lemon hill – classic patty melt


The Fairmount/Art Museum area unfortunately isn’t easily accessible by subway. Due to this, I haven’t been able to explore a lot of restaurants/bars in the neighborhood. Luckily for me, this past weekend’s holiday party put me in the area during brunchtime.

Lemon Hill doesn’t serve a burger, but what they do serve is pretty damn close. On their menu is a diner sandwich staple, the Classic Patty Melt, which is made up of a LaFrieda beef patty, American cheese, secret sauce, grilled red onions, and house pickles. I’ve had the Supper Burger before and I believe that they were using the same LaFrieda blend in this patty melt. So it’s definitely been on my list for some time but haven’t made it out until recently.


I’ve never had a patty melt from anywhere other than a diner or my own kitchen, so this was a pretty cool experience. When I ordered, I was asked if medium was fine. That being said, I guess they’re always cooked to medium unless specified otherwise. I definitely dig Lemon Hill’s patty melt. The patty melt was sandwiched between two perfectly toasted, thick slices of bread. The pickles & onions added a pleasant tanginess to the melt. The meat was juicy and the secret sauce added an extra element that you wouldn’t normally find on a patty melt. The accompanying parsley fries were good, too.

I also got to sneak some of my dining partner’s house cured LaFrieda bacon. Delicious.

Lemon Hill
747 N 25th St.
Philadelphia, PA 19130
215.232.2299

Tagged: , , , , ,

burgerpalooza 2012


It all started one day on Twitter. I saw Josh from Spot Burgers tweet Charlie from Chewy’s using the hashtag #burgerpalooza. I immediately responded. I needed to know what it was and when it was! Unfortunately, Josh couldn’t tell me much about it yet. In due time though, everything was revealed and it sounded incredible.

It truly was incredible. Enter Burgerpalooza 2012. $30 admission. Four local food trucks serving all you can eat burgers. Two drink tickets for beers at Yards Brewery (where it was held). Fries & cupcakes from two other local food trucks.

First off, I have to clarify. This was not a contest. It was a burger celebration! The four food trucks which served up burgers was Street Food Philly, Spot Burgers, MOO, and Chewy’s.

There were 12 different burgers at the event, but you couldn’t just walk up and get whatever you wanted. Each truck had three rounds and weren’t allowed to serve the following round until ALL the burgers of the previous round were consumed. Unfortunately, I rolled up to Burgerpalooza a little late and was just past the halfway point of Round 2 for most of the trucks. Fortunately, there was still a whole lot of burgers to be eaten!

Here are some of the burgers I got to try:


Patagonia from Spot Burgers – topped w/ avocado, tomato-chimichurri salsa, house made ranch


Sweet Tooth from Chewy’s – topped w/ bacon and cheddar and served on a toasted Krispy Kreme doughnut


Moo Burger from MOO – topped w/ American cheese, lettuce, onion, pickle, and Moo Goo


Yards Burger from Street Food Philly – topped w/ Yards root beer cured bacon, Cooper American cheese, garlic herb aioli, and tomato

Check out the rest of the burger offerings on the burger ballot. Excuse the condition of the ballot, I found it in my jacket pocket!

I had a really great time. Pretty sure I was burger drunk in a food coma. I’m really hoping they do this again!

Tagged: , , , , , , ,

butcher & singer – butcher burger


Two weeks ago I was invited to a “meat & greet” at Butcher & Singer with Pat LaFrieda, the man responsible for several delicious burger blends across the country. The event was held to debut B&S’s use of a new blend for the Butcher Burger called the “Blend 5″. I also believe it’s going to be used in other Starr restaurants. I had the pleasure and honor of sitting next to Pat during dinner and we got to talk a lot about burgers and NYC! Pat also told me about Blend 5. I don’t want to tell any secrets though, so I’ll just say the the Blend 5 is awesome!

The Butcher Burger is made up of a 10 oz. LaFrieda “Blend 5″ beef patty topped with cheddar, charred Vidalia onions, Iceberg lettuce, Kosher pickles, tomato, and Russian dressing. It’s sandwiched between a toasted Parc-baked brioche bun and served with house cut fries.


This burger was absolutely delicious. Sure, maybe having a LaFrieda burger while sitting next to Pat LaFrieda himself may have elevated tastes, but no. Seriously. This was good. The meat was cooked to medium-rare (we weren’t asked). I thought the flavor of the Russian dressing really complimented the burger. Nothing was overwhelming, as the flavors were all pretty balanced. The toasted brioche bun held up nicely to the juiciness of the burger. The burger was also sized perfectly to fit on the bun. There were no burgerless bites with this one! The house cut fries were also good. If I didn’t have a hockey game later that evening, I would have finished them! Don’t worry, I didn’t waste them. Friend/fellow blogger Ryan Hudak gladly had the rest of my fries.


In addition to the burger, we were able to try some lamb chops, also from LaFrieda Meats. These were delicious as they were cooked and seasoned perfectly.

At the end of the meal, I kept thinking what took me so long to get to B&S and when I’d be able to come back again to have another Butcher Burger. Get out and try one!

Butcher & Singer
1500 Walnut St.
Philadelphia, PA 19102
215.732.4444

Tagged: , , ,

city tap house – lamb burger


Even though a previous burger experience here wasn’t the greatest, when you need a burger and you happen to be at the same place, you sometimes want to give it another shot. This past weekend I found myself at City Tap House once again, wanting a burger, however, I went with the Lamb Burger.


The Lamb Burger is topped with feta yogurt, smoked paprika aioli, kalamata olives, and a fennel salad. It is served on a toasted seeded wheat bun. Like the Tap House Burger, the burger to bun ratio was perfect and it was very neatly prepared. It also had some good flavors. Since I thought about my last experience here with an overcooked burger which was ordered medium-rare, I ordered this lamb burger rare. After a couple bites, I noticed my burger was cooked to a perfect medium-rare! It was much juicier this time due to its lower cooked temperature. Sure, you shouldn’t have to order a rare burger in order to receive a medium-rare burger, but I had a hunch this decision would work out in my favor this time around. The only other downside in addition to anticipating an overcooked burger was the wheat bun. It felt a bit too wholesome. I’d like try the Tap House Burger next time, ordered rare!

City Tap House
3925 Walnut Street
Philadelphia, PA 19104
215.662.0105

Tagged: , , , , , ,

red owl tavern – big red owl burger


A few weeks ago, I was invited to check out Red Owl Tavern, a new restaurant at the corner of 5th & Chestnut Sts, catercorner to Independence Hall. Despite all the other awesome sounding menu items, my eyes went straight to the Big Red Owl Burger. The Big Red Owl burger is a beef burger topped with cheddar, bacon, onion marmalade, herb sauce, shredded lettuce, and tomato. It’s also sandwiched between a brioche bun. Accompanying the burger on the plate are pepper jack cheese fries.


The burger is served open faced and is pretty large when held. It was cooked to a high medium-rare (please excuse the crappy iPhone, low light cross section shot above) and the burger to bun ratio was pretty much 1 to 1. My favorite part was the flavor and sweetness from the herb sauce and onion marmalade. That stuff was delicious. The burger was pretty enjoyable, though the $15 price tag is a smidge high.

In addition to the burger, I was able to try some of the Butter Blade Steak and Marrow Bones, which were both tasty. The fried bread pudding dessert sounded really good, but I had absolutely no room in my stomach. The space is awesome and the other items on their heavy protein menu sound great. It’s worth checking out if you’re in the area.

Red Owl Tavern
433 Chestnut St.
Philadelphia, PA 19106
215.923.2267

Tagged: , ,
Page 4 of 73« First...23456...102030...Last »