From the menu:
Tap House Beef Burger
Our award winning beef burger is made in house combining a perfect mixture of ground sirloin, brisket, and veal to create a burger of exceptional flavour and consistency 13.95-
The conversation:Me: what award did your award winning burger win?
The Server: (smiling) oh I don't know. I've only been here for 5 months.
Me: so it hasn't won an award in the last 5 months?
The Server: ( now a nervous smile) ha ha your so funny! ( as she backs away and disappears into the darkness)
Hey wait a second stop; I was going to order the burger.
It was a simple question. Luckily she came back and I was able to order said award winner.
I have since learned from the Taphouse website that the award in question was: Top Three in Jack FM's Best Burger Competition.
Really? Award winner? The voters at Jack FM need to get out more.
The patty was a super cooked, yummy tasteless hockey puck.
OK, nice pretzel bun.
It was an ok burger a perfectly adequate pub burger, 7/10, but not in my mind an award winner.
Unless I have business at the Sheraton I’ll have my burgers elsewhere.
Oh the joys of business travel. The shear glamour of it all. The freshly scented chauffeured ride to the airport. The stunning architecture of the modern airport, truly awe inspiring. The comfort of air travel followed by yet another chauffeured, although vaguely different scented ride to the hotel. And then the hotel itself makes me giddy with excitement, maid service, the crisp starchy feel of freshly pressed linen bed sheets, the faintly detectable aroma of commercial disinfectant, unparalleled gourmet cuisine at my fingertips and the fabulous view of the snow covered cars in the adjacent parking lot.
This week I find myself visiting two glorious Sheraton hotels in the Toronto area.
And thus….. A tale of two burgers.
The Sheraton, Richmond Hill, North Toronto.
Stuck in a hotel, middle of now where, it's late, damn cold outside and a hotel burger is a convenient thing, I don’t expect much. And, yup, that’s what I get here. A middle of the road hotel burger, let's call this one the "chef is trying too hard burger".
On the surface it sounds ok, fresh ground prime rib, a whole Portobello mushroom, square ciabata bun. The buns a bit hard, the patty is way to small for the whole shin dig. The portobello mushroom tasted great, I haven't had portobello on a burger in a long time, it added a great earthiness to the burger. I enjoyed the wasabi and chipotle dipping sauces. The fries, frozen, I can still taste the salt on my lips hours later.
A 6.5/10 hotel creation, ho hum, but a mans gotta eat and it might as well be a burger.
The Sheraton Gateway Toronto
After 3 days of company meetings I'm feeling a bit burned out. I'm at the Sheraton Gateway at the Toronto airport with friends from work and all 5 of us are having burgers and beers. It’s nice to have guest reviewers. My friend April is loath to participate in the ratings, this has something to do with my rating of Webers a while ago. I gave it an 8/10, where in Aprils book its more in the "crap" range. General census at the table is that in fact Weber’s has gone down hill recently, just saying.
Average score: 7.75/10. April finally broke down and participated and gave the burger an 8/10. I was not so generous. This was a pretty good burger actually but I couldn’t get over the fact that the burger came dry. That is, no mayo or mustard or any sauce. We had to ask and the waiter for options and he brought us those cute little miniature bottles of mustard mayo and ketchup. We were left to our own devices for application. My fellow judges did not seem to have my issues in this regard, they were happy to apply the condiments themselves. I deducted points.
Gotta love the travel.
