOOD. But Craftburger.... yum.

Standing in Line for Hamburgers

As has been mentioned once or twice on this blog, I love hamburgers. I haven't been eating them that often these days, and I when I do, it tends to be on g-free buns when there's a bun at all, but I couldn't let the opportunity pass me by to eat at the world-famous Shake Shack. We went there at about 3pm, not thinking that the line would be overly long.


We were wrong. The line was out of control. From beginning to end, it took about an hour. G didn't want to stay in line the entire time (and she had to save a table as they were a scarce commodity) so I watched Top Chef Masters on my phone and kept waiting.

The line moved slowly.


I was ready to order, having looked at the signs (and read the menu online), I was prepared for what was to come, and was excited at ordering food and sitting down and chowing on the hamburger!


Crinkle fries!!! YUMMY! And nicely wrapped hamburgers. I had a double burger (which I couldn't eat both burgers on the hamburger, it was too thick!), fries and a coke. G had the hamburger, fries and chocolate malt. The malt was thick and delicious, the fries were crispy on the outside and soft on the inside, and the hamburgers themselves...


Look at that! Juicy seasoned meat, slightly moist but not so much that it soaks the bun, melty cheese, sauce, ketchup, tomato. Delicious. Absolutely fantastic.

Now, I don't know that I would say this is the best hamburger I have ever had, but it's certainly one of the best I have eaten. It was worth the upset stomach!

(I don't know anyone else who is wheat intolerant, and there doesn't seem to be a lot of information about that in the world, but I find that when I eat wheat despite it upsetting my stomach so completely, it makes me crave more and more wheat. You'll see from the rest of the posts from NY that wheat was on the menu more than once after this fateful dive into the burgerverse.)

Steer Burger -- A South African Delight.

Yeah. I love hamburgers. I do. I've said it before, I'll say it again. Hamburgers. I love 'em. Live, love, eat hamburgers.

As I said in my last post, I love trying hamburgers different places. Again, as I've said, Canadian hamburgers are not my fave. S declared that Steer Burgers were the fast food hamburger champions of Cape Town. When someone throws down something like that, you gotta give it a go.

So one afternoon as G and I were walking around the Victoria and Albert Wharf, we saw a Steer and had to have a quick stop.


The hamburger was pretty good. It was somewhat like a Canadian hamburger in that it was a little more pressed (??? I don't even know what that means!) then I like, but it was pretty good. Underneath, it was pretty impressive...


BUT, it was the summer in Cape Town and that tomato was totally grim. I took it off. And the bun was really airy like all buns I had in Cape Town. They just seem to disintegrate as you eat them. They are just incredibly light and fluffy.

The fries were meh, the ketchup is so crazy vinegar-y that it's really a totally different taste. I really enjoyed it.

OH! And the Steer Burger had something called "macon" instead of bacon because it was apparently a hallal shop. I've never seen that before. You really DO experience new things when you go on holiday. (ha ha)

Going out for Dinner.

One of the things I love about going home to OK is eating out at restaurants that are different from what we have in Toronto. This trip has been no exception.

When my best friend drove up from Norman for the day, I knew we needed to try something totally different. We went for lunch at Kilkenny's Irish Pub. And I am glad we did! The place is fun, really small and really cold when we were there, a little dark inside like a proper pub, and a good selection of Irish specialties and your average American pub food.

Living in Toronto, I have come to miss the great American hamburger. Hamburgers in Canada by and large aren't great. Well, they aren't what I like, which is really just a patty made with nice meat, salt and pepper. Walking into the lion's den of pub food, I had to go for the hamburger with Irish rashers and Irish cheddar. Yum.


Oh yeah. The fries were stupendous. I mean, really really really good. One of the best french fry experiences I have had in ages. Really good. Oh yeah, did I mention, the fries were great! The hamburger was solid. The meat was well-seasoned, it was nicely cooked, but it was a little too wet for my liking...


You can see how wet the bun is. Now I know for some people, that's a total plus, but I am not one of those people. It grosses me out, but the hamburger all in all was really good. The bacon was fantastic, and the half pound or quarter pound option means you can have the amount you want. (I had the half pound. I ain't no fair flower. Ha ha.)

My BFF ordered the Irish Breakfast.


...with scrambled eggs. I am not a fan of the scramble, especially if I am not making it myself. This came with irish bacon and sausage, soda bread, black pudding, grilled tomatoes and grilled mushrooms. Or I think it came with grilled mushrooms because I don't see any in that picture.

Anyway, the bill was reasonable, we each had a soft drink (pepsi- blech), but it was a great meal and a nice place to slow down and chit chat.

The restaurant is down on Cherry Street (which has really had quite the renaissance in the last year, it seems). Lots of good stuff down there. I really enjoyed the pub and would recommend it!