Boston Burger Company

Connoisseur Tom and I got together for a meeting of the minds a few weeks ago, and we decided to try out a fairly new burger joint in Davis Square for lunch, Boston Burger Company.  It’s only a short walk from my house, right in the center of Davis Square, so we walked over and were shown to or seats.  The location of this restaurant is stellar, being seconds from the entrances to the T, and due to the nice weather outside, the large windows were moved to this side, allowing us the fresh air and busy feel of the square.  There were also seats outside, but we opted to stay out of the sun.

The inside of the restaurant was fairly standard, with menu placemats and chalkboard signs on the wall touting the many burgers.  There was also a flat-screen television so that no sports action would be missed during lunch.  The cleanliness was not the best, and we were glad to have our placemats, as the table itself was sticky.  Our waitress came to the table and we ordered our food.  She was pleasant and attentive, and our orders came out pretty quickly, as we were the only two customers in the place for a good portion of our stay.

For an appetizer, Tom and I shared Mac and Cheese Bites.  These deep-fried, breaded macaroni and cheese triangles came with a marinara sauce and were pretty good.  They certainly filled the need for a deep-fried starter, but both Tom and I would have liked more cheese flavor in the bites.

The burgers came out next, and as Connoisseurs, we had to try the burgers that sounded to most original.  Tom had the self-proclaimed Artery Clogger, while I had a burger called The Kitchen Sink.  The Artery Clogger was a deep-fried, beer-battered Angus burger topped with bacon, American cheese, and barbecue sauce.  It came with homemade chips and choice of baked beans or coleslaw (Tom went with the beans).  Tom liked the idea of this burger, but found that after a few bites, it became a bit boring and dry due to all the breading.  Toward the end of his burger, he tried dipping the burger in the beans, with fantastic results.  The sweet molasses beans gave the burger the kick it needed. 

Meanwhile, I was eating The Kitchen Sink.  This burger was ridiculous.  On top of the Angus patty was ham, bacon, grilled onions, peppers and mushrooms, three cheeses (American, cheddar, and provolone), a fried egg, and BBC sauce (which was like BBQ sauce with Worcestershire sauce in it).  Both of these burgers were served in sourdough buns.  My burger was very tasty, though I had a hard time conquering this calamity.  The ham in this burger was the real star, adding sweet and salty flavors to the party.  I thought that the BBC sauce was a bit weird, not really matching the rest of the burger, and the meat itself was a bit dry and overdone, but all-in-all, it was pretty good.  I went with the coleslaw, which I didn’t really care for.  It was soggy and merely an afterthought. 

All told, the Boston Burger Company was okay.  They had some interesting ideas, and a fine selection of wings that we did not try, but the food that we did have was pretty standard.  With a name like Boston Burger Company, I was expecting the meat on the burger itself to wow me a bit more, but instead, we ran into the same problem that plagues many restaurants.  The meat was overdone, and so the foundation of the burger was shaky and couldn’t stack up to the competitors, no matter what was on top of the burger.  However, they are still pretty new, and for the portion sizes, the prices were right.  Hopefully, the BBC will figure it out and remain in Davis Square with the title of best burger, but they have some work to do before they reach that level.  Still, if you are in need of a big, gut-busting burger, you could do much worse than Boston Burger Company.