Post # 1 Boston Burger Company, Somerville, MA

Boston Burger Company
37 Davis Sq.
Somerville, MA 02144
www.bostonburgerco.com

After searching the web for contenders, I decided on The Boston Burger Company (BBC) for our maiden voyage. The place has been featured on Diners, Drive-ins and Dives, and one of its burgers (The Mac Attack) was named Second Best Burger in the Country in a Triple D Best Burger contest. It seemed like a logical place to start.

Boston Burger Company, in the heart of Davis Square.

If the accolades from Triple D weren't enough, BBC's own website shows their seriousness about burgers. A picture of each succulent offering is displayed proudly along with a loving description of its construction, leaving the web viewer with gluttonous fantasies and a serious call to action. Some of the burgers are straight up, while others are quite far out. For example, the 420 burger is topped with American cheese, bacon, BBQ sauce, mozzarella sticks, onion rings, French fries and mac and cheese. I’m determined to expand my comfort zone, but the 420 burger might be too much of a stretch. Just as I don’t appreciate highfalutin caviar burgers (see introduction), I have little patience for burgers that are over-engineered. It’s like dressing a poodle in scarf and booties. A poodle is a dog, not a Barbie Doll. Let him have his dignity.

That’s not to say Scott and I won’t give the 420 a try sometime. Perhaps next April 20^th, when we're apt to follow it with a pint or two of Ben and Jerry’s Everythingbutthe.

Me left, Scott right. Please don't confuse the two.

Boston Burger Company has two locations: in Davis Square in Somerville, and in Boston’s Back Bay. According to Owner/Partner Paul Malvone, each location goes through about 1200 pounds of beef per week. We chose the Davis Square location because it was the first established.

Not to jump ahead of my reportage, but after eating one of the burgers we selected at Boston Burger Company I felt like Scott and I might have found Nirvana too soon, as the eating experience rivaled the food fantasizes I'd conjured while browsing their website.

We sampled two burgers: The King, named in honor of Elvis Presley’s notorious culinary proclivities, (topped with banana, peanut butter and bacon, of course) and The Killer Bee, featuring American cheese, bacon, honey BBQ sauce and a four inch tower of beer battered onion rings. I was skeptical of the Killer Bee, as I do not appreciate burgers that fall apart when eaten, and this monster looked to have serious disintegration potential.

Boston Burger Company's The Killer Bee

As it turned out, I had nothing to fear with The Killer Bee. Ordered “medium rare, but on the way to medium,” the certified Angus 80/20 patty, which was machine-formed on premises, was flat-griddled, giving it a nice bark on the outside while keeping the meat pink and juicy inside. The burger was of good size, probably five or six ounces, and well proportioned to the Piantedosi Bread Shop bun. True, with the stack of onion rings on there, it looked over-engineered, like those architecturally impressive desserts made popular a decade ago, when bakers were interested in creating visual works of art over culinary masterpieces; but after squashing the top bun down against the onion rings the Killer Bee held together nicely throughout the eating experience. I always cut larger burgers in half, and while some consider this sacrilege, I do it as a way to keep them manageable. After cutting The Killer Bee in two, Scott immediately cut his offering in half too, and looked at me expectantly. He had ordered The King, and upon seeing the two burgers side-by-side quickly surmised that fried onion rings and BBQ sauce on a burger beat bananas and peanut butter any day.

As stated in the intro, if a guilt-free, euphoric, coma-like sensation comes over me after eating a burger I know I've had a truly great burger. And this is exactly how I felt after finishing my half of the Killer Bee. I could hardly wait to wash my hands, get chauffeured home, turn the golf channel on low and take a well-deserved snooze on the couch. Admittedly, these sensations are unscientific measuring sticks, but who needs science when chowing burgers? It's all about taste and feel, and this burger tasted delicious and made me feel great. Suffice it to say that eating The Killer Bee was flat out an awesome burger eating experience.

As for The King, if ordered for dessert I’d say it was okay. As a main course, it was hard to take seriously, like those booty wearing poodles are. Ordered medium rare, it came out dry and gray, and afterwards I felt kind of gross, as if I’d consumed a gigantic, meat-infused peanut butter cup. No wonder Elvis shot out all those TV screens late in life. After eating peanut butter and banana sandwiches all day he realized he could have had an awesome burger and became frustrated.

All in all, The Boston Burger Company was a great first outing. We look forward to going back, and not only for Triple D's award-winning Mac Attack burger. Many others on the menu sound intriguing as well. They've got one called the Artery Clogger that I'm sure is to die for.

Scores: The Killer Bee - 9 out of 10 napkins. The King - 2 out of 10 napkins