Simon Holt. Nanaimo. BC Canada

Nanaimo, you have a winner.

The kick Ass Burger at Simon Holt, stacked high with barbeque pulled pork, crispy bacon, aged white cheddar and chipotle aioli.

10/10

But first let me bitch a little. I'm not a fan of the open face burger display/concept or whatever its called. The skeptical bastard in me can't help thinking that the restaurant is just trying to fill up the plate, less fries, ha.
And it's not that I'm lazy as an objection to personally having to take the cold side of the dastardly presentation with the tomatoes and pickles and lettuce and place it on the hot side of the burger. But really can the kitchen not do this? I thing the burger cools off too quickly leaving it open face, plus I like a the juice to meld a bit, get acquainted so to speak. Anyone remember the failed McDLT experience? Get over it, just put the damn burger together for me please. Now, the reason I'm on this tangent is that Simon Holts takes this lunacy one step further. Granted they put the bun on the burger, but they put all of the veg, the pickles, the onions, the tomatoes and the lettuce on the plate next to the burger. Really? What the hell is up with that? Now I have to take my burger apart and rebuild it myself? I'm sure someone is already working on the de-constructed burger concept. "We bring you all the pieces of a burger, separately, on the plate and you put it together".

Luckily for Simon Holt they make, with my assistance at the table, a pretty damn outstanding burger.

This Kick Ass Burger is combination of two favorites, burgers and pulled pork sandwiches. To be fair, I think the burger is more about the pulled pork then the beef. I would love to see this burger with a bit of slaw instead of the regular tomatoes pickles and lettuce; that would be out of bounds. Just put the slaw in the burger not the plate ;)
Everything works here; the bun, perfectly chewy and soft. Mega juicy interior, drippings galore.
I've never heard of Simon Holt before a friend recommended it to me for the burgers. I don't think it’s a chain but it certainly looks to me like a chain wanna be. Which, if they keep the quality of the burgers up wouldn't be such a bad thing.