Cactus Club, Coquitlam BC Canada Sliders

Cactus Club in Coquitlam for a casual dinner with family, the place is packed, 30 minutes for a table.



I feel like ordering a hamburger (sometimes that happens) but I don't want to order the Fennie Burger. Not that it’s a bad burger it’s actually pretty good. You can read my review here from the last visit.


It’s just not outstanding and I kind of feel a "been there done that" kinda thing. In case you are wondering a burger has to rate at least a 9/10 for me to get excited about repeat orders.


And that's a bit of a pet peeve for me for many of these chain restaurants, their menus become a bit stale at least on the burger side. They should consider having a monthly or seasonal burger, something different. It’s been almost a year since my last burger at Cactus Club and it’s the same old thing.


Change it up a little. Hey, it works for McDonalds.


So I ordered the burger sliders. Not bad, pretty good actually, 8/10. I find that sliders for the most part because they don't include all the usual accouterments that come with burgers are more about the flavour of the beef. More of a pure burger burger and here it works the beef really comes through and the sliders are quite pleasant.


But I won't be ordering them again. Ok, maybe I will if I’m with a group of people and we order a bunch of appies to share.


But please Cactus Club add some new burgers on the menu for me.

Glo Restaurant and Lounge. Victoria BC

Burger killed by heat lamp.



My pickle was dry and limp.


It’s a shame really because the rest of the burger was really really good, great potential, especially the sauce, loved it but couldn't really crack the code on its ingredients, sweat creamy cheezyish, its driving me crazy I just can't get it. But it was good. The patty was big and juicy, fresh but not ground in house, nice touch on the oven dried tomatoes, together soft and melty, I give the burger and easy 8/10 even with the heat lamp crisping.


Imagine what it could have been. Stay away from the artificial radiation (the place is called Glo, right? Never mind) and there is a winnner burger here.


The Glo Lamb burger is good as well check it out here.

Cozmos Cappuccino Bar & Grill. Burnaby



The judges scores:

 4, 5, 6.

Dwight at 4/10 was sitting in as the East German judge with his low score, but then he had the BBQ sauce option on his burger and the sauce took over and decided to be the star of the show. He couldn't taste anything but the sauce.

Not that Dwight was missing all that much, let me break it down:

Cozmos is a nice neighbour joint with a good reputation for brunch and a ton of regulars. For lack of a better description its the kind of place were everyone knows your name. I wonder if my name will be mud after this posting. The food is typical cafe like with a Greek twist and Greek options.

Our burgers had a Greek twist to it. The patty was a classis keftedes style, Greek spices, onions, garlic, eggs, bread – please do not refer to this as meatloaf. In the burger the texture for me was a bit mushy in parts. But then this is where the Greek influence ends and Costco influence takes over. The triangular Costco bun! Regular readers will know that I’m a bit OCD about the burger bun thing. It’s not like I have a list of preferences mostly its just got to be fresh and tasty and fresh and fresh. Did I mention fresh? Here, not so fresh. Let me guess what happens: Mr. Cozmo goes to Costco for his weekly shop and picks up a couple bags of triangular buns. What is it, about 50 to a bag? Said buns sit in the kitchen and are slowly used over the course of the week. As the week progresses the buns get older and harder and staler. So I guess it depends what day of the week you order your burger as to how fresh the bun is going to be. Friday night mine was semi hard, it was placed on the grill but even the grilling couldn’t save it, just singed the top.


Mico give the burger a 5/10, I was a bit more generous with a 6, but this burger needs a re-think.


And it doesn't have to be more "authentic", round or less ethnic, it just has to be good.


In case you think I’m intolerant of triangular burgers check out one of the best burgers anywhere from The Edge in Sooke. Not round, certainly out of the box, and perhaps a bit Middle Eastern but in any case awesome.


So, Mr Cozmo, please just make a good Greek Burger, and please, use fresh bread.

Dockside Grill, Sidney BC

The Dockside Grill is a little bistro in Sydney a bit out of town and out of the way but well worth the 3 minute effort from downtown to drive there. It has a great view of the marina, you are actually sitting right over the water, and more importantly it has a great burger.



The menu caught my eye: Fresh, Local Seasonal. Dockside supports local producers and they list them on there menu. Like. The emphasis on fresh local ingredients is a big deal to me when I eat out. It’s probably a bit more work then ordering from Sysco but then I think the quality and care translates to the plate



The Dockside burger was a pleasant surprise, easily 9/10.
This is a pure, simple burger. And simple can be outstanding. A flavourful patty, all the ingredients come together, nothing stands out, no specials sauce no fancy shmancy creativity just one of those, the sum is greater the parts type of great burgers.

I am usually not a fan of chibatta buns because if not super fresh in most cases the buns are hard and inedible.


Case in point the Gillnetter in POCO, I still have nightmares.

But here, no worries, perfectly fresh.


And since I mentioned a "bad chibatta burger" here's a good one you should check out at Molly’s Reach in Gibsons.





Fried Artichoke Appie



But I digress, back to the Dockside cafe,



So far the best Sydney burger I've had. Definitely check them out, a great location a great burger.



West Coast Taphouse, Langdale, BC

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.

Hawksworth at the Georgia Hotel

Fancy place, Hawksworth at the newly renovated Georgia Hotel in downtown Vancouver.



A fancy shmancy gourmet burger awaits. And by the way when I say fancy gourmet burger I don't actually want to insinuate that this burger is instantly better the some fantastic hole in the wall or casual eatery burgers around town. Rather fancy is a function of 3 things:


1. Price. Its going to be expensive, in this case $18. After all have you seen this restaurant, huge overhead, they have to pay for fancy space, perfectly quaft pretty people and spotless designer uniforms.


Check, everyone and everything looks stylishly perfect.


2. A Celebrity chef. Check again, David Hackworth gained fame through many award winning restaurants, Vancouver Chef of the year in 2008 and currently parlays this into guest judging appearances on Top Chef Canada.


3. The Show. Your food does not just arrive but is presented to you in a beautifully choreographed dance and once placed before you is entirely camera ready. Check once again, this is a purdy looking burger.






So is the burger any good or is it just hype and ambiance? I think a little of both. My friend Deb and I both had the burger and we were both in agreement that this was a perfectly tasty burger a solid 8.5/10.


Here's' the breakdown:


The server asked "how would you like your burger done"? Music to my ears exactly what I want to hear when I order a burger, unfortunately 98% of the time its " would you like fries or salad"... really? Like there's any option anyway.


Speaking of fries the advertised frites were not. Instead, they were big thick beams of potatoes stacked appropriately enough, depending at how you look at things, in a square resembling a log cabin. Hmm I had the same thing at Hackworth’s previous Restaurant West. Not impressed, just deliver some really good frits please, its hard to improve on a classic.


The flavour of the burger was better than good, but not great, coming predominantly from the bbq sauce and oven roasted tomatoes. I also expected a much juicier burger especially from one cooked medium rare. The bun fell apart, which usually happens in my humble experience when it's not fresh. Dare I say that Hawksorth served a burger on a day old bun?


This is all sounding a bit harsh but really in the end a good burger. But then, I think Hackworth’s is more about the experience and not necessarily about the burger.


By the way we had a few appies that were absolutely outstanding.


The highlights:

Baised ShortRibs

48 hr beef shortrib black pepper jam, honeydew, green papaya, peanut, thai basil.

yellowfin tuna carpaccio avocado, cucumber, yuzu, puffed rice

(the puffed rice didn’t work but the tuna rocked)

Pork Dumplings

Chocolate Desert

I’m definitely coming back for dinner.

Tuna Carpaccio

Hog Shack Cookhouse

I’m a bit disgusted with myself. No, actually, I’m totally discussed at myself. I ordered the Flatline Burger at the Hog Shack Cookhouse. Two patties, gobs of cheese stuffed between two grilled cheese sandwiches. What the hell was I thinking? I don’t usually go for the gimmicky Man v. Food type of its free if you can finish it in 5 min type of burger. And on a side note, do you really think Adam Richman is going to make it to his 40th b-day (currently 37) without a massive coronary? But I digress.


OK, so I was curious, I’ve never had a grill cheese burger before and what the heck. Now I can honestly say, “Never again” and, in case you are wondering, no, I did not finish it.

This thing is not really a real burger, it’s a marketing piece, it gets people talking but really you should never order one, it’s the futuristic concept car at the auto shows that will never be produced commercially. Sadly, Flatliiner has been released to the public.

Just not enjoyable, you can’t really eat this like a burger it’s just too thick, it falls apart and then you end up doing the unimaginable, using a knife and fork on a burger. The patty’s were well seasoned, bordering on a meatloaf feel and cooked through just like a meatloaf. Nice tomatoes, tons of cheese, this thing is a mess. I’m not going to rate it.

BTW just to maintain that gimmicky marketing feel, the Hog Shack should place an emergency defibrillator by the front door with a sign “in case of Flatliner Emergency”. Just trying to help Although, the grill cheese buns are made with whole wheat bread, so maybe the defibrillator is not needed ;)

My dining companion, Paula, was much smarter than me; she ordered the Classic, 6 oz burger. And she liked it. A solid 7.5/10 apparently not juicy enough to completely rave, but it had sufficient flavor. Yes, the patty was a cooked dry disk; same as my two but it looks like we have some decent potential here for a good burger just don’t flatline. Unless of course you can eat it in 5 minutes because then it’s free.